Affordable housing complex opens in Sacramento after past neighborhood opposition
After navigating a global pandemic and some neighborhood opposition, a San Diego-based developer has opened a 120-unit affordable housing community in North Sacramento.
Community HousingWorks has opened the Salvator Apartments on Arden Way close to the Royal Oaks light rail station. The complex replaced the former Lumberjack lumberyard and building material store that had been vacant for years.
A group of neighborhood associations and business owners had challenged the project, citing environmental concerns and arguing the area already has a high concentration of low-income housing. But the city denied that challenge in 2019 and work began on the development the following year.
Demand is severe for affordable housing in Sacramento, particularly for the income ranges targeted by the new Salvator Apartments. An analysis by the Sacramento Area Council of Governments determined more than 6,300 units of low-income housing should open this decade to meet demand.
Roughly 2,000 people expressed interest in an apartment at the Salvator and the complex was full within a few weeks, said Jackie Oh, an associate director of housing and real estate development with Community HousingWorks.
Individuals and families earning between $35,000 and $71,000 are eligible for an apartment at the Salvator. Rents for a studio start at $814 per month, while three-bedroom apartments for families are rented beginning at $1,457 per month.
Those income and rent ranges make the development what officials describe as workforce housing. Teachers, store clerks and entry-level state workers typically fall into that category.
“When the pandemic hit, we realized how important the workforce households are, especially when they were essential to help through the pandemic,” Oh said. “The narrative really made it real for many people about just how difficult it would have been through the pandemic if we didn’t have these necessary workers.”
Community HousingWorks is in the planning stages of building more affordable housing communities in the Sacramento region, including a 75-unit complex near the Sacramento State campus.