- “Downzoning multifamily sites during an unprecedented housing crisis is unjustified and will further exacerbate the hardships too many Sacramentans face in finding housing they can afford and violates state legal requirements to affirmatively further fair housing.” – Sacramento Housing Alliance
By Vanguard Staff
SACRAMENTO — The Sacramento Housing Alliance is calling on city leaders to reject a developer’s appeal to downzone key parcels in Crocker Village from multifamily to single-family housing, arguing that such a move would worsen Sacramento’s housing crisis, undermine state housing laws, and betray commitments to fair housing.
In a letter sent on August 28 to Mayor Kevin McCarty and the Sacramento City Council, the Housing Alliance urged the Council to uphold the Planning Commission’s decision to deny the downzoning of the multifamily parcel and to reconsider the approval of downzoning for the Flex Parcel. “Downzoning multifamily sites during an unprecedented housing crisis is unjustified and will further exacerbate the hardships too many Sacramentans face in finding housing they can afford and violates state legal requirements to affirmatively further fair housing,” the letter stated.
The group said the city has a serious unmet need for housing affordable to lower-income residents and that any reduction in multifamily sites will only push that goal further out of reach. “We need more affordable housing NOW! Don’t reduce the opportunity to build housing affordable to families struggling to make ends meet,” the organization wrote in its public statement.
The Housing Alliance stressed that Crocker Village has long been planned as a mixed-use, transit-friendly community where multifamily sites would be critical to meeting Sacramento’s housing goals. The current developer now seeks to replace those sites with high-end single-family housing, which the Alliance argues would not meet the needs of working families. “Keep the City’s commitment to creating opportunities for ALL in Crocker Village—a community close to transit, groceries, and parks,” the statement said. “Downzoning will break that promise and lock families out of a great place to call home.”
The letter identified six reasons why the appeal should be denied. The first centered on California’s requirement to affirmatively further fair housing. “Converting a high-density, multi-family site in Crocker Village—a high-resource area with access to excellent schools, transit, and amenities—into single-family housing directly is inconsistent with that duty and would violate state law,” the group wrote. The Alliance added that downzoning “reduces opportunities for moderate and low-income and BIPOC families to live in one of Sacramento’s most opportunity-rich neighborhoods.”
Second, the Alliance cited the City’s Housing Element, which requires identifying and preserving multifamily housing sites in high-resource areas. The group argued that “approving this appeal would eliminate one of the few viable parcels available for multi-family development in Crocker Village and create additional pressure to identify and rezone alternative sites—an increasingly difficult task given the scarcity of appropriate vacant land.”
Third, the organization said downzoning would contradict several General Plan land use policies. “City Staff and the Planning Commission got it right in denying the downzoning of the Multifamily Parcel because it is inconsistent with land use policies in the City’s updated General Plan, including LUP-2.4, 4.1, 5.3, 6.2, and 6.6., the Curtis Park Village Planned Unit Development, and the Greater Land Park Community Plan,” the letter explained. These plans emphasize a mix of housing types, higher density near transit, and stronger support for transit infrastructure investments.
Fourth, the Alliance said Sacramento’s status as the first city in California to achieve a Prohousing Designation could be jeopardized. “That recognition is undermined if the City begins reducing multi-family opportunities in neighborhoods where this type of housing is limited,” the group wrote. “Prohousing must mean protecting, not diminishing, the supply of sites that can support higher-density housing.”
The fifth point underscored the city’s desperate need for multifamily housing. “Eliminating a prime site in a high opportunity area puts the dream of a safe, accessible, and affordable place to live further out of reach for Sacramento residents,” the Alliance said.
The sixth reason addressed the Planning Commission’s approval of downzoning the Flex Parcel. The Housing Alliance argued that the findings used to justify the change were unsupported by evidence. “It is difficult to fathom how the City meaningfully considered the impact of this downzoning on the housing needs of the City or region,” the letter stated, pointing to Sacramento’s housing production shortfall. The group noted that Sacramento should be producing over 4,000 units per year to meet its regional housing need of more than 35,000 new homes, but in 2024 only about 2,400 units were produced.
The Alliance also said the approval of single-family development on the Flex Parcel was detrimental to the public’s welfare. “Downzoning to significantly fewer units and more expensive units is detrimental to the health, convenience and welfare of many of the low-income workers throughout both Crocker Village and the surrounding neighborhoods,” the letter explained. It cited a California Housing Partnership study showing that essential workers such as home health aides, childcare workers, retail clerks, janitors, and medical assistants cannot afford the average asking rent in Sacramento, nor the prices of single-family homes in the neighborhood.
The group warned that shifting away from multifamily development would reduce use of nearby public transit. “The proposed downzoning also is detrimental to greater use of the light rail station (and the public health of would-be occupants) as residents of multifamily housing are more likely to use transit than single family residents,” the Alliance wrote.
The letter further criticized language in city documents as biased against multifamily housing. It pointed to a passage describing an apartment building as “massive” and “towering” over existing homes, calling it “purposefully inflammatory” and inconsistent with the city’s legal obligations to promote integration. “The City cannot endorse such a view and meet its AFFH requirements, which include replacing segregated living patterns with truly integrated and balanced living patterns,” the Alliance wrote. The group added that the language was particularly misleading since many existing single-family homes in the area are three stories tall.
The Housing Alliance emphasized the stakes of the decision, framing it as a critical test of Sacramento’s housing policies. “Sacramento is facing a housing crisis. The City cannot afford to lose two key parcels in Crocker Village—both the multi-family site and the flex site—particularly when they are so well-positioned to meet the City’s growing housing needs while also promoting more integrated neighborhoods, transit use, and other environmental goals,” the letter said.
The group warned that approving the appeal “would set a damaging precedent, signaling that zoning for high-density housing can be undone at the request of a single developer—and at the expense of the broader community’s housing needs.”
The letter concluded with a direct appeal: “We respectfully urge the City Council to deny the appeal of the Planning Commission’s denial of the downzoning of the multifamily parcel and reconsider the Commission’s approval of the downzoning of the flex parcel. Doing so affirms Sacramento’s commitment to fair housing, meeting the housing needs of families and workers, its Housing Element, and its identity as a statewide leader in housing policy.”
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Affordable Housing City Council Crocker Village downzoning Mayor Kevin McCarty Sacramento City Council Sacramento Housing Sacramento Housing Alliance Sacramento’s housing crisis