SACRAMENTO, Calif. — On Thursday, Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg announced the city would receive $15.3 million for rental assistance through federal stimulus funding.
Steinberg also announced that he would be seeking approval from city councilmembers next Tuesday to roll out 60 tiny homes in the next 30 days.
"This is so important because we can’t continue to have what’s going in our city," Steinberg said.
The plan, Steinberg said, was to designate certain areas of public or private property in Sacramento for small tent communities where homeless people can live temporarily. But city councilmembers had to approve it for their districts.
"Hopefully approve an ordinance that will allow Safe Ground, safe camping to take place in appropriate vacant parcels throughout the city," he said.
Steinberg explained that the goal was to bring people inside as soon as possible. He said he’s looking to get approval on some tiny homes as well.
"I am proposing that we direct the city team to put up at least 60 tiny homes on these same vacant parcels, any one of the vacant parcels, within 30 days," Steinberg said.
He did not specify the sites -- that will also be up to councilmembers, but the city already had eight Pallet Homes ready for installation when the first site was found.
"The city needs to be proactive, both in locating the sites, but also working in true partnership with the community to actually make these projects happen," Steinberg explained. "It’s not enough to just say, 'well, you can set up a tiny home village or a safe campsite... and good luck.' The city needs to be an active partner."
The proposed tiny homes along with select Safe Ground camping areas are what Steinberg calls an "interim step" to provide shelter quickly, until the city works to adopt a homeless housing master plan—in which, councilmembers work within their districts to identify locations for homeless shelters. The master plan will also look for financing and operations for those shelters.
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