Mayor Darrell Steinberg calls for delegating to City Manager authority to pick Safe Grounds sites
Sacramento, CA (July 3, 2023) - Today, Mayor Darrell Steinberg sent a letter to Sacramento City Manager Howard Chan asking him to bring additional emergency temporary safe spaces back to the City Council and asking the city council to grant him that authority.
“I know you agree with me and the council that we cannot wait. We must do everything now to have a cleaner and safer city and allow people a safe place to live, even if that means temporary organized safe grounds in appropriate designated parts of the city,” Mayor Steinberg writes.
The letter states that an additional 60 tents will be made available at the Miller Park SafeGround by the middle of July and requests that, “staff move quickly to identify and set up additional emergency safe camping or motel shelters on as many sites available dispersed geographically throughout the city.”
When Mayor Steinberg took office the City of Sacramento operated less than 100 shelter beds, now the City of Sacramento operates and maintains 1,100 safe spaces and beds every night. The City of Sacramento is also outpacing most cities in California on affordable housing production.
Mayor Steinberg has committed to bringing identified safe spaces and sites to the Sacramento City Council on July 25 for authorization.
Picture of tents at original Miller Park location courtesy of First Step Communities.
