By Robert J. Hansen | OBSERVER Staff Writer
La Shelle Dozier is retiring after 23 years with the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency, the last 18 as its executive director. “I quickly realized this was my calling,” she said. “I didn’t expect to stay 23 years, but it has been a wonderful ride.”
Born in Mobile, Ala., Dozier’s family relocated to Sacramento after her father got a job at McClellan Air Force Base. Raised in North Highlands, she attended UC Berkeley, where she studied industrial psychology, and later earned an MBA from the University of San Francisco. She worked at UC Berkeley, the City of Oakland, and Sacramento’s air quality district before pursuing a career in housing and community development.
Dozier joined SHRA in 2002 as a management analyst to learn the housing industry from the ground up. Her first office was “literally in the filing room,” but she quickly advanced, working on the transformation of South Sac’s Franklin Villa into 360 affordable apartment units now called Phoenix Park, directing resident services, and overseeing the Housing Choice Voucher program that today supports more than 13,000 households with up to 100 percent of the rent.
By 2007 she was asked to serve as interim executive director, and the following year she formally took over leadership of the agency. Since then, she has guided SHRA through challenges that reshaped the region’s housing landscape — from the abrupt end of state- financed redevelopment in 2012 to the pressures of the pandemic — while pushing forward major affordable housing projects such as Mirasol Village.
Dozier hopes her legacy isn’t defined only by buildings but by the lives they touched. “I hope I’m remembered as someone deeply passionate about serving,” she said. “Not just for the projects we built, but for the people we were able to impact and change their lives.”
Dozier spoke with The OBSERVER about her career, the agency’s accomplishments, and the challenges that remain.
After nearly 20 years as executive director, what is your proudest accomplishment?
The first is Mirasol Village, the transformation of our previous public housing near 12th Street, in what had been a very industrial area. That redevelopment nearly doubled the number of affordable housing units from 218 to 427. It’s a $300 million initiative that began with a $30 million federal grant from HUD.
Mirasol Village has everything you’d want in a thriving community—mixed-income housing, a 1.2-acre city park, a two-thirds acre community garden, an early childhood education center, and even a new light rail stop. I love it because it shows what’s possible when we replace outdated public housing with vibrant new communities, and because it’s been a catalyst for change in that entire neighborhood.
The resident training program I helped create has allowed residents to work at the agency for two years in areas like clerical work, janitorial services, and painting, giving them skills to use in the job market. We worked with participants one-on-one to address barriers they faced, and several went on to become SHRA employees.
Mirasol Village is nearly complete now. Can you share where things stand?
We’re wrapping up the final stage, which includes the Early Childhood Education Center. It will provide 60 Head Start slots for residents and kids are expected to start there in September. The last major piece will be the new light rail station, which is being done with Regional Transit. That’s expected by the end of 2026.
Affordable housing is one of Sacramento’s most pressing challenges. How has SHRA helped address that under your leadership?
SHRA not only manages vouchers and public housing, but we’re also the housing finance agency for Sacramento. Developers come to us for gap financing, and we also administer a range of affordable housing programs.
Because of that structure, we’ve always been on the front line of addressing the crisis and often at the cutting edge of new approaches. Our staff are deeply knowledgeable about housing, constantly pursuing new funding streams, advising the state on program design, and finding every opportunity to bring projects to fruition.
How crucial is the Housing Choice Voucher program for families here?
It’s absolutely critical. The key word is “choice.” Families can use vouchers to find housing that meets their needs, whether that’s being close to a doctor, a school, or family support systems. That freedom means they’re not confined to a specific complex or neighborhood, and helps reduce the stigma sometimes associated with the term “Section 8.”
We’ve also been innovative with vouchers. In addition to issuing them directly to tenants, we’ve used them to support affordable housing developments through project-based vouchers. For example, with the state’s Homekey program, which began during COVID to convert motels into housing, we’ve competed successfully in every funding round. By attaching vouchers to units, we ensure those projects have stable long-term cash flow and can remain viable for the future.
Since 2022, SHRA has completed five Homekey projects assisted with three funding awards from the California Department of Housing and Community Development. A total of 503 units were created in the City and County under the program.
On the “choice” part of the Housing Choice Voucher program—what does the law say about landlords accepting vouchers?
In California, landlords cannot discriminate based on someone’s source of income. That means a landlord cannot refuse to rent to someone simply because they use a voucher.
There have been cases where voucher holders say they were told by landlords their vouchers wouldn’t be accepted. Has that issue come across your radar?
Yes, I’ve heard those concerns. That’s why organizations like Legal Services of Northern California are so important—they help tenants navigate those situations and enforce the law.
Your work at SHRA touches tens of thousands of low-income residents. What does it mean to oversee rental assistance, Housing Choice Vouchers, and other programs that serve so many people in the city and county?
It means being very strategic in how we leverage all of these programs and resources. Because we have such a deep understanding of affordable housing, we’re often the first money in when a developer comes to us seeking gap financing. That initial investment allows them to leverage additional funding from the state or federal government.
That’s really the power of the Joint Powers Agreement—the JPA—between the city and the county that created SHRA. It uniquely positions us to tap into any and every available resource to build housing for our community.
What are the major ways SHRA serves Sacramento residents?
We really work in three major buckets. The first is public housing, where SHRA is the landlord. We own and operate thousands of units throughout the city and county.
The second is the Housing Choice Voucher program, where we partner with private landlords. We provide a subsidy that helps families afford housing in the private rental market.
The third bucket is housing finance. This is where we work with developers to create affordable housing by providing gap financing. It’s typically structured as a loan, what I call “patient capital.” Those loans eventually get paid back and then recycled into new housing projects. Over time, this cycle has helped create more than 25,000 affordable units in Sacramento since SHRA’s formation.
What was it like leading SHRA during the COVID-19 pandemic?
It was very challenging. We’re considered essential employees, so we were here — every single day. We had to pivot quickly to figure out what policies and practices we needed to put in place to keep both our residents and our employees safe.
I remember the shutdown notice came out on a Wednesday. We sent everyone home immediately, and by Thursday we took one day to regroup. On Friday, the executive team was back in the office building our response plan. By Monday, we were already issuing computers so staff could work remotely. We also brought in teams to assess our buildings and implement safety measures.
From there, we wasted no time. We made sure seniors had meals, secured cleaning supplies, and stayed on the forefront of helping residents and the community through the crisis. SHRA has always been resilient, and the pandemic really showed how quickly we could respond when our community needed us most.
Beyond keeping residents and staff safe, what were the biggest housing challenges SHRA tackled during the pandemic?
One of the biggest things was the Federal Emergency Rental Assistance Program. Early on, I heard discussions at the federal level about pushing funds out to help people stay in their homes—not just people in our housing portfolio, but anyone struggling to pay rent because of COVID job losses.
The city and county came together to launch a mini Emergency Rental Assistance Program. We put about $6–7 million into that first round. The idea was to jumpstart the process and build the infrastructure for a larger program we knew was coming. Within a month, we had those local dollars out the door.
So when the federal funding arrived, we were ready. We had already staffed up, put systems in place, and worked out how to administer rental assistance effectively. In the end, we distributed over $211 million to more than 16,000 households who had lost jobs or income during the pandemic.
What was the most challenging situation you faced as director?
When the state decided to end redevelopment, it had a huge impact on our agency. We were a housing and redevelopment agency, so we had redevelopment areas we’d been working on for decades. Those areas generated tax-increment financing that allowed us to revitalize neighborhoods, build community centers, improve low-income areas, and — most importantly — fund affordable housing. Redevelopment provided us with a steady pipeline of projects and resources for developers.
About 30 percent of the agency was affected overnight.
We had to make very tough decisions. It was incredibly difficult, because many of our staff were professionals in long-range planning and urban redevelopment — and that work essentially disappeared overnight.
Layoffs are always painful, and that period was the hardest for us internally. We did everything we could to support staff — retraining where possible, providing resources, outsourcing help, and assisting people as they transitioned to new careers. That loss of redevelopment funding was probably the most difficult challenge our agency has ever had to navigate.
How did the loss of redevelopment money and the pandemic affect you personally?
Those are the kinds of things that, as an executive director, keep you up at night. You’re responsible not only for the agency’s mission and the people we serve, but also for the employees who dedicate their careers here. When something happens that threatens both—like losing redevelopment funding or navigating the uncertainty of COVID—it weighs heavily.
But those challenges also force you to lead differently. You have to find solutions, think strategically, and support your team through uncertainty.
Looking ahead, what do you see as Sacramento’s most urgent housing challenge?
The biggest challenge is striking the right balance between increasing housing supply and preserving what we already have. Sacramento absolutely needs more housing of all types — not just affordable housing, but market-rate as well. Supply has to grow across the board.
At the same time, our existing housing stock needs ongoing reinvestment. Just like a homeowner eventually has to replace a roof or upgrade systems, our community’s housing needs regular rehab to remain livable and safe. Losing that balance is what worries me most, and it’s not unique to Sacramento. It’s a challenge communities are facing nationwide.
What do you think of when you hear the term “affordable housing”?
I think about the full range — the continuum of housing that’s needed in our community. That’s one of the strengths of SHRA: we’ve worked across that entire spectrum.
On one end, it might mean deep subsidies, where we’re covering 100 percent of the cost to house someone who is homeless and just coming off the streets. On the other end, it could mean helping residents move into homeownership through down payment assistance or other resources to get them into their first home. And in between, we support everything from rental assistance to rehab and preservation programs.
So when I think of “affordable housing,” I don’t think of just one thing. I think of that continuum of solutions that help people stabilize, grow, and eventually move toward independence.
Do you have any advice for your successor?
I’ll leave my number so they can call me. I’d also say recognize the caliber of the team you’re inheriting. SHRA has some of the most experienced and sophisticated housing professionals anywhere. They can problem-solve any issue you put in front of them. My advice is to work with and through those outstanding people, who dedicate themselves fully to this mission. Many of them are never really “off the clock,” and that level of commitment is what makes SHRA exceptional.
And how do you hope you’re remembered as executive director?
I hope I’m remembered as someone who was deeply passionate about serving. That’s why I came to SHRA and why I’ve done this work. I hope people see beyond the projects themselves. Even though I talk about the big ones, like Mirasol Village, I don’t want to be remembered just for the buildings we built. I hope I’m remembered for the people we were able to impact, reach, and help change their lives.
What are your plans for retirement?
First, to sleep. Every executive director I know is sleep deprived, and I’m no exception. Beyond that, I really want to focus on the next stage of my life. I’m excited about it, and I plan to take my time and think carefully about how I will serve next.