What Comes Next After Sacramento Winter Homeless Triage Center?
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — "I couldn't afford the rent anymore," said Angel Trupe.
High rent forced her out of her Sacramento apartment, in the peak of winter. Her son tried to help.
"She's on the list for affordable housing," Justin Buechler said.
But with affordable housing scarce, Trupe escaped the cold, at Sacramento's 24-7 winter triage shelter.
"You stay warm, dry; they feed you, it's nice," she said.
It's also temporary.
The North Sacramento facility opened in December with plans to close in March when the lease expires.
Now, even city leaders need more time.
"It's not going to be a happy moment when we shut this shelter. I don't want to. I want to have a permanent triage space," said Councilman Jeff Harris.
The city is still searching for space to house a permanent shelter, one that stays open around the clock.
A location still on the table is the old lumberjack building materials store not far from the winter shelter.
But it's a controversial site.
"They're not housing in Curtis Park, they're not housing them in East Sac, they're housing them all here in North Sacramento," Neighbor Marrie Morris told us before the shelter opened.
"It's a fair concern -people are fearful about aggregations of homeless people," said Harris.
As the city considers those concerns, it's praising the winter shelter's success. Of the 200 people living there, 13 of them are being placed into affordable housing units.
"Keeps our hopes up anyway," said Trupe.
For now, she's not on the list.
"It's been up and down for her," her son said.
She doesn't know where she'll go when she leaves here next month, but is hopeful the city can come up with a permanent plan.