Affordable housing complex opens in Sacramento for low-income LGBTQ seniors
'Lavender Courtyard by Mutual Housing' is located in Sacramento's Lavender Heights district
'Lavender Courtyard by Mutual Housing' is located in Sacramento's Lavender Heights district
'Lavender Courtyard by Mutual Housing' is located in Sacramento's Lavender Heights district
On the corner of 16th and F Streets in Sacramento's Lavender Heights district is a new housing complex called "Lavender Courtyard by Mutual Housing."
The 53-unit community focuses on serving low-income LGBTQ seniors. Residents started moving into the apartments in May, and organizers say there is already a waitlist.
Twenty-four of the units are reserved for seniors coming out of homelessness, in partnership with Sacramento County.
Mutual Housing California, the Sacramento nonprofit behind the project, says it is Sacramento's first LGBTQ-affirming senior housing community.
"Historically, people looking for affordable housing can face discrimination," Roberto Jimenez, CEO of Mutual Housing California, said. "That's particularly true for the LGBTQ community."
Jimenez said the primary source of funding for the complex is federal housing tax credits, along with help from the State of California, Sacramento County, and the city of Sacramento.
Private funding has also helped make the decade-long dream of LBGTQ senior housing a reality.
Many of the residents have vouchers that subsidize their rent. Rents can range between the upper $200s to $1,200, according to Jimenez.
Jessie Wagster, a transgender woman who moved into the complex a few weeks ago, said she currently pays $289 a month.
Before this Lavender Courtyard, she was living in her car.
"Now I feel very safe," Wagster said. "They've made it affordable to people like myself coming off the street, to have a sense of `normalcy again."
This new affordable housing complex is opening as rents are increasing in Sacramento County.
A new report by the California Housing Partnership said the average monthly asking rent in the county is $1,625.
To afford that, the research says you need to make $31.25 per hour, which is 2.1 times the state minimum wage.