The 234 Apartment

David Engberg wheels through the third apartment he’s had in two years. PHOTO BY KARLOS RENE AYALA David Engberg and James Clark cling to their independence by a thread. Both men were born with cerebral palsy and live off Supplemental Security Income , or SSI—a stipend that puts them under the federal poverty line . So far, they’ve managed to keep a roof over their heads by splitting the cost of rent. But since the affordable housing crisis hit , the roommates have been priced out of two apartments in just two years. The stressful shuffling was witnessed by Jennifer Schmidt, their case manager at InAlliance, a nonprofit that provides employment and living services for people with disabilities. Advocates such as Schmidt are becoming increasingly alarmed by the way skyrocketing rents are affecting Sacramento County ’s 14, 000 disabled residents . Several independent surveys suggest Sacramento is experiencing some of the largest rent increases in the nation. Few feel those tectonic ma...

Sacramento police on Thursday released body -camera images from a controversial encounter last month in which an officer grabbed the arm of a pregnant woman who moments later fell to the ground. The department released a statement saying officials decided to post the dramatic and, at times, profane video, which is broken into four clips, on YouTube because they’re dedicated to transparency. On July 9, a police license - plate reader detected a stolen vehicle, according to the statement, and officers soon found the car and detained a female driver. But police then began looking for a male suspect, who they say had an outstanding warrant and was last seen at an apartment complex in northern Sacramento . Officers eventually went to the complex and spotted a man who police say closely matched the suspect’s description seated outside the apartments. Police said the man ran inside and locked the door. In the first clip, the officer wearing the body camera charges toward the apartment sh...

We know the problem well. We live it. Other than Hawaii, California has the ignominious distinction of leading the nation in housing costs, and not by a little. A San Francisco apartment costs more than one in New York City. A Silicon Valley home is beyond reach of all but the wealthy. A 2015 Legislative Analyst’s Office report said homes here cost two and a half times more than the average national price . It gets worse by the day. Companies expand elsewhere because workers can’t afford to live here. For workers who stay, commutes are interminable because they live far from their jobs. It has taken California decades to get into this mess. Consider what’s coming to be a down payment. No fewer than 15 housing- related bills awaited legislators upon their return Monday. Some would provide tax incentives so the working poor can afford decent housing , and homeless people can find shelter. Others would streamline approval for new homes so millennials can own a piece of the American dr...

In a few overbuilt downtowns , apartment rents are starting to fall. But experts claim that demand for apartment units continues to be so strong, the trend won’t last for long. “The story in these markets is the apartment story writ large : the high levels of apartment construction are not enough to house the 1.2 million or so new households formed each year without increased single-family construction,” says John Affleck, research strategist with the CoStar Group. Apartment rents are still growing, but not as quickly as they had been, in markets across the country, according to research firm RealPage Inc. Rent growth is slowing the most in a handful of cities where developers have opened thousands of new apartments recently. Rents fall in Houston In Houston, rents dropped by 1.6 percent on average over the past year, according to RealPage. In the top “urban core” neighborhoods where developers have opened the most new apartments, rents have fallen by more th...