Sacramento County could soon convert two longtime hotels into approximately 240 units of permanent homeless housing.
The Board of Supervisors this week approved applications asking Governor Gavin Newsom’s administration for $37 million to purchase and renovate the hotels through the state’s Homekey initiative.
The Sacramento region has hundreds of temporary shelter spaces on the way, including more than 600 tiny homes, but Supervisor Rich Desmond says those aren’t a long-term solution for the area’s homelessness crisis.
“We have a lot of things in the pipeline. But we cannot lose sight of the need to create more permanent housing options,” Desmond said.
The Homekey plans call for converting the Arden Star Hotel on Howe Avenue into 122 private homes for older residents who are unhoused. In addition, the Super 8 on Madison Avenue near Foothill Farms would be turned into 118 homeless housing units, with 15 set aside for people needing mental health assistance. Altogether, the projects will provide housing for about 300 people, Desmond said.
The plans call for 24-7 security at each property along with case management services, including substance abuse and mental health counseling. Each housing unit would include a bathroom and kitchenettes would be added during renovations, according to county staff reports.
Desmond said the county held neighborhood meetings about the projects near the hotels, both of which were built in 1980. He said community outreach will continue.
Bob Erlenbusch, executive director of the Sacramento Regional Coalition to End Homelessness, praised the plans. But he said more needs to be done to prevent homelessness, citing a recent report showing far more people are becoming unhoused than are leaving the streets.
“There’s three times as many people entering homelessness as exiting,” he said. “That’s where the plan needs to be, is turning off that faucet.”
Erlenbusch said about 200 people could lose shelter later this year when the county closes its last remaining Project Roomkey motels. The state-initiated Roomkey program allowed unhoused residents to shelter at local motels during the pandemic. The county has extended this program several times but voted this week to close the remaining motels in June and October.
By contrast, the Arden Star Hotel and Super 8 plans are the first two Homekey applications submitted by the county government. The state is expected to announce a decision on the projects by July, said county spokesperson Janna Haynes. If approved, the county would have 12 months to complete renovations and open the housing units to residents.
The city of Sacramento has received funds for several Homekey projects. Last October, dozens of families experiencing homelessness, including some with young children, moved into a permanent supportive housing community in Natomas called Vista Nueva. The city received state funds to convert the former Staybridge Suites hotel into residences for 200 people.
In January, city officials announced plans to convert the Best Western hotel on H Street in downtown into 92 units of permanent homeless housing. They had hoped to finish construction by last fall, but the housing has yet to open.
Homekey has created more than 12,700 homes through 210 projects statewide since its start in 2020, according to the Newsom administration.
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