SACRAMENTO COUNTY, Calif. — As overnight temperatures drop to near freezing in our region, the nonprofit Sacramento Loaves & Fishes is calling on Sacramento County’s Board of Supervisors to open warming centers sooner rather than later to help the homeless community.
Officials from Loaves & Fishes are asking the county to provide immediate and appropriate shelter for families living outside or in vehicles and want the county to take action by January 1, 2021. The latest county data for 2019’s Homeless Point-In-Time Count showed that there were 372 families who are homeless. The families are made up of 451 adults and 688 children.
“The data is admittedly a little dated,” Joe Smith, Loaves & Fishes’ advocacy director said. “We’re anticipating with the 2020 Point-In-Time count to see a sharp increase in people experiencing homelessness overall but particularly with families.”
In addition to calling for long-term solutions, the nonprofit says they’re also looking at the immediate needs of the homeless community, calling for the county and city of Sacramento to open warming centers now.
“The fact of the matter is its cold outside right now,” Smith said, “For the county to open a warming center it has to be 32 degrees or below for three consecutive nights for a warming center to open.”
Smith says a homeless man was found dead on Friday, Nov. 20, not far from the Loaves & Fishes location on North C Street in Sacramento. A cause of death in not known right now, but Smith says the man was found with blankets that were soaking wet.
“If there was a warming center set up somewhere here in the River District where Greg [the man who died] could have went, he could have possibly stayed warm and possibly still been alive today,” Smith said.
Phil Serna, District 1 Supervisor for Sacramento County, said in a statement he appreciates the call for more warming centers and interest in relaxed criteria to open the centers sooner.
"I also appreciate the need for social distancing during this deadly pandemic, and that's why I'm consulting with our Public Health Department to explore how we might simultaneously provide relief from the elements while avoiding congregate exposure to the COVID-19 virus," Serna said in a statement.
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg spoke about the issue at a recent city council meeting. While acknowledging that the pandemic does bring challenges in opening warming centers, he directed staff and the council to take action.
“We must open warming centers, under any scenario, under any circumstances.” Steinberg said at the Tuesday meeting, “If that requires modifying the existing criteria, then that’s what we have to do with the county.”
