As we have said before, a lack of affordable housing isn't much of a problem hereabouts compared with other areas. The zip code where the apartments are being built is a transient community, with 3/4 of the housing stock occupied by renters. Unlike most of Sacramento County, our housing stock is loaded with apartments. Both Arden Arcade's median rental prices and median incomes are below average for the county. It's one thing to have our Board of Supervisors insist that it is our community's duty to stand aside and let speculators build more cheap apartments. Beyond that, it is difficult to understand when people who don't live or spend time here say the same thing.

The apartments are being built by a developer using tax subsidy financing from both the state and the federal government. That public financing is at risk due to a citizens' lawsuit that will be heard in court next month. The suit contends that Sacramento County's approval relied on improper procedures by refusing to evaluate the impacts of the project and, hence, failing to discover and mitigate adverse effects. The citizens believe their case is strong. By barging ahead, the developer is clearly stating otherwise. In reality, the outcome is out of their hands --  it will be up to a judge.

Along the way, some groups in the region who ought to be concerned about letting Sacramento County do whatever it feels like doing have declined to engage within our community. Still others have lined up with the County. There is even a group of affordable housing proponents that has asked to help the County fight the citizens' suit. That affordable housing group apparently doesn't know that our community already hosts a whole lot of affordable housing units. Or that our public transportation system is inadequate. Or that the citizens' suit challenges the project's approval procedures, not its purpose. The web site of that affordable housing entity claims to work with communities, but it is pretty clear that's not happened in this case. Instead of studying actual facts, laying eyeballs on a place, and talking with residents and businesses to learn what's really going on, their position seems to have been taken from afar.