Sacramento County building tiny homes to shelter homeless residents
SOUTH SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – If you drive through south Sacramento near Power Inn and Florin roads, you might have noticed several tiny homes being built.
Could the site be the solution to ending homelessness?
Lisa Edge believes so. She works for Pallet, a Washington-based company that builds transitional homes for unsheltered people.
"Folks come in off the street, move in, get themselves settled, take care of all their basic needs – they're going to be taken here – and then they can focus their efforts on whatever the next step is going to be," Edge said.
The 100 tiny homes are referred to as cabin shelters and will be referred to as a safe-stay community. Each unit features power and air-conditioning. Twenty-five cabin shelters can accommodate couples, but children are not allowed.
There will be separate areas for restrooms, showers and dining with staffing quarters and security. Pallet's concept has been adopted in 70-plus cities across the U.S. in nine states, Edge said.
Sacramento County officials are hoping the idea is successful.
The board of supervisors approved spending of nearly $6.5 million to get the project off the ground, which will cost about $1.2 million to operate the community for two years.
A recent report shows the county's homeless population outpaces San Francisco's.
"We see it on the streets every day. It is always hard to see it on paper and to see what hill we have to climb but it definitely helped to underscore and re-emphasize for projects like this," said Emily Halcon, director of homeless initiatives for the county.
There are plans to build another safe stay community.
The county will not only provide housing, but services to help people transition into permanent homes. Once in operation in the fall, an outreach team will invite people to the shelter.
But the project does not come without backlash.
"But if not here, then where?" asked Paula Birdsong, executive director of Sacramento Regional Conservation Corps.
The workforce training group is providing the labor. Many of the workers understand first-hand how important it is to provide shelters because they have been homeless at one point.
They like to tell me, 'We're on the solution-end of homelessness,' Birdsong said. "They know what it's like. Some are still experiencing it today."
The county calls the shelters an interim solution. It anticipates that most sites will operate for two years, but extension considerations would be determined case-by-case.
"We know at the end of the day, the ultimate solution to homelessness is more affordable housing with supportive services," Halcon said.