Sacramento County commits to building its biggest-ever homeless shelter. Here are the details

Sacramento County will spend at least $40 million in federal dollars to open a homeless shelter in North Highlands for 250 people — set to be the largest it has ever opened.

The cost figure includes about $23 million for purchasing the 13-acre property and $17 million for construction, which the County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved Tuesday. It does not include operations, which will increase the figure. No one attended the meeting to oppose the decision.

The Watt Avenue shelter will include 140 tiny homes inside a warehouse, including 20 double occupancy, and 50 safe parking spots in a parking lot. The site will also include restrooms, showers, storage, security and medical services.

Supervisor Rich Desmond, whose district includes the site, said the project will help both homeless people and the nearby residents and businesses.

“(The project will) most likely attract folks in to take advantage of the services we are offering, to be able to change their lives, while at the same time allowing us to focus communities that are being harmed by these encampments,” Desmond said.

Supervisor Phil Serna said he hoped more sites will help relieve the homeless population along the American River Parkway. Those who camp near the Watt site, including along Roseville Road, will be given priority, staff said.

The county’s $40 million allocation to the shelter will bring the county’s pot of unused federal funds it could spend on homelessness down to $22 million.

The board’s approval of the $40 million for a shelter raises questions about why the county pulled out of another project earlier this year that Sacramento city officials considered to be viable. The county chose not to proceed with a proposal to open a homeless shelter for up to 300 people in a vacant CalPERS building downtown. The plan would have would been managed by the city and the county.

County officials said last month that project would have cost each agency $45 million — an amount officials decided was too expensive.

But the decision was not just about money, county spokeswoman Janna Haynes said on Thursday. In addition to the cost, county officials said they decided against the downtown site because people would have slept in a large space, giving little privacy and potentially creating conditions for COVID-19 to spread.

In addition there was not enough storage for belongings, pet relief, recreation and smoking.

Bob Erlenbusch of Sacramento Regional Coalition to End Homelessness is glad the county is opening a large shelter, but criticized officials for backing out of the downtown site.

”I think the board needs to be transparent on why they declined the CalPERS site,” Erlenbusch said. “It is especially concerning given that the CalPERs site could of been open by now and brought 300 of our unhoused neighbors out of the winter weather. They had the funds to open either one, so clearly money was not the issue. The board must provide an answer to our unhoused neighbors and the community.”

Nighttime temperatures are dipping into the 30s and frost is forecast Friday, he pointed out. Last year eight homeless men died of hypothermia.

The Watt Avenue shelter will not open before this winter. The county still has to hire an architect and an operator, Haynes said.

The board earlier this year approved two large tiny home villages for homeless people in south Sacramento near Florin Road. They have not yet opened.

The Watt project comes as the county is under increasing pressure to open more homeless shelters. The city and county have opened about 2,300 shelter beds and spaces, but there are nearly 10,000 homeless people living in Sacramento, according to a January count.

County and city leaders have been negotiating the terms of an agreement that would outline their responsibilities to address homelessness. It is tied to the enactment of the city’s Measure O, a ballot measure that likely passed, and could empower officials to sweep more homeless camps and nudge the city to identify more shelter.