Sacramento County mulls a stronger way to lead affordable housing while the city dithers | Opinion
Sacramento’s city and county governments have overseen public affordable housing for more than 50,000 local residents through a joint agency for the last three decades. However, county supervisors, led by Patrick Kennedy, don’t think the current system of managing 13,000-some affordable housing residences keeps them informed and are actively seeking new options.
So far the Sacramento City Council, distracted by other matters, is not.
“I really think oversight has been missing, and that’s what I’m looking to cure,” Kennedy said in a recent interview, echoing comments he made in public meetings last fall.
Sacramento City Hall has been asleep at the switch on this issue, preoccupied with the election of a new mayor, former Assemblymember Kevin McCarty, and consumed by the contract of former City Manager Howard Chan, who resigned in late December after the council refused to extend his employment agreement.
An old agency setup may not work today
It made great sense back in 1982 for the city and the county to partner on housing and redevelopment because the two different endeavors were so intertwined. But the world has changed a lot since then.
Redevelopment was once a popular financing tool to advance urban renewal. By declaring areas as blighted, cities and counties could capture any future growth in property taxes on these lands to help fund housing, infrastructure and other projects.
Because local governments abused this tool with dubious declarations of blight and equally dubious projects such as sports arenas, then-Gov. Jerry Brown and the California Legislature cut off this funding source in 2012. This essentially took the “R” out of SHRA, which has focused on its affordable housing mission ever since.
SHRA’s housing roles are many. Its biggest mission is administering a federally-funded voucher program that connects qualified low-income residents with landlords with available units. But it also manages projects of its own and distributes other federal funds.
Technically, both supervisors and council members provide oversight. But they have delegated most responsibilities to 14 appointees on a commission where, years ago, an aspiring young leader named Kevin McCarty got his first taste of public service.
“I think the SHRA governance structure is a worthy conversation piece.,” McCarty said in a recent interview. “We know where we’ve been the last 30 or 40 years. Where do we go from here? Better coordination is key, between the city and the county.”
Kennedy, who sits on about two dozen joint powers authorities as supervisor, said SHRA is the only one in his memory where its true leaders — the council members and supervisors — have never met together.
“SHRA commission meetings, people don’t know about them, they don’t know where they are, they don’t know they are happening,” Kennedy said. “The responsibility and the buck stops here (the board), not a commission that nobody knows exists.”
SHRA Executive Director La Shelle Dozier, for example, basically makes as much money as Sacramento’s city manager, yet leads a far less visible and complex organization. Dozier made nearly $340,000 in 2023. Interim City Manager Leyne Milstein’s 2025 salary, meanwhile, is $352,000.
At the board’s Oct. 22 meeting, Supervisor Rich Desmond relayed criticism from landlords of affordable housing about delays getting residents into available units due to the time it takes to inspect properties and establish rents.
“Those concerns are out there,” Desmond told Dozier and SHRA staff in attendance. “They are being articulated by folks who you work with.”
Making the most of a partial solution
Despite its efforts, SHRA has always been a fraction of the true affordable housing solution. For every low-income resident who has made it into a subsidized unit, the county estimates there are more than four households that have not. And the future of federal funding for the voucher program, the bedrock of the local affordable housing strategy, is anyone’s guess.
Credit goes to Kennedy for elevating the need for Sacramento to its best to get people into affordable housing, and for supervisors to pay attention every step of the way.
“I can’t think of anything more important than housing,” Kennedy said.
Kennedy is hoping for a board discussion of a full array of options on April 22. Where this goes from there is anybody’s guess. “I think there is change coming,” he said.
The Sacramento City Council, frankly, needs to catch up. But SHRA is at least on the new mayor’s radar screen. “Our top issues are housing and homelessness,” McCarty said. “Maximizing our resources and efficiencies is key.”