Sacramento City Council votes unanimously to open homeless respite center on Auburn Blvd.
The city of Sacramento will open a building essentially 24/7 where homeless individuals can escape the weather and access services, the City Council decided unanimously Tuesday, reversing a previous decision to only open it when strict temperature thresholds were met.
The former Powerhouse Science Center at 3615 Auburn Blvd. will serve 50 unhoused individuals and families around the clock by September.
“I’m not going to allow a vacant city asset that is large and that is perfect for city (homeless services) to just lay fallow,” said Mayor Darrell Steinberg, who proposed the item after learning Sacramento’s homeless population has nearly doubled in the last three years.
The adjacent Children’s Receiving Home, which opposed the idea previously, this time was “neutral,” following conversations with Steinberg. The idea was still somewhat controversial, though. About a dozen people called in to oppose the proposal, citing safety concerns that the children in the receiving home would be endangered, property values would decrease, and that the nearby fragile Del Paso Park would be damaged.
“You can’t solve one problem, the homeless problem, by creating an even worse problem, by endangering children who have already been traumatized,” said Cathy Cook, who lives nearby, and participated in a protest at the site Monday night. “It’s unimaginably callous and insensitive.”
The city owns the building but is paying a nonprofit group up to $3.3 million to operate it. This summer, the city only opened the center when the National Weather Service issued advisories for extreme temperatures — six days so far. Temperatures hit triple digits for six days in a row last week, according to weather service data, but there was no advisory so the center’s doors were shut.
Extreme heat and cold can be fatal. Two homeless individuals died with heat stroke as one of multiple causes of death in 2020, according to the Coroner’s Office. Ten homeless people have died from hypothermia since November 2020.
The council voted to open a 24/7 center at the building in March 2021, but then Councilman Sean Loloee, who represents the area, blocked it after hearing concerns from the receiving home. He again voiced concerns Tuesday, mostly about encampments increasing in the area when people are turned away, but ended up voting in favor.
Homeless people will not be able to walk up to the center and get in, but will have to be invited by the city’s Department of Community Response.
Bathrooms, showers, food and water will be available, and pets and possessions will be allowed, said Nick Golling, DCR’s program manager. It will be open for overnight stays between 4 p.m. and 7 a.m., and open for daytime services between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.
Formally called the Outreach and Engagement Center, services will include help finding housing, job-readiness training, help obtaining state identification cards and birth certificates, and signing up for government benefits. Eventually, the site might also offer medical and mental health services, Golling said.
The center will provide a critical place for people to go to keep them stable and off the streets while they await a room at a city motel shelter or affordable housing, officials said. It will also continue to open without referral when the temperature thresholds are met.
There are an estimated 9,278 homeless people on any given night in Sacramento County, a report released last month found. Up to 20,000 people in Sacramento will experience homelessness throughout the course of the year, the report said.
The Sacramento Homeless Union last month filed a federal lawsuit seeking a court order for the city and county to open many more public buildings as emergency weather centers in extreme heat. A judge has not yet ruled in the lawsuit.
This story was originally published July 26, 2022 at 6:20 PM.
