Sacramento’s ‘On Broadway’ promises affordable housing, homes for people struggling with mental illness

Construction is underway at On Broadway, a new community in North Land Park that promises to add to Sacramento’s affordable housing stock and provide homes for people struggling with serious mental illness. 

One quarter of the project's 140 apartments will be reserved as permanent supportive housing. Those units will serve residents who are either homeless or at risk of becoming so and have mental health problems. 

“For so many people, this is going to be a lifeline and an opportunity to live in the way everybody deserves — with safety and dignity,” Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg said. 

Plans for the development include two five-story buildings at 19th Street and Broadway next to the Sacramento RT light rail station. The buildings will include one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments and 3,500 square-feet of commercial space on the ground floor, according to EAH Housing, the project’s developer. 

“Plans for On Broadway call for 140 units of affordable housing at 19th Street and Broadway. Image courtesy of EAH Housing.”Courtesy of EAH Housing

The mayor, along with other city and state officials, held a ground-breaking ceremony for On Broadway last week. Crews removed a long-vacant office building last month to make way for the development. 

To address Sacramento’s surging homeless population in the near-term, Steinberg and other city leaders have pledged to create hundreds of new, temporary shelter spaces, including sanctioned camping and parking sites. 

But to ultimately solve the problem, the mayor said Sacramento needs to build more communities like On Broadway.

“The answer lies in permanent housing for people, combined with the intensive wrap-around services that people living with serious mental illness and or substance abuse need in order to remain housed,” he added.

To be eligible, individuals or families must earn between 30 percent and 60 percent of the area median household income, which was about $71,000 in 2021, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. 

The project will receive money from California’s Mental Health Services Act, known as the Millionaire’s Tax, which Steinberg authored in 2004 while in the Legislature. It will also be funded, in part, by the state’s Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Program, which supports infill and transit-oriented development. 

More affordable housing needed

A report published in May by the nonprofit California Housing Partnership found Sacramento County has a shortfall of nearly 56,000 affordable homes for its lowest-income renters.

While the city has numerous housing projects in the works, Cathy Creswell of the Sacramento Housing Alliance (SHA) says “there’s simply not enough” right now to meet the need. 

“Housing prices have continued to rise,” added Creswell, who serves as SHA’s board president. “Anytime we can get good, quality new affordable housing in Sacramento, it serves a really critical need.” 

She added that SHA is exploring options for a local 2024 ballot measure to raise money for affordable housing. She said the alliance is conducting polling on proposals, including a sales tax increase, before moving forward.

Affordable housing advocates say they’d like to see more projects like the ones that opened this spring in Sacramento. 

In May, local leaders celebrated the partial opening of Mirasol Village, which will eventually have “427 new affordable, workforce, and market-rate housing units on 22 acres,” according to a city press release. That River District project will replace 218 public housing units built in the 1940s. 

In addition, city and state officials in April marked the opening of Sonrisa, a 58-unit affordable housing community at 13th and O streets. It was the first project completed under Governor Gavin Newsom’s order prioritizing affordable housing on excess, state-owned land. 

Contact CapRadio reporter Chris Nichols at [email protected]