The Sacramento region has seen a surge in housing production, with over 12,500 new homes completed in 2024, but affordability remains a major issue as housing costs have risen faster than wages, leaving many households struggling to afford housing.
The National Housing Law Project has warned that the lapse of funding for SNAP will have severe consequences for low-income families, as 44 million tenants face rent, 24 million people face health costs, and 40 million people, including 16 million children, face food insecurity.
The Placer County Planning Commission voted to halt a 240-unit apartment complex in Penryn, despite potential legal risk, highlighting the tension between local officials and the state’s housing agenda.
The National Housing Law Project has condemned the government shutdown, warning that it will have a disproportionate impact on poor and working families, and urging Congress to fight for them and end the “assault on our government”.
The Trump administration has been accused of drastically weakening enforcement of the Fair Housing Act, with internal documents and interviews revealing a coordinated effort to halt or curtail discrimination cases, reassign experienced lawyers, and impose new restrictions on the office responsible for enforcing fair housing protections.
SB 5, legislation to prevent developers from exploiting the special tax status of protected California farmland to finance urban improvements, passed the Legislature with bipartisan support and now goes to the governor.
The Sacramento Housing Alliance is urging the city council to reject a developer’s appeal to downzone key parcels in Crocker Village from multifamily to single-family housing, arguing that such a move would worsen Sacramento’s housing crisis and undermine state housing laws.
Millions of Americans are living in homes that are crumbling and unsafe due to a lack of maintenance, and programs designed to help are overwhelmed with long waiting lists, resulting in a need for federal support to address this aspect of the housing crisis.
The Trump administration is facing criticism for a HUD directive that would require public housing authorities to identify immigrant tenants and families with mixed immigration status, which could lead to destabilization of families and worsen the nation’s housing crisis.
The Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG) announced that the region built 12,500 homes in 2024, marking the highest housing production year since 2005 and a 60 percent increase compared to just five years ago.
The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors is considering a proposal to develop more of the North Natomas basin, which is a floodplain surrounded by levees that were originally so weak that a grant to expand regional sewer contained a $6 million penalty if that capacity were used to serve North Natomas, and the land speculators controlling North Natomas were able to get the penalty waived and receive $43 million in levee improvement grants, which is bad for the public realm and the environment.
Local leaders gathered to mark the grand opening of Powell’s Landing, a new permanent supportive housing project that offers 69 units for adults experiencing or at risk of homelessness, featuring on-site support services and amenities, and is being held up as an example of public-private collaboration in addressing homelessness and housing insecurity.
As the American housing crisis worsens, policymakers, advocates, and residents are considering bold solutions such as public ownership, rent control, and social housing to address the failures of the private housing market.
Eviction is not only a housing emergency but a public health crisis, with research showing that it can lead to premature birth, psychological stress, and other negative health outcomes, particularly for Black mothers and children.
Increasing housing supply, both at the regional and neighborhood level, can significantly slow rent growth and benefit low-income renters the most by relieving pressure on the lower end of the housing market.
The Trump administration is dismantling programs that protect vulnerable families from housing discrimination, while New York’s housing crisis continues to worsen, leaving thousands of people technically housed but living in overcrowded and doubled-up homes.
Time limits on housing assistance do not address the root cause of housing instability, which is a major contributor to poverty, and instead of reducing public costs, they can lead to increased costs downstream in emergency services, homelessness, foster care, health care, and incarceration.
Senator Angelique Ashby has introduced Senate Bill 802, which would establish a new regional agency to coordinate housing and homelessness programs across Sacramento County, in an effort to address the region’s persistent housing and homelessness crisis.
The Sacramento Area Council of Governments has released a draft plan for the 2025 Blueprint, which aims to accommodate 580,000 new residents, 278,000 new homes, and 263,000 jobs by 2050, while promoting equity, transportation efficiency, and climate resilience, and is open for public comment until August 8.
Hope Landing, a newly converted permanent supportive housing complex in Sacramento’s Arden area, provides 124 units for seniors exiting homelessness and offers a full suite of on-site services to help them build long-term independence.