Skepticism expressed by Old Town Elk Grove activists during first outreach meeting for affordable senior housing project
Last night at the Elk Grove Public Library Mutual Housing California (MHC) held the first of three outreach meetings on an affordable senior citizen housing project in Elk Grove. The proposed affordable housing project is located in the highly contentious Old Town-Historic Downtown Elk Grove special planning area.
MHC is pursuing an 89-unit facility on Elk Grove Boulevard and Webb Street. The facility would have about 89 units, most of which would be one-bedroom units and approximately 600 square feet. The Elk Grove Boulevard parcel is about two acres.
In addition to giving senior citizen's access to affordable housing, the project, which is not currently named, will provide social services for its clients.
MHS's planner, Danny Kolosta, spoke on behalf of the company. During his presentation, Mr. Kolosta discussed general plans for the proposed three-story facility.
Architect David John Mogavero also addressed the group of about 20 people attending the meeting. Long associated with the Sacramento-based non-profit MHC, Mogavero showed a slide presentation to the participants on the affordable projects his firm has collaborated with MHC throughout California.
Many in attendance had become involved in the recently proposed Oak Rose affordable supportive housing controversy that enveloped Mayor Bobbie Singh-Allen and her four city councilmen. During their comments, many expressed skepticism toward this project, albeit less heated and void of unsavory inuendo that was spoken during meetings on the Oak Rose project.
Bowing to pressure from many of these same Old Town activists, Singh-Allen approved a $10 million taxpayer payoff to the Oak Rose developer to relocate their project to a site on Elk Grove-Florin Road.
While the city has a tentative multi-million taxpayer dollar settlement with Oak Rose developer Long Beach, Calif.-based Excelerate Housing, Singh-Allen, and the city council's July 2022 denial created the lawsuit filed against the city by California Attorney General Rob Bonta. That lawsuit has not been resolved, and it appears the attorney general's office is continuing its pursuit of the city for what they say was breaking California's fair housing laws.
Although not an official city meeting, Elk Grove's housing manager, Sarah Bontrager, attended the meeting. On several occasions during the open session Ms. Bontrager had to explain how the zoning in Old Town had been changed during the city's 24 year history.
Bontrager also clarified that the affordable housing apartments were not being approved using the tenets of Senate Bill 35. Additionally, Bontrager noted that MHC will receive a $3 million city housing grant if the project is approved.
As noted, last night's meeting was the first of three sessions MHC will hold. Kolosta told the audience that more detailed information about the project, including design elements, would be presented at future meetings. Those meetings are tentatively scheduled for mid-June and early July.
Regarding the construction timeline, Kolosta said they hope Singh-Allen and her city council approve the project by September. If that approval is obtained, and pending additional State of California funding, MHC could start construction by September 2025, with project completion in 18 to 24 months.
As the meeting closed, Kolosta noted that, like many California communities, Elk Grove has a shortage of affordable housing, and its chances of receiving state funding are excellent.
"I'll say why this project is in a really good position to get funded is because it is in Elk Grove, and they consider it more of a high opportunity area," he said.
MHC's property portfolio can be viewed here.
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Mayor Bobbie is gonna be hard pressed to give in this time around. She'll need that extra cash for the Hyena display at the zoo.
Public skepticism aside, the City's Propaganda Machine sure didn't miss a beat. The Machine blitzed all of the major local news stations about the event. Can't help but wonder if this is for Attorney General Bonta's benefit so he will drop his lawsuit against the City. With that dark cloud hanging over the City, it's hard to imagine strong endorsements forthcoming for Suen, Spease and Singh-Allen's reelection. After all, who wants to be associated with a city who tried to strong-arm an affordable housing applicant?
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