Below is a brief update on the ongoing affordable housing project by Mercy Housing Development (at 2995 Stockton Boulevard) provided by CHNA Leader Jim K. following a meeting with Sacramento City representatives on Wednesday, Agusut 9, 2023.
Hi Colonial Heights Neighbors,
I'm writing to give a brief report back on the meeting held on Wednesday night of this week on the Mercy Housing development. I chair the Mercy Housing Committee as part of the Neighborhood Association. The project consists of 200 apartments. (Mercy Housing gave an estimate on the total number of expected residents. 200 apartments. About 450 bedrooms. Around 600 residents.) To be eligible, people will need to earn between 30% and 70% of the median income. You see different numbers online but the median income is likely between 70k and 80k annually. People will be able to apply to live there starting in March of 2024, and families will start to move in during the months that follow. We can share the application once it is available. The development has onsite management and will include a small park and play structure.
We have been meeting consistently with CM Guerra and Mercy for about 2 years now to address traffic and parking concerns. Currently residents will only be able to turn right (north) on to Stockton Blvd. To travel south, they will need to come through 54th St and 22nd Ave/21st Ave. Our streets are very narrow so we have been advocating for residents to have better access to Stockton. CM Guerra shared that the property south of Mercy is now owned by a developer who wants to build housing on it and is amenable to connecting the two developments with a road that would exit on Stockton. This sounds like it is our best hope at the moment. We have advocated for a left turn exit using the road along Goodwill but it has electrical poles on it that block access. Mercy is providing limited parking so we have also discussed how to address Mercy residents parking on our surrounding blocks. If this becomes a problem, we could put in place resident permit parking.
In my view, the new Mercy housing development is part of Colonial Heights and we should proactively engage the families living there in the various community-building activities that take place in the neighborhood. Because the rent is affordable, I expect many families will live there for long periods of time. The families living there will use the library, play in the park, and many will attend Mark Twain. I know of young families through my my work that would love to live there and I intend to share the application with them when it comes out.
We'll have future meetings on these topics and I encourage everyone to come to the monthly meetings of the neighborhood association for more details and to be part of neighborhood advocacy. We had about 30 neighbors in attendance on Weds night- thanks to all who joined!
