Sacramento to soon open 15 trailers to homeless, but dozens more still sit in storage
The city of Sacramento this week announced plans to open 15 trailers to the homeless. But even after that happens, the city will still have nearly 100 tiny homes and trailers sitting unused in a dirt lot, as they have been for 20 months.
The 97 tiny homes and trailers have been sitting vacant in a Natomas city lot since June 2021 — including through two winters in which at least 10 homeless men and women died of hypothermia on Sacramento’s streets.
City leaders have considered the structures for several sites, but ran into regulatory issues such as making them accessible to people with disabilities, and meeting fire safety protocols, said city spokesman Tim Swanson. City leaders are still actively working to open them however, in partnership with the county, he said.
“The city and county are working together on several new projects to address homelessness, and some of these projects expect to utilize the trailers and sleeping cabins,” Swanson said in an email. “It has always been the city’s intent to use these trailers and sleeping cabins in the most efficient and effective way possible to help people experiencing homelessness.”
While encouraged 15 of the trailers will open by the end of the month, Bob Erlenbusch of the Sacramento Regional Coalition to End Homeless criticized the city for letting the rest of them sit empty for over a year and a half. It’s very unlikely any of the 97 will open before spring, he pointed out.
“It’s absolutely shameful that the city has been sitting on tiny homes and trailers this long,” Erlenbusch said. “It’s great that 15 are going to be used at Miller Park. That’s a good start. But that still leaves nearly 100 trailers and tiny homes that could house at least 200 of our unhoused neighbors to prevent people dying of weather-related causes. There’s no excuse.”
Councilwoman Katie Valenzuela opened the Miller Park Safe Ground about a year ago with room for 80 people to live in identical tents, with security, bathrooms, showers, drinking water and medical services. Since it opened, about 180 people who spent time at the site were able to move indoors after leaving, typically due to the services they received while there. The city closed the site along the Sacramento River during severe rain and wind storms last month, due to flooding concerns. Last week it announced plans to reopen the site with the 15 trailers, which will fit a lower capacity of 45 people, but will provide greater protection from the elements than tents.
Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services provided the trailers to the city in 2020, and the city placed them at Cal Expo to quarantine COVID-positive homeless men and women. But the city stopped using the trailers in June 2021 when other options, mainly motels, became available for quarantine shelter space
The city purchased the 55 tiny homes for the homeless in 2021 for $569,859. They have been sitting vacant ever since arriving in March 2021.
While the city has no tiny home projects opened or announced, tiny homes seem to be a big part of the county strategy to address homelessness. The county this year plans to open tiny homes for 430 homeless people in North Highlands and south Sacramento. The county’s tiny homes meet all ADA and fire requirements, county spokeswoman Janna Haynes said.
City leaders offered their vacant tiny homes to the county for those projects, but they were all one size, and were an older model, Haynes said.
The city’s tiny homes can be used without electricity, but that is not their “ideal usage,” Swanson said. The county’s tiny homes will be hooked up to electricity, Haynes said.
As of January 2022, there are roughly 9,300 homeless people living in Sacramento, most of whom are sleeping outdoors. The city and county have a combined total of about 2,300 shelter beds, all of which are typically full.
This story was originally published February 18, 2023 at 6:00 AM.
