
The lawsuit argues that the City of Elk Grove failed to follow a number of recent state laws intended to accelerate development of exactly this type of much-needed affordable housing. They are an important part of the solution to the county and state’s growing homelessness crisis. In the Sacramento region, these projects have a 95% success rate at keeping people housed, with an average length of tenancy of nine years. Supportive housing like the Oak Rose Apartments provides long-term housing and services to previously unhoused residents. At this point, we have no choice but to ask for the court’s assistance to get this project the green light that it legally deserves.”Įlk Grove’s unhoused population is between 100-150 people, according to city estimates, and due to the city’s severe shortage of affordable housing, Elk Grove is required to build more than 4,200 units of new housing for very-low and low-income households in the next eight years. We followed all the applicable laws and regulations in designing the project, and we have exhausted every avenue with the city to get them to approve the project. We are a private company that legally bought the land from another private party. “Our goal is to create a beautiful apartment building in a nice neighborhood that offers Elk Grove’s most vulnerable residents a safe, comfortable, and affordable place to live and receive much-needed services. Oak Rose Apartments is a solution to this problem,” said Dana Trujillo, CEO of Excelerate Housing Group. “Like other cities in California, Elk Grove’s homeless population is rising, and the city does not have enough affordable homes with the necessary services to support those with the highest needs. Following the city’s decision, complaints were filed by housing advocates, including the Sacramento Housing Alliance, to the California Department of Housing and Community Development’s Housing Accountability Unit, which subsequently opened an investigation into the city’s actions. The two housing providers who partnered on the project, Excelerate Housing Group, a newly established woman-owned company founded by an experienced affordable housing developer, and Hope Cooperative, a Sacramento-based nonprofit that provides homeless supportive services, filed a lawsuit with the Sacramento County Superior Court saying the city “unlawfully ignored” state laws that should have allowed the project to move forward and improperly denied requested approvals. The proposed Oak Rose Apartments project, a three-story building designed to provide permanent housing and supportive services for low-income households who have experienced homelessness, was rejected by the Elk Grove City Council in July - with city officials falsely claiming the project did not meet local “objective standards.” ELK GROVE, Octo– A partnership between affordable housing and homeless service providers, Oak Rose Apts LP, filed a lawsuit today against the City of Elk Grove for unlawfully rejecting a new, 67-unit affordable housing project designed to house formerly homeless households on what is now an empty lot in Old Town Elk Grove.
