Recorded Live: 10:30am, Monday, August 17, 2020

Mayor Darrell Steinberg, members of the City Council and City housing staff Monday released a detailed roadmap for spending up to $62.3 million in state and federal funds coming to the City of Sacramento to address homelessness and the shortage of affordable housing.

The plan was released at a physically distanced press conference inside the new Sprung structure complex on Meadowview Road that will open in early September as a Navigation Center to shelter women and help them transition in a period of months from homelessness to permanent housing.

“This unprecedented level of funding gives our City a tremendous opportunity to implement a variety of strategies to get people into shelter, move them from shelter to permanent housing, and to prevent those in fragile housing situations from becoming homeless,” said Mayor Darrell Steinberg.

“We’ve made considerable progress, as this new Meadowview shelter demonstrates,” the Mayor added. “This plan will enable us to get thousands more people off the streets.”

Councilmember Jay Schenirer said a robust response to the growing number of people experiencing homelessness is more important than ever with the pandemic putting so many people on the financial brink. “We’re responsible for our neighbors, and if we don’t provide the support and services they need, our city won’t be successful,” he said.

The spending plan will go to the City Council for a vote on Tuesday. Some of the items have previously been approved and others are more recent proposals.

They include Mayor Steinberg’s proposal for $4 million for tiny homes to be placed on various sites around the city, a substance use respite and engagement center, the City’s share of acquiring two motels for permanent, supportive housing, 30 manufactured homes on two sites and the extension of an existing Navigation Center on North Fifth Street.

Another $5 million would be used by the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency to help prevent low-income residents behind on their rent from being evicted.

“We must do all we can to keep people housed and in programs,” said Councilmember Angelique Ashby. “These resources are critical to helping as many Sacramento families as we can possibly reach.”

Some of the spending items are part of the ongoing joint emergency response by the City, Sacramento County and Sacramento Steps Forward to prevent the spread of Covid-19 among people experiencing homelessness. These include $1.15 million to extend through December the 434 motel rooms leased with the County for people who have been exposed to Covid or have underlying risk factors. Another $4 million represents the City share of the joint City-County effort to place those housed temporarily in the motels into permanent supportive housing.

Since April 8, more than 1,100 people have been sheltered in motel rooms through this joint City-County response. The majority of these people – 621—had been homeless for more than a year. More than half were 55 or older.

City Homeless Services Coordinator Emily Halcon said the additional $4 million in additional City spending for Project RoomKey will be matched by an equal amount from the County. It will be used to permanently rehouse 500 households currently staying in the four Project RoomKey motels.

“While safe quarantine shelters were a first step to prevent the spread of Covid-19, the City, County and Sacramento Steps Forward know that the only long-term solution is permanent housing and robust support services,” Halcon said. “We know this is an ambitious goal in a short period of time, and we appreciate the support of our elected officials, as well as our community partners, to invest in permanent solutions.”

Most of the money contained in the spending plan is comprised of emergency funds allocated by the state and federal government to address the housing challenges created by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has made it imperative to get people safely indoors while putting many more people at risk of losing fragile housing.

Of the $62.3 million, the City is assured of receiving $36.12 million from four sources: an augmented federal Community Development Block Grant ($2.869 million); the federal CARES Act stimulus bill ($15.66 million) ; a federal emergency shelter grant ($10.2 million) and the most recent state budget (estimated $7.4 million from HHAP-III).

The remaining $26.2 million represents applications that the City has filed with the state for funding under Project HomeKey, which is intended to provide more permanent housing for those who have already been brought into motels leased with state funds through the Project RoomKey program. Sacramento’s Housing Authority has applied for $12.5 million in state funds to buy the Hawthorne Suites motel and convert it into 102 units of interim housing, which would eventually be converted to permanent supportive housing. Another 170 units would become workforce housing.

The City also filed Project HomeKey applications to fund manufactured housing through agreements with WEAVE and St. John’s Program for Real Change. The homes would include two-bedroom and one-bedroom models with a bathroom, living room and kitchen.

Councilmember Eric Guerra said the WEAVE and St. John’s proposals would include 30 units of modular or manufactured housing. “We have the opportunity to provide a dignified place to live to so many families in great need,” Councilmember Guerra said. “These two proposals could provide relief to 60 plus people depending on family size. We must be innovative to do more together.”