The Salvation Army expects to resume helping families in the Stockton Boulevard area pay for overdue housing bills and unexpected expenses starting next week.
A second $500,000 payment from the city of Sacramento will fund the program designed to prevent the UC Davis Aggie Square project from pushing people out of their homes.
Major Rio Ray, the Sacramento County Coordinator for The Salvation Army, said in June the program ran out of initial funding, which the City Council approved in February 2023. The organization helped 85 families cover about $450,000 in up to three months of back-owed rent, mortgage and utility bills, as well as one-time costs such as medical expenses.
With the first round of funding, the program usually helped households catch up on $1,500 to $3,000 in bills, Ray said. The Salvation Army also referred participants to financial workshops.
“It certainly is the goal that we can help somebody, but then also help them by empowering them not to get into the situation again,” Ray said.
Based on monthly reports and data in the Sacramento Homeless Information Management System, City Housing Manager Ya-yin Isle said participants typically didn’t need additional support after receiving the direct assistance. The program aims to not only avoid evictions and utility shutoffs, but also give people an opportunity to catch up financially, Isle said.
“Sometimes people just need rent for one month to tide them over,” Isle said. “Or they need that extra money to help get their car repaired so they can get to work.”
The program is one of four pilots the council approved a year and a half ago. Both the city and UC Davis committed to funding housing assistance and anti-displacement programs in the Aggie Square Community Benefits Partnership Agreement adopted in April 2021.
They created the agreement in response to concerns, including those explained in a lawsuit by Sacramento Investment Without Displacement, over the project driving up real estate costs and making the area unaffordable for people living in the area. Construction of the first phase of the $1.1 billion science and technology hub is slated to be completed in winter 2025.
The other homeless prevention pilot also exhausted its funding by the time its contract ended, said Housing Analyst Axel Magallanes. The $530,000 program ran by the homelessness nonprofit organization Step Up gave one-time assistance with unexpected housing cost increases in addition to helping people with housing applications.
“I think most folks and the most vulnerable folks are just needing assistance with rent and utilities to stay in their homes,” Magallanes said. “It was just such a high need that the funding went pretty quickly.”
Pilots focusing on home repairs and first-time home buyers spent funding slower in comparison, Magallanes said. The first-time home buyer program with Unseen Heroes and CLTRE is wrapping up work with its first cohort, so the city is keeping in touch on when the organizations are ready for a second group, Isle said. The nonprofit CLTRE works with underserved communities and Unseen Heroes is an events and marketing agency.
She added the city is also looking at renewing the contract with Step Up and thinking about reaching out to other community based organizations to discuss future program possibilities.
Anti-displacement program participants must live in one of four zip codes in the Stockton Boulevard area: 95817, 95820, 95824, 95828. They can meet other requirements by making 60% or less of the area median income, according to the city. Based on 2024 data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, a family of four would need to make less than $70,740.
Ray said The Salvation Army expects to start taking clients on Aug. 12. Residents can call 211 to see if they qualify and begin the application process.
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