Are Sacramento homeless finding housing, only to be replaced on the street by someone else?
During the first six months of this year, 3,790 people in Sacramento County escaped homelessness, but another 3,736 became homeless, a new database released last month estimates.
“The data, of course, tells us that just as many people are entering homelessness as exiting homelessness,” Mayor Darrell Steinberg said.
Homeless nonprofit Sacramento Steps Forward arrived at those figures by tracking which homeless people volunteers continued to encounter – living on the streets, in cars and in shelters – and who they stopped running into. The data is therefore unscientific, but provides the first glimpse at the “revolving door” issue that makes progress on Sacramento’s homeless crisis so difficult.
And the issue could even be worse – of the 3,790 counted in the “leaving homelessness” category, the organization was only able to confirm that 1,606 found permanent housing. The rest may be in housing, but they may also simply be camping in new spots where volunteers are less likely to find them, for example.
The coronavirus does not appear to be to blame. Last year, before the virus struck, the county saw a similar “revolving door” scenario – 8,616 people leaving homelessness, but 8,456 entering it, the data suggests. Of those who left homelessness that year, Sacramento Steps Forward was able to confirm at least 3,485 found permanent housing.
In February, when the state eviction moratorium ends, the number becoming homeless might spike due to evictions, Steinberg said.
“With the Biden administration, I hope one of the first things they will do is robust federal rental assistance,” Steinberg said. “We have got a huge challenge come February and March once the state law sunsets.”
Many housing developments are under construction in the central city, despite the virus, but it doesn’t appear many of the new units will be affordable.
Local officials are planning to convert two large motels into about 200 units of permanent housing for homeless, through a state program called “Project Homekey,” though a developer is suing to block one of those projects.
Fewer people sleeping outdoors
“People always ask, ‘What are you doing about homelessness?’ but we are actually housing a lot of people,” Steinberg said. “And yet the people don’t see the difference. In fact, they see in some ways the situation is worse.”
Part of the reason the homeless problem seems worse is because the coronavirus has removed many of the workers, bar hoppers and restaurant goers who used to fill downtown streets, making homeless campers who remain more noticeable, Steinberg said.
But the coronavirus could also be to thank for a bright spot in the new data: the lowest number of unsheltered homeless people since at least January 2017, when the data begins. As of June, an estimated 2,642 homeless people were living outdoors, while 1,992 were in shelters and 489 were unknown.
The drop in unsheltered homelessness is partly due to local officials’ participation in the state’s “Project Roomkey” program, which placed homeless in 522 units in four motels to protect them from the virus, Sacramento Steps Forward CEO Lisa Bates said.
But one of those hotels, in North Sacramento’s Woodlake neighborhood, has already closed, while the other three are set to close at the end of the year. The city’s large Capitol Park Hotel shelter also closed earlier this month.
Steinberg said he is hopeful the city can keep increasing the number of homeless who are able to get a shelter bed, but it will take a driver that will replace the urgency of the coronavirus pandemic.
“These numbers provide some bit of hope because it shows what we can do if we create an imperative of some kind and go to work,” Steinberg said.
The city’s Meadowview shelter opened this month, more than a year after the City Council approved it, but it will serve 50 women instead of 100, due to the coronavirus. A similar shelter planned at the corner of X Street and Alhambra Boulevard, also approved more than a year ago, has been delayed by the federal government. Steinberg said he’s confident it will open eventually.
More shelters are vital, homeless activists say, because shelters in the city are typically full. “There is no space for people to be,” said Crystal Sanchez, president of the Sacramento Homeless Union.
Ballot measures
With the new data released in the middle of campaign season, Steinberg made the case that the news gives voters more reason to vote “yes” on Measure A, the “strong mayor” ballot measure.
The measure would overhaul the city’s government structure to make the mayor’s office the strongest position in the city, and also set aside $40 million for inclusive economic development and youth.
If voters approve it, Steinberg said he would use about $7.5 million of the first $40 million to create a $100 million affordable housing trust fund – an idea that was supposed to materialize from the Measure U sales tax increase, but was delayed when the virus hit and the city used that tax revenue to fill budget holes.
“This new data, as clear as any argument could, tells us why an affordable housing trust fund to prevent thousands of people from entering homelessness must be a core city priority,” Steinberg said.
Councilwoman-Elect Katie Valenzuela, a leader of the Measure A opposition campaign, said building new homeless housing is not what most people think of when they hear the term “inclusive economic development and youth services” – the items Steinberg has said the $40 million would support.
“He’s twisting this to meet the moment,” said Valenzuela, who will be sworn in Dec. 15 representing the central city and Land Park. “This is not the promise made to supporters of Measure A. It is yet another example of why the mayor shouldn’t be trusted with this much power.”
Instead, Valenzuela said the data shows why voters should approve Measure C, which would create stricter city rent control than a city ordinance that went into effect in September 2019.
“This is quite possibly one of the strongest arguments for Measure C,” said Valenzuela, referring to the data that suggests 3,736 people have become homeless in the first six months of 2020. “While the city and state law slowed down (evictions), it didn’t slow them down enough to meet the needs of renters and to keep them from going on to the streets.”
Steinberg said the city ordinance is already “aggressive,” and that a shortage of affordable units is more to blame.
Instead of large shelters such as those at Capitol Park and Meadowview, Valenzuela wants the city to open more “safe ground” lots where people can safely sleep in their tents or in tiny homes. Steinberg has historically been opposed to that idea, but earlier this year came out in support of it, asking the community to find sites. One site is operating in Alkali Flat, but so far no others have opened.
A large North Sacramento shelter on Railroad Drive, after which the city is modeling most of its new shelters, permanently housed 164 people by the time it closed last year. It’s unknown how many are still housed. Sacramento Steps Forward plans to add new details to the database early next year with those type of detail, in order to help public officials make decisions, Bates said.
“I’m hoping we use this data to learn from so we can improve the system,” Bates said. “It will be important for decision makers as they’re deciding where to invest resources.”
This story was originally published October 16, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
