In a survey given to 375 homeless people in 2009 and 2010, the Sacramento Housing Alliance found that 30 percent of the homeless population reported that transportation was the largest barrier to employment and a new program is planned to help. Paratransit’s Mobility Training and Job Search Shuttle for the Homeless, commonly known as Wheels to Work, launched Wednesday morning at the Volunteers of America Family Center, 470 Bannon St. Wheels to Work is a program dedicated to providing homeless and low-income earners with transportation and mobile job training by means of two large vans. The vans are designed to give homeless men and women access to job training and transportation that is

Officials of the Sacramento County announced in a press release Tuesday that it has identified and will provide $150,000 to fund emergency shelter programs for homeless families this winter becoming the lowest amount of funding to date. The funding will go toward Winter Shelter – a program designated to operate during the cold and wet winter months which provides beds and individual apartments to homeless families that are unable to find housing in the county’s already-overcrowded shelters. The Department of Human Assistance identified the funding from salary savings, according to Kerri Aiello, spokeswoman for the county, because there was a delay in hiring in the department. The depart

Taking into consideration the results of the 2011 Homeless Count conducted in January, Sacramento County would need to provide about 1,000 beds in emergency homeless shelters to ensure that everyone has a roof over their heads this winter. Thursday morning, members of the local media, Loaves and Fishes community, Sacramento Housing Alliance and the homeless community gathered for a brief press conference at Friendship Park – the heart of the program and community center for the homeless community, providing multiple services for its guests – and discussed the lack of public allocated funding for emergency homeless shelters this winter. In what is expected to be a cold and wet winter sea

The 4th Annual Sacramento Homeless Connect event will take place this Saturday, May 21 at Sacramento City College from 10:00 am-3:00 pm. It is hosted by Sacramento Steps Forward, with support from presenting sponsor The Salvation Army. Speakers at the event include Assemblymember Roger Dickinson, Mayor Kevin Johnson and Supervisor Phil Serna. Over 1,000 homeless guests are expected; additionally the event hosts 500 community volunteers and over 60 different service providers. Project Homeless Connect is a national Best Practice model for bringing services directly to homeless folks. Started in San Francisco, it now occurs in over 150 communities across the country. Homeless Connect events

Everyone wants "affordable" housing. But few people know what that is. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has defined affordable housing as no more than 30 percent of a household's income. That means you shouldn't be paying more than 30 percent of your income for housing — whether mortgage payments or rent — plus utilities each month. "People think affordable housing means just one thing. But it doesn't," said Sandra Hamameh, program director for the Sacramento Housing Alliance. "It means being able to afford a place to live, at whatever stage you're in in your life." Levels of affordability are also based on an area's median incomes. The median incomes for Sacramento

A proposal is in the works to create one of the largest permanent supportive housing projects in the city. The $41 million building at Seventh and H streets also is poised to become the city's newest single-resident occupancy, or SRO, structure. The infill project would feature sustainable design and materials, so the developers and architects will ask the U.S. Green Building Council to certify it as a sustainable building. But perhaps most unique about the public-private project being developed by Mercy Housing and the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency is that it would offer support services to formerly homeless people in innovative and mixed-population permanent housing. Its

What if community residents wanted to gain access to fresh fruits and vegetables in their fast-food-filled district? What if a community group wanted to obtain more social services in a high-need area? Making those arguments is especially daunting if opposing special interests have more money and better information. One organization – Healthy City – is leveling the playing field so all Californians can now turn their passion into action. Healthy City unites community voices with rigorous research and innovative technologies to solve the root causes of social inequity. They provide detailed information for service referrals, easy-to-use data, and technical assistance to help communities fu

Thursday afternoon, about 50 seniors, homeless and other community members participated in the Sacramento Housing Alliance Affordable Housing Bus Tour. The tour surveyed 10 different housing options and stopped to provide in-depth tours of three housing complexes. Guided by Shamus Roller, director of the SHA, Ken Cross, CEO of Sacramento Habitat for Humanity and Paul Ainger, Mercy Housing project developer, the four-hour tour began and ended at the SHA office in Midtown. "It's important to know what affordable housing means," Ainger said. According to the federal government, housing is considered "affordable" when a person renting or buying it spends no more than 30 percent of his or her