Apartments for formerly homeless people to open in Sacramento suburb. See where
An apartment building for formerly homeless people will open in Roseville this spring with a government loan, the Roseville City Council decided Wednesday.
The project, called Sunrose Apartments, will be located in a former Hampton Inn & Suites near the corner of North Sunrise Avenue and Douglas Boulevard near Interstate 80. In 2020, the city placed homeless people in the hotel to protect them from the COVID pandemic through a state program called Project Roomkey. It then secured $23.5 million in state funding to acquire and redevelop the hotel into permanent housing for the homeless through Project Homekey.
The $1.5 million loan from the HOME Program, which is a federal program administered through the state, will go to nonprofit Advocates for Mentally Ill Housing, Inc. to own and operate the project.
Although homeless housing can often be controversial, no council members spoke in opposition to the project during Wednesday’s meeting.
Council members Karen Alvord, Bruce Houdesheldt, Pauline Roccucci and Mayor Krista Bernasconi voted to approve the item, while council member Tracy Mendonsa was absent.
“This is an important program,” the nonprofit’s CEO Jennifer Price told the council. “It’s very much needed in the community and the people there are so appreciative.”
The nonprofit has been a good partner to the city on several other projects, executive director of the city’s housing division Trisha Isom told the council.
The project will include 82 studio units, which will be former hotel rooms with added kitchenettes, a city staff report stated. It will also have services through the county, as well as a computer lab and urgent care facility.
Renovations are underway now, and the units will all be leased by May, Trisha said
Former hotels in Foothill Farms and downtown Sacramento are also being converted into homeless housing via Project Homekey.
