Dear Activists and Community Members,
We have entered the second half of 2021 with many wins in our rearview mirror and many wars ahead in our fight for housing justice. With millions of surplus federal dollars available to local jurisdictions across the state, we stand at a time where we can take serious ground in our mission to provide safe, stable, accessible, and affordable homes throughout the Sacramento region. Housing affordability and homelessness remain the primary concerns lifted to our elected officials to address with the millions of American Rescue Plan dollars that are coming down the pipeline. With battle cries such as "housing is infrastructure" being bellowed in Washington and incentives for cities and counties across the state of California to receive a designation as "pro-housing" by acting intentionally to build homes, we must ensure that affordability for those who are paid the lowest income, is central to the battle plan. Now is the time to affirmatively further fair housing, and push our elected officials to provide affordable housing in areas of opportunity, transforming areas of high segregation and poverty, into areas of opportunity with the current residents as the benefactors.
In Solidarity,
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Kendra Lewis
Executive Director
Sacramento Housing Alliance
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Our Mission
Sacramento Housing Alliance advocates for safe, stable, accessible, and affordable homes in the Sacramento region. SHA builds healthy communities through education, leadership, and policy change.
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Our Vision
Everyone in the Sacramento region has a home in a healthy and inclusive neighborhood.
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Our FREE, and most popular annual event takes community members and leaders on a tour of 10 affordable housing sites in Sacramento. This year we are taking our Bus Tour to a new level. This time its virtual! Join us August 24th through the 27th to learn the basics of affordable homes and why an affordable development is a great fit for your neighborhood. For more information and to register click the button below.
Registration will be opening soon! The virtual tours will be held Monday, August 24th – Friday, August 27th (weeklong tour) 1-3 sites per day visited virtually for 10-15 minutes each.
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Our largest annual event is four days of learning on solutions to our regional housing and homelessness crisis, featuring panel discussions for any expertise level, an elected panel, and awards for our local housing heroes. Please save the date: September 29th – October 1st. |
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Housing Element Work & Updates |
The Housing Element is the blueprint to accommodate for a city or county's anticipated housing needs. Many jurisdictions throughout the region have adopted their 2021-2029 Housing Elements and are seeking state certification.. It is essential that local advocates know what policies have been adopted by the local jurisdiction to ensure that enforcement takes place.
The City of Sacramento will be holding their adoption hearing on August 17, at 5 PM
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SHA will be hosting a community town hall meeting on Wednesday August 11th at 5:30pm where we will be giving an overview of essential programs that are included in the housing element, and how the community can support the implementation of these programs to increase the number of affordable homes for individuals and families who are paid a low income. REGISTRATION INFO
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Save the Date! There will be an Aggie Square community benefits implementation update meeting on Wednesday September 15, at 5:30pm
The Sacramento Investment Without Displacement Coalition and the City of Sacramento entered into a Community Accountability Agreement. This Community Accountability Agreement was created to both provide access to any public records needed to monitor compliance with the CBPA, as well as creating space for a SIWD representative to be at the table as the housing, workforce, and transportation workgroups meet to flesh out essential elements of the CBPA.
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Please let us know if you are interested in joining the housing workgroup by emailing ejiro@sacousingalliance.org. |
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The 2021 budget allocated two years of dedicated funding for programs that help end homelessness, but we are in need of a comprehensive, long term plan and not a piecemeal solution. We need a permeant funding source to address homelessness and build equitable affordable housing, in addition to more funding to protect tenants and prevent evictions, and to streamline the process to build affordable housing.
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Take Action!
Urge your Senators & Representatives to support #hoUSed, to ensure that any infrastructure and economic recovery package includes the priorities of expanding rental assistance, preserving public housing, and investing at least $45 billion in the national Housing Trust Fund.
Contact your senators and representatives and demand that any infrastructure and economic recovery package include the HoUSed campaign’s top priorities: a major expansion of rental assistance to every eligible household, at least $70 billion to repair and preserve public housing, and at least $45 billion for the national Housing Trust Fund to build homes for those most in need.
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Learn how to contact your members of
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Eviction Moratorium & Rental Assistance |
On June 28, Governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation to extend the state’s eviction moratorium through September 30, 2021 and clear rent debt for low-income Californians that have suffered economic hardship due to the pandemic. Under AB 832, California will significantly increase cash assistance to low-income tenants and small landlords under the state’s $5.2 billion rent relief program, making it the largest and most comprehensive COVID rental protection and rent relief program of any state in the nation. |
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Link to Full Press Release
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Sacramento Emergency Rental Assistance |
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency (SHRA), in partnership with the City and the County of Sacramento, through federal and state funding, is offering emergency rent and utilities assistance for renters living anywhere in Sacramento County who have experienced a reduction in household income or other financial hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Eligible applicants can receive assistance for past rent and utilities owed from April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021 and may qualify to have a portion of their rent paid for April, May and June 2021.
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The total assistance amount available will depend on household need.
Applications will be placed in a computerized random order—NOT first-come-first-served.
Priority will be given to households that owe rental arrears
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Othering & Belonging Institute at UC Berkley |
The Roots of Structural Racism Project was unveiled in June 2021 after several years of investigating the persistence of racial residential segregation across the United States. Among the many components included in this project are the national segregation report (below) which contains startling findings about the intensification of racial residential segregation in recent decades; an interactive mapping tool that illustrates the level of segregation in every city, region and neighborhood in the country.
Key report findings:
Out of every metropolitan region in the United States with more than 200,000 residents, 81 percent (169 out of 209) were more segregated as of 2019 than they were in 1990.
Neighborhood poverty rates are highest in segregated communities of color (21 percent), which is three times higher than in segregated white neighborhoods (7 percent)
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Black children raised in integrated neighborhoods earn nearly $1,000 more as adults per year, and $4,000 more when raised in white neighborhoods, than those raised in highly segregated communities of color.
Latino children raised in integrated neighborhoods earn $844 more per year as adults, and $5,000 more when raised in white neighborhoods, than those raised in highly segregated communities of color.
Household incomes and home values in white neighborhoods are nearly twice as high as those in segregated communities of color
Homeownership is 77 percent in highly segregated white neighborhoods, 59 percent in well-integrated neighborhoods, but just 46 percent in highly segregated communities of color
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The Sacramento City Council is scheduled to vote Aug. 10 on a homeless siting and operations master plan. This plan includes camping spaces, tiny homes, emergency shelters and longer-term housing that is supposed to accommodate an estimated 5,000 people at a time. The plan is currently being drafted and is scheduled for release to the public on Aug. 2.
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The Sacramento Housing Alliance is a member-based organization that works to increase the supply of affordable housing and support the efforts of affordable housing developers. We need strong and engaged membership that reflects a broad base of community support for progressive affordable housing and regional equity policies.
Membership in the Sacramento Housing Alliance links you to a community of compassionate advocates and thought
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makers and gives you access to member-only events and early access to issue papers.
Members receive
· Discounted rates to our annual
Affordable Housing Summit
· Educational seminars and
discussions
· Lively networking receptions and
other SHA-hosted events
Members are eligible to nominate individuals to serve on the board and nominate award recipients.
Organizational members may extend event discounts to their employees, and may request promotion of their outstanding projects and programs by SHA.
Most importantly, membership in SHA will strengthen our work advocating for a safe and affordable home for all in an inclusive and healthy
To Learn more about becoming a member and the benefits Click Here
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