Sacramento officials say they’ll consider applying for some of the $300 million in homeless encampment funds made available this week by Governor Gavin Newsom.
But the program by itself won’t pay cities and counties to remove the vast tent communities that line streets and sidewalks across California.
Instead, to secure any money, local governments must come up with plans for how to shelter or house people living in the camps and offer them as alternatives to life on the street.
“These dollars are not intended for enforcement,” Sacramento County spokesperson Janna Haynes explained. “They are intended for solutions. And that’s why you have to come with a project. You can’t just apply for the money and figure out what to do with it later. You have to have a project in mind that has a solution attached to it.”
Haynes said that’s what Sacramento County did to secure $20 million through an earlier round of the state’s Encampment Resolution Funding program. Since its inception in 2021, the program has awarded $414 million to 66 communities statewide, according to the governor’s office.
A portion of the latest round of encampment funding will be set aside for projects that serve people living in camps along Caltrans right-of-ways, including under freeway overpasses.
Sacramento County will use a $3.6 million portion of its previous award on a safe parking program on Watt Avenue in North Highlands. The site will provide unhoused residents who live in vehicles a legal place to park and receive services. Haynes said the county expects to open that location in January and offer sanctioned spaces to up to 30 people at a time.
She said the program aims to cut down on the collection of cars, trucks and RVs illegally parked on Roseville Road and at other vehicle encampments nearby.
The county’s remaining $17.6 million in state grant money will pay for what it calls a Safe State Community on Stockton Boulevard, consisting of 175 tiny homes and case management services for unhoused residents.
Haynes said the state will determine when that project opens, noting the shed-sized homes are part of the 350 tiny homes Newsom promised the Sacramento region this spring.
The spokesperson said county officials will apply for this third and latest round of state encampment funds, if they can identify a project that meets the requirements.
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg said there’s “no question we will seek out” the new round of state grant money.
“This is another signature opportunity for cities and counties throughout California to continue to make a positive impact on our most serious problem,” the mayor said.
Steinberg added there are signs of progress in the Capital City. He cited the city’s recent removal of several large homeless encampments in Midtown following the offers of temporary shelter.
“No one is declaring victory,” he said. “But we’re beginning to get some very positive feedback that by breaking up the large encampments while always offering people a path out of homelessness, we can begin to see a visible and tangible difference in our community. This new grant will allow us to elevate that work.”
Wayne Winegarden, a senior fellow at the Pacific Research Institute, said the governor is right to focus on encampments. But Winegarden, whose free-market think tank has criticized the state’s homelessness policies, said he believes its requirement that projects take a “Housing First” approach will undermine the program. Housing First is a strategy used by the state that calls for connecting unhoused residents with a permanent home as quickly as possible and removing housing barriers such as the requirement that individuals maintain sobriety.
The state’s grant application requires all projects, including temporary shelters, to include “clear pathways to permanent housing.” Winegarden says that’s a mistake.
“Housing First rarely follows up with the necessary support services that address the root causes of a person's homelessness,” he said. “The result is that most who shuffle through the bureaucracy end up back on the streets.”
Bob Erlenbusch, who heads the Sacramento Regional Coalition to End Homelessness, said he’s glad the county’s encampment funds will pay for temporary shelter programs instead of enforcement. He stressed, however, that it’s critical to fund a full array of services at the shelters, including electricity, showers, food and social services.
Erlenbusch added that temporary shelter won’t always provide a clear path to housing. He urged the Sacramento region to emulate a Los Angeles plan to lease apartments for people living in encampments, saying it’s a more direct path.
“It’s about as direct as you can get,” he said, “from the streets to an apartment.”
Contact CapRadio News reporter Chris Nichols at [email protected]
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