Sacramento moving ahead with large homeless shelter under the W-X freeway
The city of Sacramento is charging ahead with a plan to open a large homeless shelter under the W-X freeway, despite a letter from the federal government yanking approval of the project in May.
The City Council will Tuesday consider hiring a construction company and ordering the tent-like semi-permanent structure that will be erected for the 100-bed shelter near the corner of X Street and Alhambra Boulevard near Oak Park.
“We are moving forward,” Mayor Darrell Steinberg said in a statement. “Our first obligation is help bring people inside. Nothing should stand in our way.”
The council approved the project nearly a year ago, with minimal neighborhood objection. But then, on May 7, the Federal Highway Administration sent a letter to the California Department of Transportation revoking approval for the project as well as a homeless shelter in San Francisco. Both projects were set to open on Caltrans-controlled land.
A Caltrans spokesman said the department has not received additional letters from the FHA on the topic since May. It’s unclear if verbal communications occurred. Caltrans and the FHA did not immediately return emails seeking further comment Friday.
Although the Sacramento site is a vacant lot located underneath portions of Highway 50 and Highway 99, it’s considered in the “highway right of way,” the May FHA letter said. The FHA has a policy to use the “right of way” exclusively for transportation uses “in order to ensure traffic can flow as safely and efficiently as possibly,” with rare exceptions, the letter said.
Caltrans Director Toks Omishakin responded in May urging the FHA to allow the shelters to move forward, pointing out several local governments had already hired contractors. By the time FHA sent the letter, the city of Sacramento had already spent $650,000 on paving, permitting and design work.
The FHA letter also pulled approval for a shelter set to open in San Francisco’s Bayview neighborhood. The city is planning to move forward with that shelter, and construction is underway, said Jeff Cretan, spokesman for Mayor London Breed. The FHA was reviewing approvals for two other shelters in San Francisco and one in Los Angeles, it said in its May 7 letter, but in a May 22 letter, it said it would allow them.
The federal government’s move to block the shelters contradicts actions Gov. Gavin Newsom and state leaders have taken to make state land available for homeless shelters. Last year, the Newsom administration published a list of 286 state-owned properties that can be used for shelters, including the Sacramento site. A new state law allows Caltrans to lease land to cities for $1 per month to be used for homeless shelters or feeding programs.
Sacramento City Councilman Jay Schenirer, who first proposed the North Oak Park shelter in March 2019, said he still believes the location is appropriate, partly because it will give the many people who currently camp under the overpass a place to go. During a packed community meeting he held last summer with neighbors and business owners, only a handful of people opposed it.
“We continue to think it’s the right place and we continue to work with everyone to move forward,” Schenirer said Friday. “Our intent is to continue to move forward and open a shelter at that location.”
The city is currently seeking bids for an operator for the shelter, which a group of community members will help select, Schenirer said.
The 100-bed shelter will serve homeless adults, and allow them to bring their pets, partners and possessions. Guests will receive help finding housing, as well as medical and mental health services if needed. It will cost the city about $10 million to construct and operate the shelter for two years.
A similar shelter is also being constructed in Meadowview next to the Pannell Community Center. That 100-bed shelter will serve women only. It’s unclear when the W-X shelter will open. It was originally set to open in spring 2020, but the FHA letter caused a delay.
This story was originally published July 25, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
