The Abridged version:
- The Rocklin City Council unanimously approved a $2.23 million loan Tuesday to help fund The Steven, a 180-unit affordable senior apartment complex near Sierra College Boulevard.
- The project is part of College Park, a 900-unit, mixed-use development tied to Sierra College. The Steven will serve residents 55 and older earning between 30% and 70% of area median income.
- Placer County needs more than 7,300 additional affordable rental homes to meet current demand, according to a 2025 report from the California Housing Partnership.
The Rocklin City Council voted Tuesday to approve a $2.23 million loan to help build The Steven, a 180-unit affordable senior apartment complex off Rocklin Road near Sierra College Boulevard — the latest piece of a years-long effort to bring affordable housing to a fast-growing stretch of the city tied to Sierra College.
The complex is designated for seniors 55 and older, though developer USA Properties Fund said exact age eligibility could be adjusted closer to when units become available. It will offer 178 one- and two-bedroom units available to households earning between 30% and 70% of area median income, roughly $650 to $1,850 per month.
Fifty-six of those units are reserved for the lowest-income residents. Two additional units are set aside for on-site managers.
Part of a larger vision
The Steven will sit on 7.3 acres at the northeastern edge of College Park, a 108-acre, roughly 900-unit mixed-use development spread across two sites on either side of Sierra College.
The broader project was developed through a partnership between Sierra College, Evergreen Sierra East LLC and Cresleigh Homes. It includes three-story triplexes, a four-story condominium complex, a four-story apartment building and single-family homes woven through parks, trails and open space.
Those three entities have collectively contributed about $5.1 million toward The Steven, according to city records. The 178 affordable units at The Steven represent 20% of College Park’s total unit count.
Planned amenities include an outdoor pool, fitness room, dog park, resident clubhouse and two landscaped courtyards with walking paths. Residents will also have access to support services through the J.B. Brown Fund and LifeSTEPS, a nonprofit that helps seniors access programs tied to housing stability.
Making the numbers work
The Steven has been years in the works. USA Properties first requested the loan in 2023, and the city issued a preliminary commitment in March 2024. USA Properties then secured 4% tax credits and bond financing (tools commonly used to fund affordable housing construction) in December 2025 before the loan was formally approved Tuesday.
The $2.23 million loan comes from Rocklin’s Low and Moderate Income Housing Asset Fund, established as part of the city’s broader Affordable Housing Incentive Program. That fund can contribute up to $40,000 per extremely low- or very low-income unit toward projects like The Steven.
The program carries a 3% interest rate and will be repaid from the project’s residual receipts, meaning whatever revenue remains after senior loans and operating expenses are covered. The city will disburse the funds in four equal installments, with the final payment tied to a certificate of occupancy, and affordability covenants on the property are locked in for 57 years.
Placer County needs 7,319 more affordable rental homes to meet current demand, according to a 2025 report from the California Housing Partnership. Affordable housing developers typically require multiple financing sources to make projects financially viable.
The council unanimously approved the loan as part the consent calendar, a grouping of routine items voted on without discussion. Construction is expected to begin early summer 2026.
Keyla Vasconcellos is a Sacramento-based freelance journalist.