SACRAMENTO, Calif. — On any given night, more than 9,000 men, women and children sleep on the streets of Sacramento County without a roof over their head.
It’s an issue Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg and the Sacramento County are working to fix as part of their joint homeless agreement.
“We do not have enough beds. We are out on the WX corridor now, we have three teams out there working to bring people in but they need somewhere to go,” said Steinberg.
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday Sacramento will receive 350 tiny homes for the unhoused to be set up at Cal Expo.
“I get it, you want to see progress and you want to see it now,” said Newsom.
As for what “progress” looks like, the city and the county are still figuring it out. Both say they are working closely together to develop an operations plan and are figuring out the roles each will play.
A community for the homeless, whether it’s trailers or tiny homes, is a massive undertaking. We’ve seen it firsthand with the county’s attempt at operating 100 units at a vacant lot on Power Inn and Florin Road. The homes are there and after almost a year, they're still empty.
Back in September, the county told ABC10 the delay was due to building permits, ordering materials and additional community outreach.
Steinberg addressed these issues when speaking about the timeline of the project at Cal Expo.
“I think it’s all going to be about procurement and that’s going to take some time. As quickly as we are able to get the homes, we will be able to get this going but I’ve been around long enough to know that while I want it to be next week or two weeks from now it’s probably months from now,” said Steinberg.
Using Cal Expo as a site for tiny homes is something the mayor has tried to accomplish for years.
Back in 2019 city council voted to fund a homeless triage shelter in the parking lot but Cal Expo’s board never took up the issue and nothing happened.
Newsom promises the homes will be set up at Cal Expo in months - not years -and he hopes for a fall opening.
Steinberg believes this is the solution because, even with the resources from the city and county agreement, there are not enough beds to help people get off the streets.
