CITRUS HEIGHTS, Calif. — Community leaders and residents celebrated the opening of a new affordable housing complex for families and their children who come from homelessness or are at risk of becoming homeless.
Sunrise Pointe, as it's called, is the first new affordable housing development in Citrus Heights in two decades.
For mother Adriana Gomez, it means a lot to have a stable home for her and her two teenagers.
"What a blessing God has made for all of us to participate here as a family," she said. "Not have to worry about making a choice between do I want to eat, do I want to have shelter."
Gomez moved in about six months ago.
More than 40 families now live at Sunrise Pointe, including a father and his three boys who lived in a truck for two years.
"It was very hard being a single father with three boys living in a car," he said. "When I got that call from David, it just really opened a lot of doors."
The developer held a ribbon cutting ceremony on Thursday and invited community leaders and stakeholders to see the complex.
The developer said residents come from extremely low or low-income households, and they will pay around 30% of their income toward rent.
Around half of the units are set aside for people living with a mental illness.
The development cost around $29 million, and $3 million of that was funded by the state’s No Place Like Home Program.
"No Place Like Home funding is something that has really helped these projects get off the ground," said Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency Executive Director LaShelle Dozier.
The program funds development for permanent supportive housing for people in need of mental health services who are experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness.
Residents have access to wrap-around services.
"We have a variety of services. For our kids, we have an afterschool learning area and a social and emotional wellbeing program for them. We also have case management for our children or our adults should they have any mental health needs or need any additional assistance," said Laura Archuleta, the President/CEO of Jamboree Housing Corporation, the affordable housing developer that worked on the project.
Sunrise Pointe is fully leased at this time, but similar affordable housing complexes are in the works around Sacramento County. Construction is underway on an apartment complex on 19th and Broadway in Sacramento and another on Stockton Boulevard in South Sacramento.
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