The Sacramento area may open greater than 600 tiny houses for unhoused residents over the subsequent yr, together with 350 promised by Governor Gavin Newsom final week, with the objective of shifting folks from unlawful encampments to secure however short-term shelter.
Elected leaders and a few advocates for folks experiencing homelessness say the shed-sized constructions provide a secure respite whereas folks seek for a everlasting place to stay. The houses will be arrange sooner and cheaper than conventional housing and provide a stopgap that responds to the urgency of the rising disaster, they are saying.
However because the area prepares to open a half dozen tiny house communities in coming months, at the price of tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars}, questions stay about how nicely this new strategy will work, together with whether or not unhoused residents will embrace it.

Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg says the 350 new shelters can be provided to folks dwelling in encampments alongside the W/X hall, which runs parallel to Freeway 50 within the central metropolis, and to folks camped alongside the American River Parkway. Some houses may open at Cal Expo by this fall, in keeping with the governor.
In the meantime, plans are shifting ahead for a further 300 tiny houses at county-run websites in South Sacramento and North Highlands.
However in interviews this week, a half dozen unhoused residents mentioned they’d relatively keep of their tents than stay in a neighborhood that restricts their actions or curtails different habits, as could be the case on the government-run camps.
“It’d be like dwelling in jail,” mentioned Jeff Sharpe, 52, who lives in a tent simply south of the freeway. “I’ve already lived in jail. … You may’t get out.”
Jeff Sharpe, 52, lives in a tent close to X Road. He says unhoused residents have extra freedom on the road and certain would reject the provide of a tiny house.Chris Nichols / CapRadio
Jacob Lashey, 27, who lives in a close-by tent mentioned the tiny houses may provide stability and even a path towards sobriety. However, he mentioned, he probably gained’t go.
“Not in the event that they’re going to inform me what I can and may’t use,” mentioned Lashey, who mentioned he struggles with habit. “I’ll in all probability stick it out and attempt to do my very own factor. … I’d relatively not waste anyone’s time.”
Town and county have insurance policies permitting folks to enter some shelters with out being drug examined, however prohibit use onsite.
Joseph Grey interacts with unhoused residents on a regular basis via his work selecting up trash at encampments alongside the W/X hall for the Downtown Streets staff. He’s additionally unhoused and lives in his automotive.
Joseph Grey, 65, picks up trash at encampments on the W/X hall for the Downtown Streets Group. Grey, who lives in his automotive, says he believes most unhoused residents would reject a suggestion to stay at a tiny house neighborhood.Chris Nichols / CapRadio
The 65-year-old says the tiny houses will assist “those that wish to get off the streets. However the reality is most of them don’t wish to get off of the road.”
Grey says he probably gained’t settle for a suggestion, both, as a result of he doesn’t need “to be crowded round different folks.”
Constructing a neighborhood ‘with respect and dignity’
Bob Erlenbusch, government director of the Sacramento Regional Coalition to Finish Homelessness, mentioned he believes folks on the road will ultimately settle for the tiny houses as a result of they “are a step up irrespective of the way you have a look at it.”
Given this yr’s unrelenting rain and wind storms, “I believe folks can be comfortable to return inside,” he added.
However for the shelter applications to be efficient, Erlenbusch mentioned they need to give attention to fostering a neighborhood — one thing some unhoused residents say they have already got at their encampments. After shifting right into a shelter, some return to their outdated camps as a result of there’s nothing to do however sit inside their tiny house, a number of unhoused residents mentioned.
“I completely perceive folks saying ‘I’m not going [to try the shelter] if I’m not going to be handled with respect and dignity,’” Erlenbusch mentioned.
“That must be constructed into this system.”
Erlenbusch mentioned every ought to present fundamental facilities similar to local weather controls contained in the houses and bogs and showers onsite. However organizers also needs to construct neighborhood facilities and basketball courts, permit contributors to cook dinner and socialize collectively and take part in decision-making. They need to guarantee teams of encampment residents who know and get together with each other are positioned collectively on the tiny house neighborhood, he mentioned.
Lashey, the X Road encampment resident, mentioned organizers want to recollect “homeless individuals are nonetheless folks.” Although the tiny houses may not work for him, the Sacramento-native mentioned he believes the steadiness “would change all people’s life in the event that they actually made the selection to go in there.”
What are the benefits of tiny houses?
Cities from Los Angeles to San Jose to Redding have opened tiny houses in response to California’s surging homeless inhabitants. Supporters say the hard-sided constructions are safer than tents, can open shortly and will save lives.
Throughout a January storm in Sacramento, two unhoused residents had been killed in separate incidents when bushes fell on their tents. Throughout one other highly effective atmospheric river in January 2021, a minimum of two homeless residents, together with a girl sleeping in a tent downtown, had been killed as winds approaching 70 miles per hour lashed out throughout the area.
Native advocates say they know tiny houses gained’t resolve homelessness alone. However they’re “a very good place to start out,” mentioned Angela Hassell, government director at Sacramento Loaves & Fishes, which gives survival gear to unhoused residents.
“Ideally, they don’t seem to be going to simply fall down or get shredded in a windstorm or a rainstorm,” Hassell mentioned. “They are going to provide some extra security and safety and a non-public area for folk to form of take a breath after which transfer into a number of the different therapeutic arenas.”
Two years in the past, Sacramento metropolis leaders hailed plans to determine 20 new homeless shelters to serve 3,600 folks, together with a number of outside sanctioned tent encampments often called “secure grounds.” However a yr later, the plan fizzled out. Town closed its secure floor campsite close to Southside Park and ultimately swapped out tents for trailers at its different outside website at Miller Park. Officers mentioned issues over security, price, neighborhood opposition and a shift towards funding inexpensive housing in the end led them to desert the excellent plan.

Nonetheless, officers say there’s extra work forward. Town and county signed a Homeless Companies Partnership Settlement in December with the objective of confronting the area’s disaster collectively. The deal commits the county to opening as much as 600 new homeless shelter beds, together with a whole bunch of tiny house beds. It additionally requires the native governments to kind joint city-county outreach groups to go to encampments.
“It’s not town alone anymore,” Steinberg defined this month at Cal Expo, the place Newsom introduced plans to supply 1,200 tiny houses statewide. “We’d like the county, not just for working however for the companies. The psychological well being and substance abuse companies.”
Sacramento County’s plans name for case administration workers to work onsite on the tiny house communities. They might assist company entry paperwork wanted to safe advantages and housing, whereas behavioral well being workers would supply psychological well being and habit assessments and referrals. The plans additionally name for safety personnel to verify folks out and in of the communities.
How useful are tiny houses at ending homelessness?
It’s laborious to say how efficient Sacramento’s tiny house communities can be at bringing folks off the streets and serving to them discover everlasting housing. Sacramento hasn’t opened any large-scale websites but. However outcomes at a small tiny house neighborhood, town’s first to open, seem promising.
Often called Emergency Bridge Housing at Grove Avenue, the positioning contains 24 sleeping cabins for homeless younger adults ages 18 to 24. It opened in June 2020 close to the St. Paul Church of God in Christ in North Sacramento.
Up to now, it’s been “actually profitable,” mentioned Erlenbusch with the regional homelessness coalition. He credited this system’s design, giant houses and facilities for serving to many younger adults transition to housing.
A report on this system’s web site exhibits greater than half the company, 166 out of 293, discovered housing in the newest venture yr. Of these, 91 secured everlasting housing, 68 discovered transitional or short-term housing and 17 had been institutionalized, which may embrace foster care, a substance use remedy heart, hospital, jail or jail.
Leads to two Bay Space counties are considerably much less encouraging. A latest evaluation by The Mercury Information confirmed folks shifting out of tiny houses in Alameda County failed to seek out everlasting housing practically 75% of the time from 2019 to 2022. In Santa Clara County, folks failed to seek out everlasting housing greater than 50% of the time, the evaluation discovered.
However the Mercury Information discovered the tiny house communities provided extra companies and helped a bigger proportion of individuals discover everlasting housing than conventional homeless shelters.
It additionally discovered the tiny house applications price extra. Given elevated spending on homelessness at state and native ranges, some have referred to as for more cost effective options.
Wayne Winegarden, a senior fellow on the Pacific Analysis Institute, a free-market suppose tank primarily based in Pasadena, says it will be cheaper per mattress to construct conventional shelters as an alternative of tiny houses.
“From the numbers I’ve seen, it simply looks as if the tiny house strategy is way much less cost-effective,” Winegarden mentioned, including that personal organizations such because the Sacramento charity St. John’s Program for Actual Change is a mannequin for constructing and working shelters for much less cash.
Sacramento County has authorised greater than $50 million to construct and supply companies for 3 tiny house communities over the previous yr. Altogether, the websites will embrace roughly 300 small shelters, providing area for one or two folks every.
“Typically the federal government, which is excellent at amassing cash and superb at dispersing cash, shouldn’t be superb at working applications,” Winegarden added.
Steinberg disagreed. “The tiny house proposal … is the essence of pondering extra effectively about housing. And, frankly, we want much more of it,” the mayor mentioned this week. “The issue we have now with housing, particularly inexpensive housing within the state, is that it’s too costly and it takes too lengthy to construct.”
The mayor mentioned he welcomes personal sector involvement, particularly if anybody has a vacant constructing or warehouse to assist with the trigger.
Right here’s the place Sacramento’s tiny houses can be situated
- Cal Expo: officers say a number of the 350 houses supplied by the Newsom administration can be positioned on the state fairgrounds whereas extra places can be made public. It’s additionally unknown which portion of Cal Expo can be used. Newsom estimated the state will spend $30 million to buy 1,200 tiny houses for communities throughout California, together with Sacramento, the Bay Space, Los Angeles and San Diego. He mentioned the shelters ought to open by this fall.
- Florin and Energy Inn roads: Sacramento County plans to open a 100-unit tiny house neighborhood at this South Sacramento location by late spring. The county introduced the $7.6 million venture in April 2022 however design adjustments, materials delays and allowing work have slowed it down.
- East Parkway: This summer time, the county expects to open 45 extra tiny houses, or “sleeping cabins,” at 7001 East Parkway close to Freeway 99, additionally in South Sacramento. The county authorised $3.7 million to construct and function the shelter neighborhood.
- Watt Avenue: This North Highlands warehouse location close to Myrtle Avenue could be Sacramento County’s largest tiny house neighborhood, with 140 cabins and 50 areas for folks dwelling in automobiles. The location’s design remains to be underway for the $40 million venture and no opening date has been introduced. As soon as it opens, officers hope to supply areas to folks dwelling in encampments alongside close by Roseville Street.
Contact CapRadio reporter Chris Nichols at [email protected]
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