Who is SHA?

The Sacramento Housing Alliance is a non-profit coalition promoting quality affordable housing and enhanced opportunities for lower income households and people who are homeless.

SHA promotes quality affordable housing and enhanced opportunities.

SHA Newsletter

What is affordable housing?

Housing is affordable when persons or families can pay for it out of their monthly income and still have enough money left over for food, clothes, transportation, and healthcare. Housing is considered affordable when rent and utility costs are no more than 30% of a household's income. A family of four with two working parents earning minimum wage can only afford $700 in rent or mortgage payments and utilities. Housing costs are often much more than this, which is why development, operation and preservation of affordable housing is such a critical issue in Sacramento.

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Housing is considered affordable when rent and utility costs are no more than 30% of a household's income.

Who benefits from affordable housing?

Affordable housing offers many benefits to residents, communities and businesses. Residents can achieve financial stability and self-sufficiency by having more resources: food, clothing, education or savings to buy a first home.

Communities with affordable housing units receive an array of benefits; Neighborhood Watch programs, high-quality landscaping and maintenance of buildings as well as rehabilitation and revitalization of distressed, run-down properties.

Large and small businesses will benefit by attracting and creating jobs that boost our local economy. People such as lenders, architects, builders, insurers, building material suppliers, construction workers, retail clerks, restaurant workers, receptionists and janitors will benefit the most.

Large and small businesses will benefit by attracting and creating jobs that boost our local economy.

Who lives in affordable housing?

Working families, senior citizens living on Social Security, families receiving unemployment insurance and persons with disabilities receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) are some of the many types of households living in affordable housing.

In Russell Manor, a senior citizens development owned by Mercy California, a majority of the residents rely on Social Security, pensions or disability benefits. Prior to living in Russell Manor residents paid as much as 70% of their incomes for modest apartments in which they did not feel safe.

The Sacramento region may lose 13,120 affordable units when owners convert them to market rate prices.

What are the barriers to affordable housing?

The barriers to affordable housing are (1) increasing demand, (2) funding and approval, and (3) neighborhood concerns.

Sacramento's growing population is increasing the demand for housing which drives up costs. Since the demand is greater than the supply, it is difficult for low-income earners to find affordable housing in Sacramento. For example, rent on Type C apartments (older units with few amenities) have increased 19% from 1999 to 2001.

Like other developments, to receive funding, all affordable housing developments must go through a lengthy and expensive application process and government approval process, which adds to the cost of development. City Council has the power to deny funding for affordable housing to be built. The neighborhood associations, acting on stereotypes and misinformation, pressure the City Council to block building of affordable housing. Because of the increased number of houses being built in the Sacramento area, the cost of housing is skyrocketing. This makes finding an affordable house for a low-income family very difficult.

Affordable housing developers frequently face resistance from neighbors who do not understand affordable housing and resist it being built in their community. This opposition leads some elected officials to block affordable housing in their districts.

Increasing demand for housing, funding and approval processes, and neighborhood concerns are the most common barriers to affordable housing.