(From Press Release – Mutual Housing California) – Mutual Housing California received final funding approvals Tuesday to build two new affordable housing communities, one of which will be the region’s first intentionally-welcoming affordable community for LGBT elders, and another for very low-income families in Yolo County.
Construction on the two communities – Lavender Courtyard by Mutual Housing in Sacramento and Mutual Housing at 5th Street in Davis – is expected to begin in October. Both communities are expected to be ready for occupancy in early 2022.
“These two communities will add to our portfolio of affordable housing for low-income households in the Sacramento and Yolo County communities,” Mutual Housing CEO Roberto Jimenez said. “Lavender Courtyard will be the region’s first intentionally-welcoming affordable housing community for LGBT elders. It has been widely documented that LGBT elders have been more susceptible to isolation, bullying, ageism and discrimination than the wider senior community. At Lavender Courtyard, we will include a wide range of resident services and activities that will bolster the LGBT culture to ensure that for the people who live at Lavender, getting older will not mean getting forgotten and abused.
“At 5th Street in Davis, the community will add dozens more affordable apartments for families that have struggled to survive amid the high cost of rent in the region, a situation that has been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic. The community will also include housing for homeless families and transitional age youth who are receiving support services from the Yolo County Health & Human Services Agency.”
The approvals by the California Tax Credit Allocation and Debt Limit Allocation Committees represent the last funding hurdles for the $26.4 million Lavender Courtyard community and the $22.2 million 
Mutual Housing at 5th Street.
Tuesday’s approvals allocated $10.7 million in state and federal low-income housing tax credits and a tax-exempt bond for the 53-apartment Lavender Courtyard community that will be built at the southeast corner of 16th and F streets in midtown Sacramento. Last Dec. 19, the state Department of Housing and Community Development approved Lavender for $11.3 million in Multifamily Housing Program funds under Proposition 1. The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation of Owings, Md., granted Lavender Courtyard $2.5 million, and the City of Sacramento has approved $1.9 million in funding from its HOME program. U.S. Bank is providing a $19.2 million construction loan while NeighborWorks Capital provided an $800,000 acquisition loan.
Lavender Courtyard will include 49 one-bedroom and four two-bedroom apartments, all for residents age 62 and up. Twenty-four of the 53 units will be reserved for elders coming out of homelessness.
Mutual Housing at 5th Street, to be built at 2050 5th Street in Davis, will consist of 38 one, two, and three-bedroom apartments in a single three-story building. Its residents will include very low and extremely low-income families, with 16 apartments reserved for residents participating in a mix of Yolo County programs that support both homeless families and transitional age youth. The tax credit and debt limit allocation committees on Tuesday approved $10 million in low income housing tax credits and a tax-exempt bond for 5th Street. The community had previously received $9.4 million from the state’s Proposition 1 funds.
Mutual Housing California obtained the one-acre parcel and a $2 million contribution as part of an agreement with the City of Davis and The Dinerstein Companies, based out of Houston, Texas, the developer of an adjacent market-rate student housing complex that is now under construction. The community also is being funded by $414,000 in City of Davis HOME funds and $370,000 from the Federal Home Loan Bank’s Affordable Housing Program. Wells Fargo is providing a $15.3 million construction loan.
The two communities will represent the first new construction by Mutual Housing California since the second phase of the Mutual Housing at Spring Lake community broke ground in March of 2018. They will be the 21st and 22nd affordable housing communities in the Mutual Housing portfolio that already includes approximately 3,200 residents.
Founded in 1988, Mutual Housing California develops, operates and advocates for sustainable housing for the diversity of the region’s households. More than 3,200 people – nearly half of them children – live in Mutual Housing communities. Mutual Housing is a member of NeighborWorks America, a congressionally chartered nonprofit organization that supports community development nationwide.
