WATCH: Mayor Steinberg calls for new master plan on homelessness

Sacramento (Monday, Dec. 7) Joined by Council colleagues and representatives of the business and homeless advocacy community, Mayor Darrell Steinberg Monday announced his intention to seek City Council approval for a city-wide master plan on siting and operating homeless housing solutions.

. Read Mayor Steinberg’s proposal here.

The plan would be crafted in the coming months after a series of public Council workshops to solicit input from the community. It would identify sites and include specific implementation timelines consistent with available resources. Once completed, it would be presented to Council for an up or down vote, replacing the piecemeal site-by-site approval process that has slowed the City’s effort to address the growing crisis of homelessness.

Despite an unprecedented effort by the City to stand up shelters and other facilities, the number of people experiencing homelessness in Sacramento continues to grow, Mayor Steinberg noted.

“The Covid-19 pandemic has been a major cause of the increase, but there is another clear reason we haven’t made more progress,” the Mayor wrote in a letter to the Council laying out his proposal. “Each siting decision, for a shelter, permanent supportive housing, tiny home project, converted motel, and sanctioned campground creates an individual controversy every time we try to move forward.”

 Sites could be publicly or privately owned by willing partners. Facilities could include – but are not limited to – structured tent encampments, congregate bridge shelters, tiny home villages, manufactured housing and permanent supportive housing. They could be operated by the City or by non-profit organizations, faith groups or other groups – subject to regulations to ensure the health and safety of residents. The plan would be designed to bring thousands of people indoors and prevent thousands of others from becoming homeless. Each facility would include an enhanced “good neighbor” mitigation zone.

Councilmember Jay Schenirer said Monday that after years of trying to make progress on homelessness, he is willing to to “whatever it takes” to house people and to provide services.

“We’ve done a lot of good work but the problem has continued to get worse,” Schenirer said. “You only need to drive through Sacramento and you can see that the challenges are there, on almost every block.”