SACRAMENTO, Calif. — In early 2022, a row of tents was placed at Sacramento's Miller Park to offer a lifeline to people experiencing homelessness in the area.
Despite debate within the community, the city approved putting in a “Safe Ground” shelter site at Miller Park, which was a popular spot for the lowrider community and those people stopping by on their lunch breaks.
Months later, ABC10 visited the area and saw that all the tents at the park were gone.
The site was meant to provide a place for some of the unhoused residents who lived along Downtown's W and X streets. It can accommodate nearly 80 people. It also had basic necessities like toilets bathrooms, showers and electricity. It was supposed to be staffed 24 hours a day by people who can help those living at the site transition to permanent housing.
But then came the New Year's Eve storm.
The New Year's Eve storm that passed caused the site to shut down, and people had to be relocated. Now that the storms have passed, the plan was to reopen the site.
Back in January, Sacramento agreed that the city manager's office would, in the most simple terms, grant more than $3 million to continue operations at the Safe Ground site.
However, things went in a different direction. The city manager's office decided to hit pause on the project.
ABC10’s "To The Point" Host Alex Bell reached out to the city manager's office for an interview about the situation.
In a statement they said:
"With Miller Park specifically, the city currently is exploring options to better leverage its limited resources and provide more cost-effective and sustainable solutions. Part of this work involves the new partnership with the county of Sacramento, in which the county has committed to operating shelter locations if the city provides shovel-ready sites. As we saw in the recent storm, Miller Park is not an ideal location for a Safe Ground due to its proximity to the river and vulnerability to the elements. The city is working to make its final determination on next steps for the Miller Park Safe Ground as soon as possible."
ABC10 also contacted Councilmember Katie Valenzuela's office since this site is in her district. An interview is being conducted with Valenzuela Tuesday by ABC10’s Alex Bell to address the issue.
