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LISA: KCRA 3’S MIKE LUERY SHOWS US TONIGHT WHY EMOTIONS ARE RUNNING SO HIGH. MIKE: CHARLENE JONES LIVED ON THE STREETS OF SACRAMENTO FOR SEVEN YEARS UNTIL SHE FOUND A NEW HOME HERE AT MUTUAL HOUSING ON THE GREENWAY. >> MUTUAL HAS CHANGED MY LIFE IN SO MANY DIFFERENT WAYS. MIKE: JONES IS NOW ADVOCATING FOR MORE AFFORDABLE HOUSING. >> WHEN YOU LOOK AROUND AND YOU SEE ALL THE HOMELESS MOTHERS WITH THEIR CHILDREN. MY HEART GOES OUT, COMPASSION. SO WITH THEM HAVING THAT DRIVE TO WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT EVERYBODY HAS A SAFE AND SUSTAINABLE PLACE TO LIVE. MIKE: THAT’S WHY JONES IS SUPPORTING THIS PROJECT. IT’S CALLED LAVENDAR COURTYARD, AN $11 MILLION AFFORDABLE HOUSING PROJECT PAID FOR THROUGH VOTER APPROVED PROP 1. LOCATED AT 16TH AND F STREETS, IT IS DESIGNED FOR LOW INCOME GAY AND LESBIAN SENIORS. THE FORCE BEHIND IT IS A NON-PROFIT GROUP CALLED MUTUAL HOUSING. >> THERE’S A SERIOUS NEED FOR THIS TYPE OF HOUSING, NOT JUST AFFORDABLE BUT ALSO BREAKING THE ISOLATION THAT A LOT OF SENIOR LGBTQ FOLKS ARE EXPERIENCING. MIKE: BUT NOT EVERYBODY IS ON BOARD. SOME RESIDENTS TOLD US THEY OBJECT TO THE PROJECT NOT BECAUSE OF THE SEXUAL ORIENTATION OF THEIR SOON TO BE NEW NEIGHBORS, BUT FOR OTHER CONCERNS. >> MY MAIN ONE IS THE CONCENTRATION OF LOW INCOME AND VERY LOW INCOME PROJECTS THAT ARE BEING PUT INTO THIS NEIGHBORHOOD. MIKE: OTHERS SAY THEY DON’T TRUST MUTUAL HOUSING. >> AS NEIGHBORS WE HAVE TO STAND UP FOR OUR NEIGHBORHOOD AND THAT’S WHAT WE’RE DOING. THIS IS OUR NEIGHBORHOOD. THIS IS NOT MUTUAL HOUSING’S NEIGHBORHOOD. MIKE: BUT MUTUAL HOUSING IS MOVING FORWARD ON THIS PROJECT ALONG WITH THIS $9 MILLION DEVELOPMENT IN DOWNTOWN DAVIS, DESIGNED FOR PEOPLE WHO WERE HOMELESS, AND YOUNG ADULTS TRANSITIONING OUT OF FOSTER CARE. MUTUAL HOUSING PLANS TO APPLY FOR TAX CREDITS NEXT WEEK AND HOPES OF BREAKING GROUND HERE IN THE FALL TO TRANSFORM THIS EMPTY LOT INTO LAVENDAR COURTY

Advertisement Affordable housing to come to Sacramento, Davis Development sparks anger from some nearby residents Share Shares Copy Link Copy

A new type of affordable housing is coming to Sacramento and Davis with the goal of helping the homeless and others seeking a low-cost place to live.California is making $20 million available through voter approved money from Proposition 1. The new community-based housing provides residents with plenty of input, but some neighbors contend they are being shut out of the political process.One of the beneficiaries is Charlene Jones. She said she is proud to have her own apartment at Mutual Housing on the Greenway in south Sacramento. “I was homeless for seven years,” Jones said. Jones is a community activist and now a board member of Mutual Housing, the nonprofit group that helped her get off the streets.“Mutual Housing has so many opportunities for the residents to succeed and grow,” Jones said.Mutual Housing residents are encouraged to be actively involved in their community, and that’s why Jones is supporting a new Mutual Housing project planned for downtown Sacramento."When you look around and see all the homeless mothers with their children, my heart goes out," Jones said, adding she has "that drive to want to make sure that everybody has a safe and sustainable place to live."The new housing will transform a vacant lot at 16 and F streets in Sacramento into an $11 million modern building. The building will have 52 apartment units and serve the previously homeless and low-income adults who identify as LGBTQ seniors, according to Roberto Jimenez, chief executive of Mutual Housing. “There is a dearth of housing for LGBTQ seniors, not just in this region but nationally as baby boomers are aging,” Jimenez said. “There is a substantial population that is in need of affordable housing.”Groundbreaking for the new units could begin in September, but not everyone is happy with the new development. Some nearby residents said they have real concerns about who their new neighbors might be, especially low-income tenants. “My main concern is the concentration of low-income and very low-income projects that are being put into this neighborhood,” said Roland Brady, who lives nearby.“As neighbors, we have to stand up for our neighborhood and that’s what we’re doing,” said Martha Damjanovic, who lives near the proposed new development. “This is our neighborhood. This is not Mutual Housing’s neighborhood.”Mutual Housing is moving forward with the downtown Sacramento project and another in Davis, where 38 low-income apartment units are planned on 5th Street. Seventeen of those units are designated for young adults transitioning out of the foster care system. Mutual Housing plans to apply for tax credits next week. The company hopes to break ground in the fall for the Lavender Courtyard project in downtown Sacramento.