Sacramento mayor reflects on first year, plans to run for second term
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- McCarty credits balanced budget, closed $62 million gap without major service cuts.
- He prioritizes homelessness: 500 beds added in 2025 and six-point shelter plan.
- McCarty plans 2026 real estate transfer tax to raise $9M yearly for housing programs.
One year ago, Kevin McCarty became the 57th mayor of Sacramento following a victory by the thinnest of margins.
McCarty, a former state Assemblyman, had spent nearly a year and a half campaigning on homelessness, housing affordability and neighborhood safety. At his Dec. 10, 2024 swearing-in, he reinforced those priorities and said the city had a “long list of issues” to address.
Now, one year into his term, McCarty described his tenure thus far as “steady progress.” He pointed to the council balancing its budget and addressing a $62 million shortfall without “major impacts to core city services” as his biggest accomplishment this year.
“We weren’t going to change the world overnight, and change the city overnight, but [it] put us in a good trajectory to move the city forward,” McCarty said last week.
Homelessness has remained a central focus under McCarty. He has pushed for the city to shift its decreasing resources away from congregate homeless shelters, spearheaded a ban on sleeping outside City Hall and announced plans for smaller, community-based housing sites at a monthly fee.
The city added roughly 500 new shelter beds to its existing 1,375 total in 2025, said Geneva Jacob, a spokesperson for the mayor.
In September, McCarty unveiled a “6-point plan,” which calls for several new homeless sites, including safe camping areas, tiny home communities and permanent supportive housing projects. Another 500 beds would be available if all the sites open.
Some of the projects are awaiting funding, approval from government agencies or face opposition from residents. One of the sites, a shelter for people with vehicles, has already received staunch pushback from the federal administration. Sacramento, like many cities, has a history of announcing homeless shelters that never open.
“The six-point plan is not a guarantee, so some of those things we’re working on, “ McCarty said. “They’re not easy, but we’re plowing along.”
In October, McCarty held his first state of the city during which he announced his intention to pursue a November 2026 measure to increase the city’s real estate transfer tax for high volume sales. The plan, estimated to generate $9 million annually, would help fund payment assistance to first-time home buyers, struggling renters and more tiny homes.
The Sacramento Bee spoke with the mayor last week ahead of the one-year anniversary of his swearing-in at the council chambers. The interview, which covered homelessness, budget priorities and his plans to run for a second year, has been edited for length and clarity.
What would you say is your biggest accomplishment this first year?
“Adopting our city budget where we didn’t have, fortunately, to have many major impacts on core city service,” McCarty said. “We had to make some adjustments, eliminate some vacant positions. It’s not going to be easy in the next year and the year after that, which is why growing our economy is such a big priority of ours, but being able to keep the city afloat, keep public safety, police and fire services where they’re at.”
What was your biggest challenge?
“Everything takes too long,” McCarty said. “It’s frustrating. Every other week or so, I’m here at City Council, and we’re programming and spending money that, literally, I helped receive in the legislature two, three years ago. So it’s just a reminder that things take a long time, so I have to count to 10 and focus on patience.”
Another $60 million shortfall is projected for the budget. What would you like to do differently this year, if anything at all, in terms of the budget cycle?
“I don’t know if anything differently,” McCarty said. “What I want to do, most importantly, is see what we can do to grow our economy. That’s why we’re pushing efforts like the implementation of Aggie Square, bringing in more non-government employment here to Sacramento with technology, innovation and research. That’s why we’re supporting a major revamp of our building department…In order to not have to make difficult budget decisions, we need to have more money in the budget. And how you do that is by growing our economy.”
You announced your intention to pursue a real estate ballot measure that would help fund first time home buyers, renters on the verge of homelessness and tiny homes. What progress has been made so far to get buy-in for that ballot measure?
“I knew it wasn’t going to be received unanimously by people in the community with open arms,” McCarty said. “Anytime there’s change and a type of fee involved with a community and the electorate, there’s pushback. So I wanted to start the conversation, and we have about seven months to keep flushing it out before we have to take a vote to put it on the ballot. So we’re doing just that. We’re talking to housing advocates, people in the real estate community that have some impact with this.”
When would you expect the council to formally consider the ballot measure?
“We have until this summer to put on the ballot, yes or no, but right now, we’re still in the conversation stage,” McCarty said. “Nothing has been cooked. There’s no formal proposal out there, but you have to start the conversation somewhere.”
The city has previously announced plans to open anywhere from 20 to 50 new homeless sites (under previous elected bodies). In reality, only one or two of those opened up. What are you doing to ensure that the sites that you announced actually open up?
Well, we can only go forward,” McCarty said. “We can’t go back. And I don’t want to bash on prior electeds and leadership. They tried their best, and we have those 1,300 sites because of that…We’ve learned a lot of lessons, learned what worked and doesn’t work and learned what is not a waste of taxpayer money, but a very inefficient use of taxpayer money. So, we are recalibrating and looking at what’s effective, what works, what gets the biggest bang for the taxpayer.”
Some of the newer proposed sites stem from an August 2023 narrow council decision to give the city manager authority to select safe camping locations. Do you still support delegating that authority?
“100%,” McCarty said. “ No, that’s not going back. We’re not agendizing that. We’re sticking to it. It’s very successful. We have support from the council. I think a couple council members don’t like that policy, but they’re listening to NIMBY’s in their communities, as opposed to focusing on a city-wide solution.”
What will you do differently as mayor in year two compared to year one?
“I’ll just stay the course and try to make sure that I realize that things take time. Patience is always my weakness. So I think one thing that we did well in year one is go out there and listen to the community, learn and try not to always have all the answers… The focus, but I wanted to zero in on overarching issues and themes, won’t change. I think it’s finetuning these solutions and these directions. And engagement with the community in Sacramento is key, and I’ll keep doing more of that.”
Now that you have one year in the role, is there something you hope to accomplish by the end of your tenure?
“Completing the American River and Sacramento River Parkway trails for cyclists, runners, people that just enjoy Mother Nature, so completing that trail, by the end of my tenure as mayor,” McCarty said.
Have you decided if you’re going to run again?
“All I know is that there’s never been a mayor that served more than two terms,” McCarty said. “And I don’t plan on being that person. Yeah, I enjoy the job, and I haven’t declared re-election just yet. I have a couple years to do, and as long as I’m enjoying it and think that I’m making a difference and being effective in the day, this job is about being effective for the people of Sacramento, that we’ll keep going. But I don’t intend to make this a lifelong quest.”
So, it sounds like you’re leaning toward running again.
“That’s the plan, but I don’t see myself being a multi-term mayor, even though there’s no term limits in the city of Sacramento, I think two terms is quite enough.”
This story was originally published December 8, 2025 at 5:05 PM.
