Mayor Steinberg recounts what Sacramento has done to address homelessness

Update: March 8, 2022

In the weeks since this piece was written, the City of Sacramento has purchased a 102-acre, vacant property at 3100 Meadowview Road. The goal is to use the property long-term for affordable housing and a community amenity for south Sacramento, and in the interim as a car camping facility for those experiencing homelessness.

In addition, the City has been awarded a $23.9-million state Homekey grant to convert the downtown Best Western Sutter House hotel at 1100 H St. into 92 units of permanent supportive housing for people experiencing homelessness. It has also opened a new Safe Ground safe camping facility in Miller Park and adopted criteria for opening the former Powerhouse Science Center on Auburn Boulevard as a respite center for people experiencing homelessness during inclement weather.

Jan. 5, 2022

Friends—

In 2022, I intend to assertively lead our city on economic recovery and development, youth, the creative economy, and public safety. We have so many opportunities to get back the  momentum that was so obvious in Sacramento before the pandemic. And we will.

I will also continue pushing hard to alleviate the problem of unsheltered homelessness -- while making more room for others to lead as well. I know the number of people on the streets has grown, and I take a lot of it on my shoulders.

At the same time, people always tell me that if you don’t spell out what you’re actually doing, everyone will assume you are doing little or nothing. The City of Sacramento is in fact doing more than at any time in its history.

The city is not a health and human services or homeless agency.  Because I have insisted on it and the problem is so serious, we are necessarily stepping into an area where city government traditionally has little expertise and authority.

So here are the highlights of what we have done since I was elected mayor:

Thousands housed

Since 2017, the City and County of Sacramento have collectively moved 13,449 people move from homelessness to permanent housing. You read that right. It shows just how much Covid and other challenges outside the city’s control are growing the numbers. We get thousands of people off the streets. The problem is that people are becoming homeless faster than we can house them.

$100 million in new funding  

Dining room in X Street Navigation Center

As leader of the California Big City Mayors group in 2018 and 2019, I helped obtain the first-ever direct allocation to cities of millions of dollars from the state to address homelessness. In total, the City of Sacramento has been awarded more than $100 million from the state and federal governments to address homelessness during my tenure.

A health model

We made Sacramento the first city in the country to create a Whole Person Care program with federal Medicaid dollars. Supported with matching funds from our local health systems, the Pathways program connected 2,500 people living on the street and in shelters with a regular medical provider and housing services. Over five years, Pathways helped 900 people find permanent housing. It reduced emergency room visits by 67 percent among those who were previously the most frequent users of such emergency services. The results from Whole Person Care were so profound that the state revamped its Medi-Cal program to contain the same elements.

A new kind of shelter

The City of Sacramento has opened five new navigation centers in the past five years to shelter people experiencing homelessness and provide them the services they need to reclaim their lives and find permanent housing. Three of these are currently operating, and a fourth – the Capitol Park Hotel – is being converted into permanent housing for people experiencing homelessness. Our Grove cabin community in north Sacramento houses young people from ages 18-24. Our Meadowview Navigation Center shelters 100 women, and our X Street Navigation Center, opened in September, provides beds, services and meals to 100 adults of both genders. We have also leased homes around the city to create 40 scattered-site beds operated by Sacramento Self Help Housing.

Safe camping

The City established its first safe ground organized campground with services along the W/X Freeway at 8th Street and its first safe parking facility on Front Street. Many residents of these facilities have since been moved to navigation centers or longer-term housing.

Converting motels

In the past 12 months, we have leased 350 motel rooms to provide transitional housing and services for families. We also worked through the state’s Homekey program to convert a motel in south Sacramento into permanent supportive housing. In December we won a $29-million Homekey award to do the same with a motel in North Natomas.

More respite

We have scuttled restrictive weather guidelines and opened warming centers far more often than we did in the past, though still not nearly enough – including using the lobby of City Hall to shelter people on cold and rainy nights.

A comprehensive plan

On August 10, 2021, the City Council unanimously adopted my proposed comprehensive plan to pre-approve sites for more than 5,000 safe spaces, beds and roofs throughout the city.

Looking ahead

All this is monumental progress for Sacramento, a city whose government structure does not typically result in dramatic action, and whose mayor has no direct power to implement initiatives. I know it is not enough.

I understand the desperate need to help people sleeping outdoors. I also understand the desperate need to provide relief to our residents and businesses. The City Council last month required that the City Manager’s office report back publicly once a month on the progress of implementing the siting plan – a measure designed to speed up creation of more shelter, housing and organized safe camping spots.

Much more to do. I won’t give up. Please don’t give up!! With more help and even stronger partnerships, we will have more breakthroughs.

Happy New Year

Sincerely,

Mayor Darrell Steinberg