Sacramento, CA (Aug. 25, 2023) - Mayor Darrell Steinberg finished his week long State of the City 2023 with part 3 at ARY Place apartments on S Street. Friday’s panel discussion focused on the future of funding affordable housing, climate and transportation.

*Mayor Steinberg addresses a full crowd at the third State of the City discussion on Friday, Aug. 25.*

ARY Place was developed by Capital Area Development Authority and CFY Development, Inc..

Part 3 Flyer

Read Mayor Darrell Steinberg’s introduction to State of the City 2023 Part 3

In my third and final State of the City forum for 2023, I want to ask all of you to think about Sacramento’s place in this state and nation.

We are the capital city of the most important and dynamic state in the union. We should be able to take bold steps when it comes to meeting our biggest challenges.

Today I choose to elevate a set of these challenges that are front and center for the state and nation but don’t get nearly the attention or the resources they deserve in our region, our county and our city. These challenges are literally life and death.

I’m talking about climate, I’m talking about clean, affordable transportation, I’m talking about the desperate need for more housing.

Here is what we experience in our city and much of our county as we strive to add the 72,000 housing units that we need by 2029.

Stockton Boulevard, a key transit corridor, is a city target for revitalization. It’s the center of Aggie Square. We need to be able to build affordable and workforce housing on a street like this if we want to have any hope of achieving our climate, transportation and housing goals. Last year we had an opportunity come along with a good developer who wanted to build 230 units, 92 of them affordable. The developer had a financing gap and needed some city assistance. That’s the way most of these projects work.

*Danielle Foster, Executive Director of CADA introduces Mayor Steinberg.*

We had to get creative, and I’m proud of the fact that we found the money by structuring a $15 million, 10-year loan from the city’s risk management fund at a higher return than we would have made with our usual investments.

Thanks again Danielle for your creativity in finding ways to get things done.

While I’m proud that we found an answer, it shouldn’t have been so hard. We are starved for funding when it comes to facilitating the projects we desperately want and need.

Stockton Boulevard is just one example. All over our city and county we have similar projects that go unbuilt for lack of local funding.

When it comes to our roads, we know perfectly well that many of them are dangerous and discouraging for both pedestrians and cyclists. Marysville Boulevard is known as one of the deadliest corridors in the city. It needs $20 million worth of work to narrow the traffic lanes, install separated bike lines and add pedestrian crossings. Projects like this help our climate effort by encouraging people to get out of their cars and bike or walk to their destinations.

We’re looking for grant funding.

*Cathy Creswell (center) responds to a question from Mayor Steinberg flanked Gabby Trejo from SacACT (left) and Steve Cohn (right), former City Councilmember*

When it comes to transit, leaders have talked for decades about installing bus rapid transit lanes on major arterials. It’s one of the most cost-effective ways to attract more riders and reduce greenhouse gases. But we have not had the money to make that happen.

What are we going to do as a county and a city to come up with the local match money we need to pull down more state and federal dollars and partner with the private sector to build a greener, safer, region, where everyone can afford a place to live?

I think back over the local transportation measures in recent election cycles and I can’t help but think of Einstein’s definition of insanity: Doing the same thing over and over and yet expecting a different result.

The formula for the past decade has been well worn, and well-intended by many elected officials and community leaders (explain). And yet it has failed, both at the two-thirds threshold and even when a majority vote was possible to pass a measure.

Each past measure put a big emphasis on new roads. Some money to fix roads, and less than half set aside for transit and safer streets. No climate focus. No connection to the Blueprint, which was adopted unanimously by the region on a bi-partisan basis to ensure Sacramento meets our targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions – as required by a bill drafted by some state legislator in 2007.

The voters in 2022 saw right through it.

It’s time to change. It’s time to set a new direction.

This morning, I propose that the city and the county, through the Sacramento Transportation Authority, place onto the 2024 ballot a fundamentally different measure than we’ve seen before.

Rather than billions on new roads, which harm the climate, especially without full mitigation, I propose a half cent sales tax that will raise $8 billion to $9 billion over 40 years, invested directly into an unprecedented county-wide housing trust fund, public transportation, and safer streets.

Read the FULL Proposal

Call it the Climate, Clean Transportation, and Affordable Housing Act of 2024.

For housing, up to $3 billion:

Up to three quarters should go to new housing, including:

Permanent supportive housing
Efficiency housing, including modular construction
Affordable home ownership opportunities
Low and very-low income housing
Student and workforce housing
Mixed income projects

*Gabby Trejo comments on the proposal detailed in Mayor Steinberg’s speech. From left to right, Dr. Luke Wood, Gabby Trejo, Cathy Creswell, Steve Cohn, and Mayor Bobbie Singh-Allen.*

Up to one quarter should go to keep people stably housed. We know that for every homeless person we get into housing, three lose their housing. Prevention is a big part of the cure here. It’s similar to what were doing to prevent displacement around Aggie Square:

Housing rehabilitation and repair assistance
Emergency rent payments
Mortgage assistance
Home ownership support and counseling

Up to $3 billion for public transit and innovative transportation.

Expand multiple bus rapid transit corridors with dedicated bus lanes that preempt traffic signals.
Expand service and frequency on existing transit lines
Increase service by 90 percent on existing lines, 60 percent growth in service overall, including on the gold line to Folsom.
Fleet replacement
Express bus service, including inter-county

Up to $3 billion for safe streets and active transportation

Protected bike lanes.
Walkable streets with sidewalks
Implement Vision Zero plan on our streets to reduce pedestrian fatalities and injuries.
249 miles of new paved trails in every city and the unincorporated county for bicyclists and pedestrians
Car sharing, micro-transit
Last, but not least, repairs to worn down roads with an equity lens to prioritize disadvantaged neighborhoods where the roads are often in the roughest shape and pose the greatest hazard.

The old way says: What does housing have to do with transit? STA is a transportation agency, how can they put a housing and transportation measure on the ballot? The old way says this will never pass.

*President of Sacramento State, Dr. Luke Wood talks about the intersection of education, affordable housing and transit.*

Let me respond. It’s time to shake off the old way of thinking and look at the new possibilities. Housing is not only our most urgent need, having infill housing on commercial corridors is in fact the main ingredient for making transit work. We will never achieve the maximum impact of our transit investments unless transit is near where people actually live in numbers large enough to support it.

Does STA have the authority to put a housing and transit measure on the ballot. I think they do, but if there is a question, let’s go to the Legislature and give them the authority.

Can it pass? The coalition we put together for the right approach might look different, than the coalition before. To my friends in the building trades, join us. Building the housing and the infrastructure needed to support it will require working men and women to do this important work.

Whatever 2023 polling shows, it’s WAY early.

In truth, the case for this kind of measure is being made every day, whether or not we’ve caught up and changed our approach to reflect it. The public can easily see the dire need for affordable housing as they witness the proliferation of tent encampments here and in other high-cost housing markets of the West coast.

Nature may be the most convincing messenger of them all. A hurricane in California. Hundreds dead and a historic town obliterated in Maui. Rain in August. The fact that – bit by bit -- our summers are becoming inexorably hotter.

*A crowd of approximately 150 people were present in the soon to be finished community room at ARY Place apartments on S Street.*

We haven’t seen anything yet I’m afraid.

The public knows what’s important. This is the start of a conversation that ultimately will lead to a better approach for the voters as early as November 2024. Let the discussion and the negotiations begin!

Percentages may change. And I believe we should consider some local flexibility in defining the priorities for the county and each of its seven cities.

I greatly appreciate the fact that Mayor Bobbie Singh Allen of Elk Grove is here today on our panel. Sacramento County Board of Supervisors Chair Rich Desmond would have been here as well but had a conflict. I know there’s a lot of work and negotiating to do, but I greatly appreciate the spirit of collaboration from both of these regional leaders. Allow me to quote Supervisor Desmond:

“I recently met with Mayor Steinberg and other local elected leaders to discuss a future Sacramento County transportation measure that would address some of our biggest transportation-related challenges: roadway repair and maintenance, housing along transit routes, and accessible public transit. As Chair of the Sacramento Transportation Authority, I applaud Mayor Steinberg for his focus on tackling our transportation issues in a way that promotes cooperation. Although different municipalities may have different needs and priorities for funding withing these three categories, I support a construct that highlights the challenges we collectively face in Sacramento County while maintaining flexibility. I look forward to continue working with Mayor Steinberg and all my fellow elected officials on this issue.”