By Lizeth Tello, Sacramento News & Review

For more than half a century, California has experienced a prolonged affordable housing crisis as the state’s population outpaced housing construction.

Earlier this year, the California Housing Partnership released a housing needs report stating that the state had funded over 23,000 new affordable homes last year. But despite the increase in new homes, it funded only 20% of what California needed in order to meet its goal of 119,287 funded homes.

A county-specific report was released earlier this month by the same organization, stating that Sacramento County experienced a 12% increase in state and federal funding for housing production and preservation in the 2024-25 fiscal year. According to data from 2024, Sacramento still had a housing gap of over 50,000 households.

Solving Sacramento spoke with Greta Soos, the senior planner for the City of Sacramento’s Community Development Department, on the city’s progress in addressing the housing crisis and what it’s doing differently.