New affordable housing under construction at site of former vacant office building on Broadway

Sacramento (Aug. 3, 2023) A formerly vacant office building at 19th and Broadway is being replaced with 140 units of affordable housing made possible in part by funding sources created by the work of Mayor Darrell Steinberg when he served in the Legislature.

Mayor Steinberg joined state and local officials Thursday to break ground for On Broadway. The first Sacramento project from EAH Housing, On Broadway will include 37 units funded by the Mental Health Services Act and reserved for people with serious mental illness who are either homeless or at risk of becoming so.

The mayor authored the Mental Health Services Act while serving in the Assembly. People living in the MHSA-funded units will receive behavioral health services from Sacramento County.

Situated next to a light rail line, the project also received $29 million in housing and transit improvement funding from the state’s Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Program, created through negotiations between Mayor Steinberg and former Gov. Jerry Brown. The program uses 20 percent of the proceeds from the state’s auction of carbon emissions credits to fund affordable housing projects that reduce carbon emissions through proximity to public transit, jobs, and routes for biking and walking.

Mayor Steinberg noted that On Broadway is one of several significant improvements coming to the Broadway corridor, including a $15 million revamp that will make it much more welcoming for pedestrians and cyclists.

“To inject this ray of hope for people who deserve the dignity of being housed and to revitalize this historic business corridor, what could be better than that?’ Mayor Steinberg said.

Councilmember Katie Valenzuela, who represents much of the Broadway corridor, said projects like On Broadway are vital to preventing more people from becoming homeless. “This is what moving upstream looks like,” she said. “We need more projects like this.”