‘These are all Section 8’: North Sacramento councilman’s answer to poverty is wealth
As Sacramento City Councilman Sean Loloee drove along South Avenue nearing Grant Union High School, he pointed to a small, deteriorating apartment building.
It was in bad shape. Whatever was left of the faded paint was cracked and falling off. All sorts of random household goods lined the front balconies, and a small shared courtyard was littered with either trash or more clutter.
“I’m talking to the owner of this facility right now, going ‘Hey, make it look nice from the outside because enough is enough,’” Loloee said. “He’s been making money off of this for God knows how long. Spend some money on your property.”
The first-year city councilman, whose district encompasses Del Paso Heights and Hagginwood, said his next move would be to contact apartment owners and try to compel them to clean up their properties. If they don’t cooperate, he said, he’s ready to threaten them with special fees to abate nuisance properties.
“I want my kids, when they’re walking up and down the street, to see things that are very clean and fresh,” Loloee said as our tour approached a subsidized housing complex. “These are all Section 8. Look how they look! And I guarantee you the property owner probably has 100% equity.”
A recent “rookie mistake on the dais,” as Loloee explained it — letting it slip during a council meeting that he’s “not a fan of affordable housing” — has the political newcomer’s housing views under scrutiny. More important, it’s spurred discussion around what sort of residential development is needed to rejuvenate North Sacramento’s economy.
Loloee’s housing platform is built on balance, he said. For every affordable unit built in his district, he wants one workforce unit for public employees and one market-rate unit to match.
The North Star of his development views is the spending power of the people a finished project will attract. In his mind, exclusively low-income projects place a ceiling on economic growth.
“What do they bring to the table to jumpstart the economy of this district?” Loloee asked. “We know (new) affordable housing looks beautiful — look-wise, it’ll add to the community. No argument there. But affordable-housing residents, if we go with the data (on what they earn) … is that enough to help the economy of this district at the same time?”
‘I have to create a fence’
Based on outward appearance alone, things look as bad as ever in District 2, which spans from the Capital City Freeway to Steelhead Creek to Dry Creek, north of Robla. Loloee worried about local children internalizing and normalizing the harsh scenes that surround them. Shuttered businesses, blighted lots, vandalized buildings and trash-lined streets provide a bleak backdrop. Many of the area’s strip malls were vacant before the pandemic, and with so few customers and workers, the businesses that did survive are only open a few days per week.
The councilman sees Del Paso Boulevard, the district’s withering business corridor, as a “gold mine.” While Loloee frowns on the signs of economic despair, he also sees potential for a vibrant future. He embodies the indignation of a community that has long been Sacramento’s “dumping ground” and wants to confront decades of institutional racism and neglect.
Loloee is deeply cynical about local politics, to the point that he feels it’s his responsibility to shield his community from the actions of the very city he was elected to serve. Loloee is driven by the idea that attracting wealth to the area is how you address poverty.
If the things he says or does are unpopular, he doesn’t care.
“I have to create a fence to let in the things that are going to be good for this community and see how much I can hold back government, knowing that what they want to do is going to hurt it,” Loloee said. “Now the government wants to help? Please let me know when that help is on the way so I’ll be ready.”
Loloee is a self-described Democrat who rejects the version of liberalism that pervades California politics. He’s an Iranian immigrant and a textbook example of the American Dream. He’s built a successful career building and selling off grocery stores from Southern California to Oakland and now the Sacramento Valley, serving former “food deserts” in the process.
Loloee aired his frustration about homelessness as we drove along Eleanor Avenue, where single-family residences give way to the RV and tent encampments that line Johnston Park. The councilman said he regularly does needle pickups in the fields that families no longer visit.
It’s here where Loloee explained his dislike for housing-first policies to treat homelessness and lefty policymakers who give insufficient consideration to substance abuse and mental health.
“We can’t have this situation and say we’re taking care of both (the unsheltered community and nearby homeowners),” Loloee said. “We haven’t taken care of anybody actually. … If I say something out loud, I’m considered coldhearted and out of touch.”
Upkeep vs. urgency
The councilman says he doesn’t pursue policy based on emotion, but that’s just not true. His vision for economic revival is based on an emotional desire to erase evidence of poverty from his district. He claims that data drives his actions, but if that were true, he would be less focused on upkeep and more on urgency.
Using a metric called real cost measure, which accounts for the cost of housing, food, health care, child care, transportation and other basic needs, more than 4 of 10 households in North Sacramento are not earning the $77,000 required to support a family of four, United Ways of California found. In some neighborhoods, nearly half are spending more than 30% of their earnings on housing.
Sure, low-income families might not have as much disposable income to boost local businesses, but there’s also a clear need for lower rents in the area. The notion that solely increasing the housing supply — market-rate or not — will address affordability is a fantasy that has been humbled by California’s building constraints. The supply may never catch up with the market demand. Loloee claims his district enjoys lower housing costs than the rest of the city, yet the latest market-rate proposal near Robla Park just quoted prices as high as $600,000.
It’s not unusual for disaffected voters to rally around a successful businessman who parrots their complaints, telling them what they want to hear about government and politics. Compared with most Sacramento elected officials, Loloee’s candor is refreshing.
But without fundamental changes to his political strategy, it’s unlikely that Loloee can be the change agent that District 2 desperately needs. It’s hard to imagine he’ll score any substantive victories on the council if he remains focused on addressing curb appeal.
North Sacramento needs major investment, and a mixed supply of housing is a worthwhile goal. But it also needs a rapid injection of housing that residents can afford so the 42% of households on the brink don’t fall even farther.