By Sara Beth Williams–
The Citrus Heights city manager has confirmed that the city has dropped its opposition to a controversial senate bill that would create a unified Sacramento Area Housing and Homelessness Agency.
Citrus Heights, along with multiple cities in the county, originally opposed the bill, Senate Bill 802, with Citrus Heights City Manager Ash Feeney saying on July 9 that the original bill sought to reallocate all federal, state and local funding, such as Community Development Block Grant funding and other affordable housing funding, from the city to the new agency, which would then administer the funds.
The bill was introduced three weeks ago by California State Sen. Angelique Ashby and received significant pushback from city mayors throughout the county, including Elk Grove, Folsom, Rancho Cordova, and Citrus Heights. Several cities sent letters of opposition against the bill, and the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors also voiced its opposition.
Supporters say the bill would create a joint powers authority that would resemble Regional Transit and other multi-jurisdictional regional agencies, with the County and each city assigning elected representatives to a seat on the agency. A key concern Citrus Heights had was the loss of local control of funding.
Many city and county leaders expressed frustration with a lack of collaboration about the bill and the quick turnaround time of the bill, which was introduced right before an Assembly Committee on Housing and Community Development hearing. Recently, Supervisor Rich Desmond spoke out and asked Ashby to pause her efforts and collaborate with local leaders.
In an interview with The Sentinel on Wednesday, Feeney said Ashby has since been more open to collaborating with Citrus Heights.
“Several meetings have been held since the letter of opposition was sent,” Feeney said, adding that originally, the city had significant concerns regarding some language of the bill and that they have been able to express those concerns to Ashby. During the July 9 City Council meeting, Feeney said since the end of June, he, along with the League of Cities, met with Ashby, and Citrus Heights Mayor Jayna Karpinski-Costa participated in a group meeting with Ashby along with other mayors from throughout Sacramento County.
Upon further discussion with the senator, Feeney said Ashby plans to change the language in the bill to allow for cities to maintain local control of various funding received annually. Feeney said the city’s position is now “neutral” on the bill, since “she has agreed to make those amendments.”
Asked whether he had authority to change the city’s stance from oppose to “neutral” without taking it to the City Council, Feeney said, “There’s enough direction through past council actions and policy in the city that I know what bills we’re likely to oppose or what bills we’re likely to support, and if there’s something I’m unsure of, then I would want to take that to the full council — and if there’s time, that’s always great to be able to do that, but sometimes these things come up and you don’t have time to take it to a meeting before you have to take an action.”
Feeney confirmed that several city officials attended a July 16 press conference held at the state capital. In a shocking reversal to many, during the press conference, Ashby announced plans to pause her push for passing SB 802, turning it into a two-year bill, which Feeney confirmed.
But the pause comes with some conditions, according to local news outlets. Ashby outlined four things that leaders must do to meet a January deadline for change, including creating a formal governmental structure with “real” accountability, ensuring dedicated and funded resources (not volunteer-based), considering a dedicated housing and homelessness agency similar to state plans, and ensuring that efforts made include input from smaller cities.
The Sentinel reached out to all five Citrus Heights City Council members for comment on SB 802 but did not hear back before press time.
Publisher’s note: The headline of this story has been updated to clarify that the city’s position is contingent on the bill being amended to protect local control of funding.
