Mayor details progress on addressing homelessness, says cleanups must be linked to outreach

Sacramento (Oct. 13, 2021) Mayor Darrell Steinberg Tuesday acknowledged the deep frustration among residents over the impacts of unsheltered homelessness and said he wants everyone to know the city is making good progress toward opening a number of new housing sites to provide relief.

He also stressed that he supports maintaining a clean and safe city by conducting cleanups of camps that are blocking sidewalks, infringing on critical infrastructure or occupying private properties, but only if the city first makes a real effort to connect the occupants with services and shelter.

“In any given situation we must not make a decision to move people from where they are until we have made a focused effort to intervene with them and offer a real alternative,” he said in remarks to the City Council. “They cannot be separate. They must be linked.”

Hundreds of new units

In the past year, The City of Sacramento has added 545 spaces, shelter beds and permanent supportive housing units that can accommodate more than 1,000 people annually. It has also contracted with the owners of three motels in the city for a total of 350 rooms that are currently serving as transitional family shelters with wrap-around services.

The city is applying for Homekey funds to turn a North Natomas hotel into permanent supportive housing.

The Comprehensive Siting Plan to Address Homelessness, adopted in August, contains an additional 20 priority sites throughout Sacramento that could provide more than 5,000 safe spaces, beds and roofs for people currently experiencing homelessness. The city has added additional potential sites during the detailed vetting process that has followed the plan’s adoption.

“I want to report to you that we are close to a number of breakthroughs,” Mayor Steinberg said. “I think it’s important that the public know there’s real work going on here, and we are close…..We have real, time and urgent opportunities before us.”

In another step toward expanding its housing inventory, the Council voted Tuesday to apply for $35 million in state Homekey funds to buy a hotel in North Natomas and convert it to transitional and permanent housing for homeless families. People could start moving into the 117-room facility by February. It would be the second hotel the city converted to permanent supportive housing under the state’s  Homekey program. The Homekey motel rooms are in addition to the 350 rooms that are being leased by the city through the motel sheltering program.

The City also recently opened the new X Street Navigation Center near Broadway and Alhambra  and is scaling up outreach to fill all 100 beds.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Mayor Steinberg described several other sites that city staff is working hard to bring to fruition in the weeks ahead:

·       Lexington: A 1.4 acre site at Lexington Street and Dixieanne Avenue that is owned by the City of Sacramento could accommodate approximately 50 tiny homes.

·       Eleanor: Another city-owned parcel on Eleanor Avenue in north Sacramento is planned for approximately 30 tiny homes.

·       North Fifth Street: City staff is working with their counterparts at Sacramento County to add 60 beds to this city-run shelter.

·       Colfax: This city-owned corporation yard at 2225 Colfax Street is envisioned for safe car camping.

·       RT sites: The siting plan envisions safe parking sites on three parking lots owned by Regional Transit. The first of these, the lot on Roseville Road, is scheduled to go to the RT board for a vote on Oct. 25. It could provide space and services for people living in  100-300 cars, bringing structure to an area where a large homeless camp already exists. Other parking lots in the works at those at the Franklin Boulevard and Florin Road stations.

·       The Grove: The city’s existing tiny home community for transition-aged youth is pursuing a plan to add additional land to expand its north Sacramento campus.