Sacramento, CA (March 16, 2023) - The state will purchase and install 350 tiny homes in Sacramento as part of a statewide push to assist California communities in addressing the crisis of unsheltered homelessness, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday.

At a press conference at Cal Expo, the governor said his administration would supply 1,200 tiny homes statewide, including 500 for Los Angeles, 200 for San Jose and 150 for San Diego County.

In Sacramento, the state is focusing on Cal Expo as a site for placement of at least some of the tiny homes, an option that has long been pushed by Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg. The state will shoulder the entire cost of designing and installing the tiny home communities, but the local jurisdictions will be responsible for operating them. Sacramento city and county will be working together in the coming weeks to finalize the operations plan.

Gov. Newsom’s Cal Expo stop was the first on his multi-day “Tour of the State of California,” during which he is laying out key state initiatives for the coming year.

Gov. Newsom said he had initially planned to allocate 200 tiny homes to Sacramento, but added an additional 150 “because Darrell (Steinberg) demanded it.”

Speaking at the press conference, Mayor Steinberg called the 350 tiny homes “a Godsend.”

“We must use this available and underutilized state asset to house as many people as possible,” Mayor Steinberg said of Cal Expo. “The magnitude of the homelessness crisis in California requires a coordinated, sustained response by all levels of government, and I commend Governor’s ongoing commitment to partnering with cities and counties.”

Sacramento city and county governments in recent months have taken major steps toward increasing the amount of emergency shelter available for placement of people experiencing homelessness. Such units are a key part of the strategy outlined in the new partnership agreement adopted by the city and county late last year. Under that partnership agreement, joint city-county outreach teams have been reaching out to people in homeless encampments throughout the city to get them enrolled in county behavioral health services.

But the effort has been slowed by the fact that the shelter beds in the city and county and generally full on any given night. The city now shelters more than 1,100 people a night, up from less than 100 five years ago. It is currently working with the county to stand up at least 200 new beds in the city limits that would be run by the county. The county is also preparing to open three Safe Stay tiny home communities with a total of 400 beds.

“Without more emergency shelter and permanent housing, we won’t be able to deliver the relief our communities are justifiably demanding,” Mayor Steinberg said.

Gov. Newsom said he has called on the National Guard to assist in the delivery and installation of the new tiny homes.

“In California, we are using every tool in our toolbox – including the largest-ever deployment of small homes in the state – to move people out of encampments and into housing,” Gov. Newsom said. “The crisis of homelessness will never be solved without first solving the crisis of housing – the two issues are inextricably linked. We are tackling this issue at the root of the problem by addressing the need to create more housing, faster in California.”