Homeless Shelter Projects Moving Forward In Sacramento

The Sacramento City Council has approved several proposals brought by the City to address homelessness. 

One of the proposals will allow the city to lease a warehouse near Del Paso and Northgate.  According to Mayor Darrell Steinberg, it will shelter 200 people for 90 days at a time.

"The idea is that the 200 turns over every three months because people are placed in permanent housing with the services they need," he says. "That's the county mental health. That's the whole person care." 

The mayor says it could open December 1st.

The council did not vote on a plan to purchase land on Arden Way that could be the future site of another homeless shelter. 

Sacramento Regional Transit owns the lot east of Royal Oaks Drive and was pressured by community members at last week's board meeting to delay approval. 

According to Councilman Allen Warren, the site has been a problem area for twenty years.

"The vast majority of that site is going to be set aside for a transit-oriented development opportunity with housing and retail," he says. "So, there is a developer from Southern California that is prepared to invest, I am told by the developer, $40 million in that site."

The Sac Rt board is expected to revisit the sale of the property next month.

The other proposals include funding for two existing shelters and for a program designed to provide services and health care to the homeless.