02/26/2026
MEDIA RELEASE
February 26, 2026
Community members, advocates and Three Nonprofit Legal Firms Rally to Urge Riverside City Council to Reconsider Decision Effectively Halting Permanent Supportive Housing for Persons with Disabilities, Citing Liability Under State and Federal Anti-Discrimination Laws.
WHEN: Press Conference, Noon, Tuesday, March 3rd at Riverside City Hall
Contacts:
Dan H. Hoxworth [email protected] (802) 505-8392
Maribel Nunez, Inland Equity Community Land Trust, [email protected] (562) 569-4051
Ugochi Anaebere-Nicholson, Esq., The Public Interest Law Project (323)-270-3281, [email protected]
The Inland Counties Legal Services (ICLS), the American Civil Liberties Union SoCal (ACLU) and the Public Interest Law Project (PILP) to outline their legal concerns in a six page letter to the Mayor of Riverside and Chair of the Big City’s Major Coalition, Patricia Lock Dawson and the 7 City Councilmembers concerning their recent decision
to reject a multi-million dollar grant to build a much-needed permanent supportive housing project in the City of Riverside (City).
By voting down a $20.1 million State HomeKey+ grant dedicated to long-term affordable housing, the City has denied opportunities for housing a segment of its unhoused residents , including, seniors, veterans, unhoused persons, and justice-impacted persons. The denial adversely impacts people most in need of housing, including individuals with disabilities, and may subject the City to liability under federal and state anti-discrimination laws.
According to the City’s May 20, 2025 Staff Report, the project, Riverside Housing Development Corporation (RHDC), an experienced affordable housing developer and property manager, submitted a joint Homekey + application to acquire and convert 114 motel rooms into studio units located at 1590 University Avenue and would have covered operating costs. RHDC proposed to create 94 new permanent supportive housing units at 30% of area median income ($21,500 for a one-person household) and 20 affordable housing units at 50% of area median income ($35,900 for a one-person household). Eighteen (18) of the proposed units would have been reserved for individuals with mobility disabilities.
The project to build these 114 affordable housing units with state grant funding was championed by Councilmember Clarissa Cervantes, the only woman and Latina on the council, and it would have been built in District 2, which she represents. The council voted 4-3 to deny the project, with the four ‘no’ votes coming from Philip Falcone, Steven Robillard, Chuck Conder, and Sean Mill. Housing advocates and legal experts in the region argue this vote was based on discriminatory animus and unfounded stereotypes against the people who would have benefited from the 114 affordable housing unit project.
In addition, in a letter to the City dated February 10, 2026, legal groups warned that this act of the City Council likely violated the City’s own Housing Element, Goals, Policies and Programs, including the City’s Housing First policy, adopted in 2018. The City’s Sixth Cycle Housing Element (2021-2029) reflected that approximately 587 people are without access to housing in the City, a number that is likely higher given the cost burden and low vacancy rates associated with housing in the City, which disproportionately affects the City’s senior and people of color populations. (See 2021-2029 Housing Element City of Riverside, available at the following link: 2022-09 Final Certified HE Technical Background Report.pdf, last visited on February 26, 2026, at pp. 14, 34-38, 48; Table AFFH-7: Cost Burden by Race, p. 215; Table AFFH-8: Cost Burden by Elderly and Large Households, p. 215; Table AFFH-21 Overpayment by Renters, p. 217; Table AFFH-22 Overpayments by Homeowners, p. 218.)
Furthermore, in rejecting the 114 affordable housing unit project, the City Council faces significant additional financial, funding, and enforcement consequences including potential revocation of the City of Riverside’s Pro-Housing designation by the State’s Housing and Community Development Department (HCD) as noted in a letter dated February 10, 2026 from HCD. The loss of this status would cost the City priority access to millions of dollars of state grants, further impending any further affordable housing projects.
The opposing Councilmembers presented no alternative affordable housing solutions or any funding option for future projects. Housing advocates say that access to housing is vital for health and wellbeing, and that multiple health conditions dramatically increase without access to housing. Last year in Riverside County, 140 people died without access to housing.
