This new large homeless shelter could get hundreds off the American River Parkway
Sacramento city, county and state elected leaders are working to open a large homeless shelter at Cal Expo in the hopes of moving hundreds of people off the American River Parkway.
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill last month that would pave the way for the project. It still needs approval from the City Council, County Board of Supervisors and Cal Expo’s board of directors.
“It’s my hope this is going to help us with two critical issues — one, getting people off the streets, and two, bringing back the American River Parkway,” said Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento, who spearheaded the bill. “That’s the jewel of Sacramento.”
The new law authorizes Cal Expo to enter into a five-year agreement with the city and county to use Lot Z — a nearly nine-acre lot located near the southeast corner of Cal Expo — for homeless services instead of overflow parking, McCarty said. It authorizes the city and county to provide mental health, substance abuse and rehousing services.
McCarty, Mayor Darrell Steinberg, City Councilman Jeff Harris, County Supervisor Phil Serna and County Supervisor Rich Desmond have been working on the idea for months, Serna said.
“This really represents a big collaboration between the city, the county and the state,” Steinberg said. “It’s a large amount of land and it presents a tremendous opportunity for us to get at least several hundred people off the parkway.”
Parkway campers would get priority
Homeless individuals camping along the areas of the American River Parkway with a high risk of fire would receive first priority to get into the shelter, the law states. Those camping within sensitive habitat areas along the parkway would be given second priority.
Each year, an average of more than 100 fires are started along the parkway, according to a fire department spokeswoman. Many of them occur at homeless encampments.
“The point of this is to move people off the parkway as soon as possible,” said Harris, who represents the area. “The environmental damage is really beyond description. Eleven percent of our parkway has been burned this year. The desecration of the levees worries me deeply.”
In addition, high levels of E. coli bacteria, a sign of fecal contamination, have been found along the lower stretch of the American River.
“You not only have the human suffering that is taking place, but you have it unfortunately in a location that comes with devastating environmental impacts, including impacts to water quality, and the fire hazard,” said Serna, whose district includes Cal Expo.
McCarty has also secured at least $10 million in state funding for parkway public access improvements, he said.
The lot could potentially be used for a large shelter, tiny homes, or a Safe Ground sanctioned encampment for car and tent camping, Steinberg said.
Because the lot is in the flood plain, Harris said it would be best to use it for a Safe Ground similar to one the city has opened at Sixth and W streets, which is closing by the end of the year. The Safe Ground would include security, bathrooms and shower trailers.
A homeless campus
Steinberg wants to explore making the Cal Expo site a homeless campus, similar to Haven for Hope in San Antonio, he said. The campus model typically serves more homeless individuals than traditional shelters, also providing them with robust on-site services.
A 350-bed campus-style shelter was included in the city’s recently approved $100 million Comprehensive Siting Plan to Address Homelessness, but a location was not named.
The city previously operated a 200-bed shelter on Railroad Drive in North Sacramento, but has never opened more beds than that on a single site.
In 2019, city officials tried to open a 100-bed shelter on Cal Expo’s Lot P, which never came to fruition. Steinberg said he is hopeful this time will be different, partly because of the collaboration at all levels of government.
“It’s a breakthrough,” Steinberg said. “The city, county and state together — it’s a force.”
A Cal Expo spokesman declined comment on the topic other than to say the board has not been presented with a proposal to consider. The board members are appointed by Newsom.
Volunteers in January 2019 counted 5,570 homeless people living in Sacramento County, most of whom were in the city and sleeping outdoors. Researchers estimated that 10,000 to 11,000 people would experience homelessness at some point that year. All shelters are typically full on any given night.
There could be as many as 2,000 people camping along the American River, Parkway rangers estimate. Many homeless people do not want to camp along the parkway — which is especially dangerous for women — but they go there as a last resort after they are kicked out of everywhere else, said Crystal Sanchez, president of the Sacramento Homeless Union.
“They’ve basically been cast away out there,” Sanchez said. “They don’t want them in front of businesses, they don’t want them in parks, they don’t want them in residential (areas). So most people went to the river bottom where they thought people would leave them alone.”
After state Caltrans crews cleared his camp from a midtown property Tuesday, an unhoused man named Naylee said in a defeated tone: “It’s getting to the point where we need to go to the river.”
This story was originally published October 6, 2021 at 5:03 PM.
