Here’s some good news for cash-strapped seniors looking for an affordable place to live in still-pricey Roseville:

Housing help is on the way.

Officials broke ground Thursday on Eskaton Roseville Manor, the first phase of which includes a 48-unit apartment complex for low-income seniors age 62 and up.

“What’s really nice about this project is that extremely low-income seniors that are on Social Security and maybe worked all of their life will have a nice place to live,” said Jan Shonkwiler, the city’s housing programs manager.

Expected to open 14 months from now, the facility at 1725 Pleasant Grove Blvd. across from the Sun City Roseville retirement community will be one of just two senior complexes in Roseville open to “extremely low-income” seniors. That’s defined as those making 30 percent of the city’s median income, or $15,300 a year.

Roseville has eight low, very-low or extremely-low-income senior complexes, comprising some 1,100 apartments. But demand is still high for the units, which are affordable to their tenants because they are subsidized through the federal low-income housing program called Section 8.

“The last time we opened for Section 8, we had 4,000 applications, and most of the people on that program, about 70 percent, are seniors,” Shonkwiler said.

The new facility isn’t the only one slated to come online soon.

In October of this year, The Corners Senior Apartments is slated to open in Roseville’s Westpark development. It will add 150 units – 75 reserved for seniors making 50 percent or less of Placer County’s median income, and the rest for those making 60 percent or less.

The projects help the city achieve a self-imposed mandate in 1988 to make 10 percent of new-construction units affordable. Developers are required to comply by setting aside a portion of their projects for low-income residents.

Cathy Sailor, an operations director at Eskaton, said the new complex will feature one-bedroom units, a community center and will be indistinguishable from market-rate properties.

“At Eskaton, our mission is to provide innovative housing and services to seniors,” Sailor said.

But getting them built is no easy task.

Securing funding – largely through several federal and state housing grants – has taken the better part of this decade.

“It’s not just one funding source; we have to cobble together all the different funding sources to make these projects work,” Shonkwiler said.

Funding includes $500,000 from the city’s Redevelopment Agency, $3.4 million from a federal-state grant process called HOME, and $5.8 million in federal Housing and Urban Development funding.

Eskaton must continue to find funding to complete additional phases to meet its low-income requirement from its Eskaton Village Roseville, its market-rate development off Diamond Creek Boulevard.

For information on Eskaton Roseville Manor, call 334-0810.