Dozens of cabins for homeless women and children proposed next to north Sacramento school
A long-vacant dirt lot across from Garden Valley Elementary School in the Northgate neighborhood of north Sacramento could soon become the site of 49 cabins sheltering homeless women and children.
Councilman Jeff Harris wants the City Council to consider the project as one potential site for shelters as Sacramento continues to search for ways to address its increasing homeless population.
The development, on city-owned land at Northgate Boulevard and Patio Avenue, south of Interstate 80, would open next winter at the earliest, Harris said.
The 12-foot-by-24-foot cabins, constructed by local builders in training, would include a twin bed, desk, countertop and cupboards.
In addition to the cabins, the community would include a dog park, playground, three restroom buildings and a clubhouse. The clubhouse would include restrooms, showers, kitchens, laundry, a gathering area, counseling offices, medical exam rooms, an after-school study area and programs, according to a design concept.
“We want them to arrive to the community center and be engaged, get their mail there, become a part of the community,” said Stephen Watters, executive director of First Step Communities, a local nonprofit working on the proposal. “That’s part of our idea of how we really start to heal them.”
Twin Rivers School District officials have a list of requirements the city would have to meet before the district would support the project, said Bill McGuire, deputy superintendent. Among the requirements are 24/7 security, a fence blocking direct access to the school, additional trash collection and funding for new homeless counselors, teachers and after school programs at the school.
“We believe those would be significant additions that would be needed,” McGuire said. “Currently, Twin Rivers has 2,000 homeless students. We understand the issues impacting education relative to homelessness and we’re supportive of anything we can do to have students not be homeless.”
Harris said those requests did not seem insurmountable.
A homeless shelter near a school?
On Wednesday afternoon, cars lined the streets surrounding the dirt lot as parents picked up their children for early dismissal from Garden Valley.
Annabelle Reyes, whose daughter attends the school, said she would be alright with the cabins, but had some questions.
“How safe will it be? Will there be security while the school is open and during after school programs?” Reyes asked.
If the answer to those questions is yes, she would likely support the idea, she said.
She also would want crews to perform additional trash pickup around the site. She’s noticed trash left behind from the handful of people who have been camping in tents on the site, she said.
Marco Zatarain agreed.
“As long as they don’t bother me or my brother, I’m okay with it,” said Zatarain, who was picking up his younger brother Alberto Lopez, 10.
Harris said feedback to the proposal has mostly been positive, which somewhat surprised him. He said a recent meeting with the Natomas Community Association went well.
“We’re turning a corner in terms of community push back on shelters,” Harris said. “People know we have to do something.”
Rebecca Sandoval, a Twin Rivers School District board member who’s lived in South Natomas for more than 60 years, said she had many concerns with the idea. She dislikes that the cabins do not have their own private bathrooms.
“The needs of the homeless are great and those children have been through so much. I would rather see them in a building. There are plenty of empty buildings in this town,” Sandoval said.
Heather Fargo, the former Sacramento mayor who lives in South Natomas, said she also wishes the cabins had bathrooms and sinks, for sanitary reasons and for middle of the night bathroom trips. She’d also like to see the facility focus on young children and would like to see people be able to live there more than a couple months.
“I think what most people want are new good neighbors,” Fargo said. “It has potential if done right.”
Watters said the cabins could be expanded by three feet to fit bathrooms, but it would increase the cost.
Harris said it’s not yet decided if there would be an age range of children allowed, or how long people could stay before moving to permanent housing. In many city shelters, the goal is to move people to permanent housing after four to six months. But in the cabins, Harris would like to see people stay the entire school year and become part of the community.
Sandoval said she prefers cabins instead be placed at a site Councilman Allen Warren proposed, at Edgewater Road and Lampasas Avenue, in the Noralto section of north Sacramento.
The city would have to buy that property from the Twin Rivers district, though. The district has listed it for sale for $440,000.
The Twin Rivers Unified school board will not need to approve the cabins near the Garden Valley Elementary School, since it’s on city land, but would need to approve the sale of the land in Noralto, McGuire said.
There are more than 5,570 homeless people on any given night in Sacramento County, mostly in the city, a count in January found. There were 372 families with kids counted, and 688 kids counted total. About half of those were sleeping outdoors and the other half were in shelters or vehicles.
Many homeless women in the city have two children, Harris said.
A 100-bed homeless shelter in Meadowview, slated to open this spring, was originally planned for women and children, but will now just serve women.
