The money was previously budgeted to fill positions within the Department of Human Assistance. Since no one was hired, the money became available, according to Supervisor Phil Serna
SERNA: "Those positions are intended to be filled, but they won't be filled for a number of months. Meanwhile, during the coldest, wettest months of the year, we thought it would be very appropriate to continue to fund -at least at the same level we did last year- the winter shelter programs."
The County had previously announced it would be unable to fund any shelters…That announcement was met with considerable criticism by Sacramento-area, non-profit organizations. A recent census estimated the number of homeless in Sacramento County at about 2300 people
