By Keyshawn Davis | Special To The OBSERVER
After years of behind-the-scenes work, a new affordable senior housing development on 39th Street and Broadway began construction July 28.
The new Oak Park development is designed for seniors age 62 and up and is across the street from senior housing facility The Arbors.
“Projects like this don’t just provide a roof over these seniors’ heads, they provide a community,” Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg said in a press release from Related California, a project development partner.
The development is a collaboration among the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency, Itasker Hollins Community Economic Development Corporation and Related California. The building’s three stories will feature 36 one-bedroom apartments and seven studio units. Twelve of the 43 units will serve formerly homeless seniors whose rents will be subsidized by what is called a project-based rental assistance contract, said Pastor Itasker Hollins Jr. of All Nations Church of God in Christ.
Hollins Jr., also a board member of the Itasker Hollins Community Economic Development Corporation, said the new development is an exciting collaboration. It will also be the second half of the senior housing of The Arbors.
“It’s a collaboration to provide safe and affordable housing for seniors, and 39th and Broadway reflects our nonprofits’ commitment to addressing the shortfall of affordable senior housing in the Oak Park community. And that’s where my father’s legacy was,” said Hollins Jr., referring to Itasker Hollins Sr.
Hollins Sr. was the founding pastor of All Nations Church of God in Christ church in Oak Park for over 47 years, Hollins Jr. said. The Itasker Hollins Community Economic Development Corporation was formed in 2003 and was designed to tackle issues of at-risk children, elders in need and housing.
Hollins Jr. said housing is a huge dilemma in Oak Park but that building at 39th and Broadway is a way for long-term residents to have a safe and nice place to live. He said living in affordable housing in Oak Park increases seniors’ quality of life and keeps them in an area familiar to them.
SHRA is the city and the county’s agency that runs the public housing program. SHRA also is involved with housing policy and has helped finance projects with private developers to create affordable housing.
La Shelle Dozier, SHRA’s executive director, said 39th and Broadway will serve residents earning anywhere from 30% to 60% of the area median income.
“So let’s look at a one-person household with the maximum income at 30%, [which] would be anyone making $22,550 or less. And then 50% is 37,500 and 60%, which is at the top, it would be under $45,060,” Dozier said. “So that gives you an idea.”
Additionally, she said, formerly unhoused seniors will receive housing vouchers to live in the complex.
Dozier said senior housing is important because SHRA recognized that many seniors are aging in place and need to move into more of an apartment situation, but Oak Park has little of it available. So seniors were leaving the neighborhood to secure housing.
“We felt it was very important for them to continue to live in the neighborhoods that they had invested so much of their time and energy in,” Dozier said. “And so that’s really why we started to look at bringing the senior housing to Oak Park.”
Dozier said setting aside 12 units for formerly homeless seniors is an important initiative for the city to deal with homelessness.
“This is another opportunity for us to create those units that will help those needy seniors who, unfortunately, have fallen into a situation where they’re unhoused, secure housing.,” Dozier said.
Homeless individuals can begin the process of accessing housing for The Arbors or 39th and Broadway by dialing 2-1-1. The senior housing at 39th Street and Broadway is expected to be completed early in 2025, Dozier said. She added that seniors who might be interested in living at 39th and Broadway should contact John Stewart Co., the project manager for The Arbors.
Dozier said the company managing the 39th and Broadway development will start an interest list about six months before estimated completion of construction. The list will be used to provide potential applicants and renters with information, Dozier said.
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