Mayor Steinberg says homeless warming centers must open this winter in Sacramento
Sacramento officials are working toward opening warming centers for the homeless this winter, even without meeting strict criteria currently needed to open them, Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg said.
“We must open warming centers under any scenario, under any circumstances,” Steinberg said during a City Council meeting Tuesday evening. “It is cold and it is not even winter yet.”
The announcement follows a growing call from homeless activists, who have been urging city and county officials to open the centers as overnight temperatures dip into the 30s. If the facilities open, it would be the first time since the winter of 2016-2017.
But with coronanvirus pandemic cases surging, causing a big hit to the city’s budget, it’s unclear how soon the centers will open.
City Manager Howard Chan has been talking to the new acting Sacramento County executive Ann Edwards about how to open the centers safely during the coronavirus pandemic, he said.
If opening centers requires modifying the criteria, Steinberg said he wants to work with the county to do so.
According to city and county guidelines adopted in 2012, temperatures must hit freezing for three consecutive nights for officials to open warming centers. That didn’t happen the last two winters, and the centers did not open. In the winter of 2016-2017, the city opened three warming centers and the county opened two. One of the city’s centers offered beds inside a Southside Park pool house, but that small space might be difficult to use during the pandemic, Steinberg said.
County officials are looking at possible locations for warming centers in the unincorporated area of the county, although in the past the most heavily used centers were located in the downtown Sacramento area, county spokeswoman Kim Nava said.
A homeless man died in the River District two weeks ago, wrapped in blankets that were wet from the previous night’s rain, according to a Loaves and Fishes news release. That man’s name was Gregory Tarola, and he was 63, according to Sacramento County Coroner Kimberly Gin.
The cause of death is not yet known. Activists suspect the cold was likely a factor, and that more homeless deaths will occur this winter.
“We are encouraged by the mayor’s strong desire to open warming centers during these cold nights,” said Joe Smith, Loaves and Fishes advocacy director. “I hope that all city districts and the county will open centers as close as possible to where people experiencing homelessness are currently located and that the centers will remain open for the duration of the season.”
Overnight temperatures in Sacramento this week are expected to dip into the 30s, but are not expected to meet the strict criteria currently on the books.
Three hotels are currently sheltering the homeless from the coronavirus through the state’s Project Roomkey Program in the county. But those hotels, like all shelters in the county, are typically full on any given night.
According to a count conducted in January 2019, roughly 5,570 homeless people are in Sacramento County at any point in time, most of whom are sleeping outdoors and in the city. Last year, a record high number of 138 homeless people died in Sacramento County - an average of about one person every two and a half days.
