SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Nearly 10 months after Gov. Gavin Newsom promised 350 tiny homes would come to Sacramento's Cal Expo, the plan has changed. The city and county are now working to place them at two sites.
Suzi Young told ABC10 she was looking forward to possibly getting off the street when the county purchased a site on Watt Avenue in November 2022.
"I don't even like being out here. It's way too busy for me," she said at the time while living along Roseville Road.
Then, in March, Newsom announced 350 tiny homes would be placed at Cal Expo to help with the ongoing homelessness problem. Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg was one of the main supporters.
"I think it's all going to be about procurement. As quickly as they can procure the homes, I think we'll be able to get this going," he said at the time.
Now, the tiny homes are no longer planned for Cal Expo because county and city officials want to place them at designated Safe Stay Communities.
"The city and the county approached the governor's office recommending the use of this site for the citing of up to 200 of the state's beds," said Emily Halcon, the county's Homeless Services and Housing Director.
Halcon asked for approval to start plans to place 200 of those tiny homes at 6810 Stockton Blvd. during a Sacramento County Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday. ABC10 has been reporting on plans for this site since August, when the mayor announced plans to turn it into a wellness campus for unhoused and low-income individuals.
"We're just asking for authority today to give us that flexibility should we be able to fit the entire 200 beds," said Halcon.
As for the remaining 175 tiny homes, County Supervisor Rich Desmond and Steinberg sent a letter to the Governor's Office in November asking if they could be placed at a 13-acre site at 4837 Watt Ave.
"This site is already owned by the county and we have an opportunity to very swiftly move out to build a more comprehensive homeless service center," said Halcon.
Bob Erlenbusch, Executive Director of the Sacramento Regional Coalition to End Homelessness, says he saw problems with Cal Expo's location from the start.
"The transportation issues to get people, our unhoused neighbors out there and back again," he said. "It's basically in a floodplain."
He believes this new plan makes more sense.
"That makes perfect sense to divide it. You don't want 350 people all in on one location," he said.
The county is hoping to start groundbreaking as early as January on the site at Stockton Boulevard.
With the Watt Avenue site, a spokesperson for the governor's office says it supports the use of the site and will continue to review details of the proposal. As far as the timeline goes, the county will meet again at the end of next month to discuss further.
