Exclusive: This East Sacramento motel could become homeless shelter next year
A Sacramento City Councilman says he has found the next motel the city could transform into a homeless shelter.
Councilman Jeff Harris tells The Sacramento Bee that he has proposed the Motel 6 at the corner of 30th and N streets in East Sacramento be converted into a homeless shelter to open by October, when the Capitol Park Hotel shelter downtown closes.
Like Capitol Park, where more than 100 homeless people are currently living, the current motel could be eventually converted into permanent housing, and could serve as a roughly 100-room shelter ahead of that conversion, Harris said.
“We’re proving it works at Capitol Park,” said Harris, who represents East Sacramento and the Alhambra Boulevard corridor. “And it’s in a good location given the impacts of homelessness on the Alhambra corridor.”
The city or the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency would likely lease the property instead of purchasing it, Harris said. If the city were to open and operate a motel shelter for two years, it would cost about $8.4 million, according to a document from SHRA. The 107-year-old Capitol Park Hotel shelter is costing the city about $10 million for about the same amount of time.
The motel is one of several that SHRA officials have identified for potential homeless shelters in Harris’ district, which also includes South Natomas and parts of north Sacramento, said LaShelle Dozier, SHRA’s executive director. The agency is focusing mostly on motels that are for sale, are located close to public transportation and have at least about 100 rooms, she said.
The Motel 6 has in the past attracted sex trafficking, drug sales and prostitution so pervasive it caused the city to threaten to sue, Harris said.
In 2015, the city agreed not to sue because the owner agreed to make improvements and donate money to nonprofits that aim to prevent human trafficking and domestic violence.
The hotel has not caused as many issues since then, Harris said, but the homeless problem in the area presents a need for a shelter.
Councilman Steve Hansen, whose district begins about a block west of the site, and who proposed the Capitol Park shelter, said he does not oppose the idea of a shelter at Motel 6.
“A homeless shelter isn’t a bad thing,” Hansen said. “It really comes down to how they’re run. If something is run well, the residents and neighborhoods will totally embrace it. I think we’re very satisfied with the model being worth replicating.”
As of Nov. 8, 114 homeless people were staying in the Capitol Park shelter, and 116 beds were available, according to the housing agency. Since the shelter opened in early September, three occupants have moved to permanent housing, one has moved into transitional housing and three have moved in with friends and family, SHRA said. Capitol Park occupants also receive meals, medical and mental health services and help finding jobs. About 38 others spent time there but left before finding housing.
Of the roughly 75 residents who were living in the single room occupancy hotel downtown before it became a shelter, 29 have received relocation assistance and moved to new homes, 10 moved out without assistance and 41 remain, SHRA said.
Mercy Housing plans to renovate the building as apartments for the homeless. With construction starting in October, all residents and shelter guests will be relocated, the agency said.
Capitol Park, however, is the only large city-run shelter open, though large tent-like shelters in North Oak Park and Meadowview are slated to open in the coming months.
In the spring, with all three open, the city will have about 430 shelter beds at large low-barrier shelters. But when Capitol Park closes in October, the city will only have 200. That’s the same amount it had at Railroad Drive shelter in North Sacramento, which was not enough, Harris said.
“Even with 200 low-barrier beds available when new shelters open, that’s not going to meet our capacity need,” Harris said.
Volunteers counted more than 5,770 homeless people across Sacramento County over two nights in January, mostly in the city of Sacramento, up 19 percent from 2017.
Nearly a year ago, Mayor Darrell Steinberg asked for each of the eight council members to find sites for 100 low-barrier shelter beds in their districts. Low-barrier shelters usually allow people to bring their pets, partners and possessions, and do not turn them away for having drugs or alcohol in their systems. They also provide on-site medical, mental health and rehousing services.
While the city has spent all the money it currently has available for homeless shelters, Steinberg has previously said city officials expect to receive about $37 million in private and state funding in the next six months.
Steinberg is interested in learning more about the Motel 6 shelter idea, and is pleased with the progress at Capitol Park so far, according to his spokeswoman Mary Lynne Vellinga.
“As a city, we need to explore every approach so we can get thousands of people off the streets,” Steinberg said in a statement. “I’m encouraged every day by the energy and commitment of my colleagues as they take ownership of finding a way to make this situation better.”
