Two dozen cabins to shelter homeless youth planned next to a Sacramento church
Sacramento officials are planning to open cabin-style shelters for homeless young people near the intersection of Grove and Las Palmas avenues in the Noralto neighborhood of north Sacramento.
The site, on a vacant lot next to St. Paul Church of God in Christ at 2771 Grove Ave., would become home to 24 temporary sleeping cabins for 48 “transitional age youth” ages 18 to 24, according to a city staff report.
The development, called Emergency Bridge Housing at Grove Avenue, would remain for about two years, the report said. While there, young people would also receive job training, help finding housing and mental health services for those who need it. Trailers would be included for office space, restrooms and showers.
The goal would be to move guests into permanent housing every six months to a year, the report said. Once fully operational, the project could serve 80 to 100 people per year. Eventually, another 26 cabins could be added to the site, totaling 100 beds.
“The community needs to hear about it but generally I think this plan could work as a small piece of a larger more comprehensive proposal,” said Councilman Allen Warren, who represents the area.
A community meeting will be held at 6 p.m. Monday at St. Paul Church of God in Christ. The City Council will consider the proposal at 4 p.m. Tuesday during a special meeting at City Hall’s council chambers.
Meanwhile, Warren is still pushing for the city to open “Renewal Village,” a facility to house 700 homeless and low-income residents in tents, tiny homes and single-family homes. He’s proposed a site owned by Twin Rivers School District for that project, which is about two blocks from the cabin site.
He said the cabin site is a good first step, though.
The site is about a block from Noralto Elementary. Warren said the response from the community so far has been “overwhelmingly positive.”
Roughly 18 cabin-style shelters currently open near the site – called Compassion Village – would remain in place.
The Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency plans to purchase the cabins from Denver-based Tuff Shed, the report said. Sacramento nonprofit First Steps Communities will operate the shelter.
The cost of the project would be about $5.6 million for the 24 cabins and $7.6 million for the 50 cabins, the report said. It would mostly come from state homelessness funding.
The cabins are planned to be open by March in order to meet Gov. Gavin Newsom’s “100-day challenge” to receive additional state funding.
Volunteers in January 2019 counted 5,570 homeless people living in Sacramento County, including 415 people who were between the ages 18 and 25. Over half of them were sleeping outdoors.
This story was originally published February 14, 2020 at 3:39 PM.
