Fact check: Has Sacramento County not spent ‘a penny’ of $25 million homeless shelter fund?
During a Sacramento mayoral online forum Thursday, California Assemblyman Kevin McCarty claimed that the county has yet to spend “a penny” of the $25 million it received to shelter homeless people camping along the American River Parkway.
“Last year in the budget I got $25 million for the County of Sacramento to build emergency shelter to get people off the Parkway,” McCarty said during the online forum hosted by Planned Parenthood and the ACLU. “We’re now going on two years, they haven’t spent one penny. I think we need more of an urgency to get things done in Sacramento.”
McCarty was correct that the county has not yet spent any of the money, county spokesman Janna Haynes confirmed Thursday.
But the county received the $25 million check about nine months ago, in April, not two years ago.
In July McCarty sent a letter to Board of Supervisors Chairman Rich Desmond July 5 to nudge county leaders to spend it. The funds were supposed to cover the start up costs to shelter roughly a whopping 620 people per year in tiny homes, the letter stated.
County staff found an undisclosed piece of land that was available and spent months negotiating to buy it but it fell through in September when the owner entered into a contract to sell it to someone else, officials have said. The county then published a Request for Qualifications, asking for private entities who want to help the county find sites.
That effort has yielded “a few promising bids,” county spokeswoman Janna Haynes said Thursday. “So hopefully we’ll be able to move forward soon.”
The city Thursday announced plans to open a shelter for up to 240 people on Roseville Road. Additionally the county is placing tiny homes for 200 people on Stockton Boulevard. Neither of those sites are near the American River Parkway, however, where hundreds live in encampments in wooded areas and along the bike trail, walkable to Loaves and Fishes for meals and supplies.
There are an estimated 9,300 homeless people living in the county. The city and county as of December had about 2,600 shelter beds. As of the week of Nov. 27, there were over 2,400 people on the city’s shelter wait list.
The Sacramento mayoral primary will be held March 5, while the general election will be held Nov. 5. Mayor Darrell Steinberg is not seeking re-election. In addition to McCarty, former state senator Richard Pan, epidemiologist Flojaune Cofer, and former councilman Steve Hansen are running for mayor.
This story was originally published January 8, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
