Sacramento homeless shelters face uncertain funding by summer, city manager says
Sacramento City Manager Howard Chan raised an alarm this week about funding for the city’s existing homeless shelters even as the City Council pushes to open more large sites to address the community’s growing homelessness crisis.
Chan this week told the council the city can’t count on having the $33 million it needs to provide the roughly 1,000 spaces it currently offers past July 1.
That’s in contrast to the council’s August direction to free up $100 million to open 20 new sites for homeless shelters, tiny homes and Safe Ground sanctioned encampments.
“It’s important we don’t get side tracked by new sites,” Chan told the council Tuesday. “We have not yet identified funding for the current (ones).”
It’s unclear if the city will receive state or federal funding to support current or new sites. A recent city staff projection shows the budget could be in a deficit for the next five years, starting in the fiscal year that starts July 1.
Sacramento County has an estimated 10,000 unhoused individuals, and all shelter beds and spaces are full on any given night. Because of the crisis, the council is charging ahead with at least two new large sites, which Mayor Darrell Steinberg is calling “hubs.”
“We get the money in this city,” Steinberg said. “We do. I’ve been pretty successful at it. We’re successful at it together. And these larger projects could be the opportunity we have been seeking for a long time.”
The city recently bought a 100-acre vacant site in Meadowview for $12.3 million, with a plan to use it for a large homeless safe parking site and eventually affordable housing. Providing access to the site for safe parking will cost the city $8 to $10 million however, said Public Works Director Ryan Moore during a council meeting Tuesday.
In addition, city officials have for months been trying to acquire a downtown building at an unidentified location, and it could be finalized soon, Chan said.
“This downtown site, which we obviously cannot be public about in terms of its location yet, is a tremendous opportunity, not only for our collaboration with the county...but also what it could mean for a more comprehensive campus kind of approach,” Steinberg said. “It all takes a long time, too long, but I think we are getting there on this particular opportunity.”
The downtown building would be expensive, however, requiring over a whopping $30 million in capital improvements, and $3.3 million per year to operate, Moore said.
It’s also possible a few of the smaller siting plan sites could still open.
In North Sacramento, the city has been planning to open a safe parking site at Colfax Street and Arden Way, which can be ready to open next month, said Bridgette Dean, director of the city’s Department of Community Response. But it would require moving about 80 vehicles in order to place 30 vehicles there, Moore said. It would cost $600,000 to open and $2 million a year to operate.
The city is also considering opening safe parking or tiny homes at four other sites — one at the Roseville Road light rail station, one at Lexington Street and Dixieanne Avenue, one at Eleanor and Traction avenues, and one for hospice patients at Northgate Boulevard and Patio Avenue. It’s unclear if any of those will open, especially if the city does not receive funding from the state or federal government it can use.
Councilwoman Mai Vang asked staff if any of the current city sites had county involvement. They do not, Dean said. The city hires contractors to provide services, such as mental health, medical and rehousing.
“If you’re watching this, you gotta call your county supervisor,” Vang said.“ We gotta get the region involved.”
The county does provide “roving access clinicians” to some city shelters, which connect people to mental health and substance use disorder providers, county spokeswoman Janna Haynes said.
While the city’s budget is roughly $1.3 billion, the county’s is about $6.5 billion, and includes the Department of Human Assistance, which provides social services, and the Health Department.
Since the coronavirus pandemic hit in spring 2020, the county has been running three motels as homeless shelters under the state’s Project Roomkey program, but plans to close them this spring.
This story was originally published March 3, 2022 at 3:00 AM.
