Action Alert 6/30/08
Dear Friends,
Many thanks for your abundant support for housing for our guests.
I wanted to let you know what happened at the Sacramento City Council at their June 17th meeting:
1. First, the City Council failed to add a commitment to the Housing Element that “The City shall adopt a Mixed Income Housing Ordinance that applies to all areas of the city within one year. The Mixed Income Housing Ordinance shall include housing for families and individuals with Extremely Low Incomes (30% of Area Median Income).†They agreed that additional study was needed before action and asked city staff to report back on the feasibility of changing the ordinance. Which sounds prudent except that ample time for research and planning has already passed. The City’s General Plan Advisory Committee, Planning Commission and the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Commission have all made recommendations based on existing data so why can’t the City Council gather up the gumption to act?
2. Secondly, the City Council approved financing for the Budget Inn by a 7 to 2 vote after lengthy testimony and discussion. Robbie Waters and Lauren Hammond were the “no†votes. Mayor Fargo and Councilmembers Tretheway, Sheedy, Cohn, Fong, McCarty and Pannell voted yes. The City Council showed its firm commitment to Sacramento’s Ten Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness and deserves our thanks for approving the financing. The staff of Mercy Housing and SHRA (the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency) did an outstanding job of presenting how the “Housing First†approach of combining permanent housing with voluntary services could be safely and successfully implemented at the Budget Inn. Lauren Hammond, in whose district the Budget Inn is located, continues to oppose the project and has asked the City Council to review the Planning Commission’s approval of the project.
Please take a minute to thank the City Council members who supported the Budget Inn. We want them to know how much we appreciate their decision. Here are their email addresses as a group to paste into your email: Heather Fargo hfargo@cityofsacramento.org; Ray Tretheway rtretheway@cityofsacramento.org; Sandy Sheedy ssheedy@cityofsacramento.org; Steve Cohn scohn@cityofsacramento.org; Rob Fong rkfong@cityofsacramento.org; Bonnie Pannell bpannell@cityofsacramento.org; Kevin McCarty kmccarty@cityofsacramento.org
Here’s a Sacramento Bee article about the decision:
County joins city plan for homeless
By Ed Fletcher - efletcher@sacbee.com
Published 12:00 am PDT Thursday, June 19, 2008
Sacramento County supervisors unanimously concurred Wednesday with the city of Sacramento to convert an existing low-rent Stockton Boulevard hotel into permanent supportive housing for the recently homeless.
The project, renovating the Budget Inn at 5321 Stockton Blvd., had been the subject of spirited debate.
Some, including Sacramento City Councilwoman Lauren Hammond, argued that the project would only add to an over concentration of homeless housing in south Sacramento.
But advocates for the homeless argued that the management and oversight offered by the nonprofit development company Mercy Housing of California would create better neighbors than those currently staying at the rundown motel.
The 74-apartment complex is part of an ambitious 10-year plan by the city and county to end chronic homelessness. The housing for the recently homeless would replace the existing Budget Inn motel, one of several graying motels along Stockton Boulevard. Budget Inn offers daily or weekly rates and sports a large front gate.
Aided by federal dollars, the 10-year plan targets the chronically homeless – defined as people with mental or physical disabilities who have been on the street for a year or who have been homeless at least four times in the past three years.
The City Council approved the plan on a 7-2 vote Tuesday.
The city and county operate the Sacramento Housing & Redevelopment Agency, which has a separate budget than jurisdictions’ general fund budgets. Various pots of redevelopment funds will direct $6.5 million to converting the motel. The developer envisions using state and federal grants to repay much of that money.
If the other funding sources come through, the project would break ground in March 2009 and be completed by March 2010.
Joan Burke
Director of Advocacy
Loaves & Fishes
