_14297_34265589.png){kind=logo}
From the depths of her homelessness, Jennifer Bale willed her life onto an upward trajectory. She recovered from substance abuse. She got her kids back. She got married. She got a job and a career.
Now, she’s got her own house.
For nearly a decade, Jennifer lived at Mutual Housing at the Highlands, where she and her husband took advantage of the affordable rents to save some cash. By early this year, they set enough aside to afford a down payment. In April, they went all in on a blue, three-bedroom, two-bath home in Rio Linda with big yards, a flag pole that flies the Stars and Stripes, and – to Jennifer’s amusement and delight – a white picket fence.
In mid-May, Jennifer and her husband, Mitch, and her daughter, Savannah, moved out of Mutual Housing at the Highlands and into their new home.
“It feels good – scary, but good,” Jennifer said in an interview. “My husband and me, we laugh. He’s 60 and I’m 50, and this is our first house. We’re late bloomers. But it’s all in the right time. It takes time to get to where you want to be.
“I’m just excited to have something that we own,” Jennifer added. “I can go out in the yard and dig in the dirt. I’ve started a garden.”
The family’s move coincided with a new Mutual Housing California policy that went into effect this year that encourages residents whose incomes rise substantially during their affordable stays to move out into market-rate housing, to make room for people who are in more dire economic circumstances.
“Our board really struggled with it,” Mutual Housing Asset Manager Bryan Dove said. “We were really concerned about the impact on families who would be affected. But ultimately we are an organization designed to provide housing for households in highest need.”
State and federal guidelines limit eligibility for low-income, tax-credit financed housing such as that provided by Mutual Housing to residents with incomes no higher than 60 percent of the area median income. In Sacramento County, the 60 percent limit amounts to $51,780 for a family of four, according to the tabulations the state uses. Most families enter with incomes well below this figure.
During the course of their time living in Mutual Housing communities, some residents find better jobs, or they create their own businesses, or they otherwise are able to improve their incomes. As of last May, 5 percent of Mutual Housing households had increased their income over the course of their residency to more than the 60 percent of the median.
In January, Mutual Housing established a 140 percent limit on household income eligibility, with the level adjusted up or down depending on how many people are in the family.
“At the point where families aren’t in need of affordable housing, they can afford to rent or purchase market-rate housing,” Dove said. “When a resident wants or needs help navigating options our community development staff provide support and resources. Once a resident succeeds in transitioning to their new home, we can rent the unit to another household in need.”
About a dozen families received the notice this year that they’d hit the 140 percent limit and were asked to find other places to live within six months, with community builders helping them out in the hunt for new housing.
The loss of state property tax exemptions is one key factor that is driving Mutual Housing’s decision to impose the 140 percent limit.
Nonprofit affordable housing companies such as Mutual Housing lose the exemptions for every unit they rent where the residents’ household income tops 140 percent of the area median. Dove said the exemption saves Mutual Housing anywhere from $500 to $4,000 a unit, depending on the location of the community.
Jennifer Bale said her family received its 140 percent notice this year, at which point she and Mitch, who had already been saving for the down payment, began their house search and found the one with the white picket fence in Rio Linda.
“There have been times in the past two years where we’ve talked about moving,” Jennifer said. “It just wasn’t the right time. When it came time to re-certify, I knew it was the right time.
“Six months ago, we started looking at our credit to make sure everything was in line. We talked to a loan agent and a realtor, and they cleared us for $400,000. We’re going with what we can afford, just trying to find the balance, and we found that here in Rio Linda.”
Jennifer and Mitch both work as substance abuse counselors. They supplemented their income last year through second jobs they held down as security personnel for Live Nation, the concert promotion company. The concert gigs dried up, however, with the onset of the coronavirus.
Jennifer lauded Mutual Housing for helping her over the last nine years to restore her credit and figure out her finances.
“Mutual Housing has been a stepping stone for us,” she said. “Everybody was just always really positive.”
It was a long, painful journey for Jennifer to make it to the Highlands.
She grew up in Citrus Heights, and in her high school years began experimenting with various substances. Unfortunately, her substance use spiraled out of control, and her father kicked her out of the house as a result of it when she finished high school. Her hopes and dreams derailed, she wound up on the streets as her addiction deepened. While unhoused she wound up in county jail, where she first discovered Narcotics Anonymous and met the father of her two children, Savannah, who is now 18, and Dylan, who is 22.
It took a few relapses before Jennifer reached the recovery stage 17 years ago. Before she did, CPS took her children away, and it was the county’s decision to place them in foster homes that finally motivated her to get sober. Once she regained custody of the kids, the family lived in several transition programs until she learned of Mutual Housing at the Highlands and became one of its first residents.
Along the way, she ended her relationship with her children’s father, then met and married her husband, while her kids – both of whom showed tremendous academic potential as middle-schoolers – qualified for scholarships through the Breakthrough Sacramento program to attend two of the top private high schools in the region.
Dylan, who is now 22, graduated from Jesuit High School where he played football. He now works as a security guard, lives on his own in an apartment with friends, and is preparing to apply to become a correctional officer.
Savannah, who is 18, is graduating this spring from Sacramento Country Day School with a 4.2 grade point average. She has since been accepted to UC Santa Cruz where she intends to major in biopsychology.
From the day she first moved into Mutual Housing in 2011, Jennifer said she knew that, for her, it was only temporary.
“I knew there was going to come a day when they were going to say, ‘Hey, it’s somebody else’s turn to get the benefits of the program,’” Jennifer said. “When we talked it over with the property managers at Highlands and they said, ‘We’re not evicting you. We’re celebrating your growth.’”
As for the house with the white picket fence, “I don’t know if this is where we’ll grow old forever,” Jennifer said. “But we’ll be here for a minute. Just to continue on with my journey, my work, and my husband doing the same – God has blessed us. We couldn’t have asked for better.”