Sacramento spent $617K preparing to open a homeless shelter. Here’s why the plan fell apart
The city of Sacramento has again cleared a homeless encampment and fenced a property. This time it was one that was one of the city’s most promising sites for a homeless shelter.
The vacant lot, near the corner of Colfax Street and Arden Way, was at the top of the list in the city’s $100 million homeless siting plan last August. At the time, city officials ranked it among Sacramento’s top three most feasible sites for homeless shelters and spaces.
Acting on that direction, the city spent $617,000 preparing the property for a homeless safe parking site, paying for paving, fencing and designs.
But confusion between officials from the city and the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board over how many vehicles would be allowed at the site caused the plan to fall apart.
City officials came to believe it would become too costly and offer too few safe parking spaces to be worth the money. Mayor Darrell Steinberg and a City Council member in April called for the city to abandon the project, but work continued for several more weeks.
The Colfax site now sits vacant and paved with a black iron fence around it, similar to the one the city installed around a former homeless encampment along Fair Oaks Boulevard.
Some of the unhoused individuals the city cleared from the Colfax lot had been camping there because they heard a safe parking site was opening and they wanted to be first in line.
Debbie Casillas and her daughter, who is a quadriplegic, were among them.
“We were at Colfax to get help,” Casillas, 58, said. “They decided not to do it and fenced it all up.”
The mother and daughter now camp in a tent near Railroad Drive where a property owner is blocking the road with a security car. They have little access to food, water, and other services.
The city is under increasing pressure to open significantly more shelter beds and spaces to bring homeless people off the street. A November ballot measure backed by business groups would require Sacramento to create shelter beds for at least 60% of its homeless individuals, a number believed to be at least double the roughly 1,100 it currently provides.
Sacramento’s plan for the Colfax site initially called for 25 tiny homes. Officials adjusted the plan to make it a safe parking area where homeless people could live in their vehicles with bathrooms, showers, security and services to help them find housing.
The city in late November and early December paved the lot, said Gregg Fishman, a city spokesman.
The water board, which is involved in the site due to its soil contamination, on Jan. 13 signed a variance for the city to open 50 safe parking spaces.
In February, the water board sent a letter giving the city deadlines to complete design work and some other preparation. That letter included a description of a site visit by water board employees.
“As of 8 February 2022, the City has not implemented the terms and conditions for land use specified in the variance,” the letter read. “The property has not been fully fenced, there are campers and vehicles parked on the unpaved portion of the property, and there are tents.”
The city interpreted the letter as instructing it to clear the encampment. A spokesman for the board said the agency did not intend for that outcome.
‘$68,000 per car, per year’
During an April 12 City Council meeting, city officials told the council that opening the site would cost the city about $2.7 million and only fit 30 vehicles, but that work was underway to open it.
The number dropped from 50 vehicles to 30 because officials anticipated most people would bring RVs or trailers to the 1-acre site, Fishman said. They take up more space than cars, meaning fewer vehicles could fit there.
During the April meeting, Steinberg and Councilman Jeff Harris both directed staff not to open the site, due to the cost.
“The amount of money invested in 30 parking spaces is extraordinary,” Harris said. “About $68,000 per car per year to stand up and service. If that’s the case, this is not a good bang for the buck.”
Steinberg agreed.
“I’m sorry that’s not a wise use of our money,” said Steinberg, noting the city would have to move about 100 people in order to allow 30.
Roughly two weeks after the meeting, city staff cleared people from the site, and installed additional fencing, bringing the cost to $617,000.
Sacramento business owners on homeless camp
Councilman Sean Loloee, who represents the area, said he believes the city could have actually fit up to 45 RVs on the property, but it’s too late now, he said. The city shifted funding instead to a plan for the Roseville Road RT light rail station, where it can fit roughly 70 vehicles.
Under the siting plan, the city was supposed to open both locations.
“I think we rushed into it,” Loloee said. “You can’t really blame anybody. This is all new. We don’t have a playbook for this. With the unhoused, no one has a solution.”
Business owners in the area said they were glad the city cleared the encampment.
Tom Hipp, owner of Standard Auto Care, which is across the street from the lot, said the camp negatively impacted the business for over a year, especially from trash blowing over, needles, and the smell of human feces.
“I had plenty of (customers) that did come and said, ‘I’m really nervous about leaving my car here,’” Hipp said. “It’s been a disaster. It’s been scary. We didn’t think we were gonna survive it.”
Hipp said he was pleased to learn that the city will not likely open a safe parking lot there. He supports the model, but said homeless services should only be in lots far from businesses and homes.
Tamitha Myler was among the homeless individuals the city cleared from the lot in April.
“They said they’re gonna open it and took all our names a long time ago,” Myler, 53, said. “We were like a family. We were all together. We had each others’ back. We barbecued together. We did birthdays together. They (the police) told us to go separate. They didn’t want us to go in groups.”
Not giving up parking site
Neither Myler nor Casillas were offered shelter beds or safe parking spaces when they were cleared from Colfax, they said.
The Colfax site still has council approval on the books, but it’s unlikely it will open without state or county funding.
“We can not do this all alone,” Steinberg said.
A recent estimate from Sacramento Steps Forward found 16,500 to 20,000 people likely experience homelessness throughout the course of the year in the county. The official number from the federally-mandated Point in Time count is due out in the coming weeks.
“The Colfax site is indicative of the complexity involved in siting any type of services for people experiencing homelessness,” Fishman said in an email. “The work we’ve done at Colfax will still provide value in the future when that site is put to use.”
This story was originally published June 7, 2022 at 5:25 AM.
