Sacramento County has $62 million for homeless shelters. What’s holding up new sites?
Sacramento County last week voted to fund one of its largest-ever homeless shelters, moving to buy a North Highlands warehouse and parking lot for $23 million.
That’s a big deal, but the purchase also draws attention to a pot of money county officials have had since June that could be used to open more shelters and more designated camping sites.
The county has $62 million in federal money in the bank it could spend to open homeless shelters and housing.
It received the funding in June as part of a $301 million American Rescue Plan Act grant from the federal government, money meant to help local governments respond to the coronavirus pandemic.
County leaders say they have been working hard to allocate the money as fast as it can, including the vote last week to buy a large North Highlands property for a homeless site, and about $7 million the board approved earlier this year for tiny home projects in south Sacramento.
The remaining money is “still a significant sum of dollars,” said Supervisor Don Nottoli. “But I don’t think we are just sitting on it and waiting to see what happens. We are working to find some things and at the top of list is homelessness and housing.”
But activists and some city officials say the county is not moving quickly enough, as none of its new homeless shelters will be open by winter. The Sacramento City Council earlier this week voted to spend the last of its funds for homeless projects, approving $35 million to fund 820 new affordable housing units by filling funding gaps in private projects.
Councilwoman Katie Valenzuela urged the county to do the same.
“I think the city has really shown how far we can leverage money,” Valenzuela said. “With this one time investment we are bringing online hundreds of units so when I think about what $60 million could do, my mind is spinning a little bit because that could be a complete catalyst for thousands of units across our county.”
Bob Erlenbusch of the Sacramento Regional Coalition to End Homelessness also urged the county to move quickly on housing, including options that are cheaper to build than apartments.
“It’s sad the county still has money left over,” Erlenbusch said. “I think the county needs to spend their unspent money on truly affordable housing for our unhoused neighbors along lines of prefabricated homes, mobile homes, and tiny homes — all which can make their $62 million stretch and cover a lot more homeless people than the city did.”
Homeless funding a topic in Measure O talks
There are roughly 9,300 homeless people in Sacramento County on any given night, nearly double the amount from January 2019, and more than San Francisco. The city and county’s 2,400 shelter beds are all typically full.
Funding for shelter has been a hot topic since business leaders gathered signatures for a homeless initiative and convinced the council to place a measure on the city ballot. Measure O would allow the city to sweep more camps, and could require the city to open more beds.
City leaders amended the measure in such a way that even if voters pass it, it would not go into effect unless city and county leaders sign an agreement committing both agencies to homeless services. Mayor Darrell Steinberg has said the talks are going well.
The relationship between city and county officials hit a low point in April when the county pulled out of a proposal to jointly open a homeless shelter for up to 300 people in a vacant CalPERS building downtown. The county said last week the project would have cost each agency $45 million — an amount county officials decided was too expensive.
The city’s estimate was lower, at about $35 million each for city and county, according to Valenzuela.
Supervisor Nottoli said staff are actively working on several significant homeless projects across the county and that the $62 million will be allocated long before the deadline of Dec. 31, 2024.
Nottoli is proposing the county use about $2 million to open 100 new homeless housing units at Mather Veterans Village in his district in Rancho Cordova.
The county is also investigating opening two more tiny home villages and two homeless housing projects through the state’s Project Homekey program, Supervisor Patrick Kennedy said.
No new Sacramento shelters before winter
Although the money has been in county coffers for five months, it takes time to plan homeless projects due to their complexity, often involving construction as well as mental health, medical and rehousing services, Nottoli said.
“It’s probably not the answer everyone wants to hear, but it just takes time if you’re gonna do it right,” Nottoli said. “And that’s not an excuse. Winter is going ti be upon us.”
No new city or county shelters or housing sites will open in time for winter, when nighttime temperatures will drop into the 30s. Last winter a record eight homeless men froze to death. The city recently opened a weather respite center on Auburn Boulevard. It has 50 beds.
Of the $62 million, about $26 million is assigned to the five supervisors to decide how to spend it within their districts. That’s after Supervisors Kennedy, Phil Serna, Rich Desmond, and Sue Frost each allocated $1 million toward purchasing the North Highlands homeless site earlier this week.
This story was originally published October 31, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
