Where do worthy homeless solutions have enemies? Welcome to Sacramento | Opinion
At an April Sacramento City Council meeting, member Lisa Kaplan of North Natomas suggested a “strip” of land in her district as a potential site for a homeless facility. Unidentified at the time, now Kaplan says this same land is proposed as a 40-unit tiny home “micro community” for homeless people 55 and older, and she is against it because of the project’s limitations.
This proposed community on Arena Boulevard is fast becoming the flashpoint of the city’s expanding efforts to address homelessness and an example of how hard it is to make any progress on homelessness in Sacramento. It’s depressing, really. The city is trying to do the right thing by providing services for as many homeless seniors as possible with only so much money available to get it done.
It would be wrong to describe this stretch of North Natomas as some affluent community. The site is next to a mobile home park. But of the three new homeless community sites identified to date (the other two are in south Sacramento), this one is in a part of town that is distant from the city’s ongoing homeless crisis, and with highly engaged nearby residents.
This micro-community illustrates the much broader civic tradeoff Sacramento is facing when it comes to addressing homelessness.
The city, by its estimate, could choose to build an ideal complex with all the amenities at easily four times the cost of the proposed tiny homes that give seniors some roofs over their heads and where they can be warm in the winter and cool in the summer, with a refrigerator and microwave to reheat a meal. So for every $400,000 the city finds to address homelessness, do we build one ideal solution, or four imperfect ones?
My strong hunch is that most Sacramentans would choose to help as many homeless as affordably as possible, to prevent the perfect from becoming the enemy of the good. It’s the humane path to choose. And that is exactly what city management that the council has placed in charge, with the full support of Mayor Kevin McCarty, is trying to do.
It is when this imperfect new homeless concept is proposed next door in a more fortunate part of our city when the local political microclimate of opposition can rear its head.
“This project will fail with flawed implementation,” Kaplan said Friday. “The current plan presented by the city is flawed for both the community and future residents.”
As detailed to the City Council Tuesday night, the Department of Community Response is proposing to purchase 120-square-foot manufactured homes, supply them with electricity and install 40 of them in four new communities (the final one to be located somewhere in council district No. 7).
At a cost of an estimated $85,000 per unit, this is less than a quarter the expense of a traditional multi-family apartment-style “permanent” site. And if residents pay 30% of their income as rent to pay for maintenance and staffing, these communities are economically self-sustaining.
“If (outside) funding runs out, these locations don’t,” said Brian Pedro, director of the community response department.
Too many dogs, too few bathrooms?
But critics to this approach, including Kaplan, lament the lack of bathrooms in each unit (they are proposed to be centralized in each community). There is no on-site dining, only a shared outdoor communal space. “What is the plan for food and all the other services?” Kaplan asked. Meanwhile, each senior could have a dog.
“Forty dogs on that site,” Kaplan said.
“There’s plenty of room,” Pedro said.
Remember, Sacramento is not looking to place 40 young drug addicts in North Natomas. These are senior citizens. These would be “our most stable individuals,” Pedro said.
The city hasn’t worked out every last detail as it has unveiled the plans to move forward with these communities some time next year. Nor should anyone expect so. Meanwhile, Pedro, Kaplan and Councilmember Karina Talamantes of South Natomas are scheduled to meet with interested residents Monday night at the Witter Ranch Elementary School at 6 p.m.
Of the handful of nearby residents who came to City Hall Tuesday night, some complained. But then there was Tamara Holyfield. Her mobile home, right next to this new micro community, places her directly adjacent to this response to our ongoing homeless crisis.
“I initially found out about this a little over a week ago,” she told the council. “I had my panic attack and what not, did a lot of research, talked to a lot of people. I am supportive of it. I am tired of people I know walking around saying, ‘I wish somebody would help them….’ What can I do to help?”
Sacramento is left with only imperfect solutions to address this problem. The city needs as many of them as it can afford, and leaders to tap into that public goodwill. Sacramento, this flat, flood-prone city of no pretense, is still as warm as our summer sun.
This story was originally published September 22, 2025 at 5:00 AM.