Mayor Steinberg and County Supervisor Serna Announce Strong Support
for Homeless Housing Proposal
Provides housing resources for up to 1,755 homeless individuals and families
March 14, 2017
Sacramento, CA – Today, Sacramento County Supervisor Phil Serna and City of Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg announced their full support for the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency’s (SHRA) recommendation that 1,755 housing units and vouchers will be allocated to the homeless and those at-risk of homelessness over the next three years.
“This is an enormous step towards addressing the needs of Sacramento’s homeless population,” said Mayor Steinberg. “These housing resources are a critical component of our overall strategy to tackle this issue and over the next three years we are going to do more for the homeless than our city has ever done before.”
“The recommendation reflects a holistic thoughtfulness about a challenging proposition,” said Sacramento County Supervisor, Phil Serna. He added, “Securing a sustainable funding source for services such as addiction intervention and mental healthcare continues to loom as the next high hurdle.”
A total of 1,355 units and vouchers are guaranteed to be allocated to the homeless or those at-risk of homelessness. SHRA also proposes to allocate an additional 300 units and 100 vouchers to the targeted populations by leveraging project based vouchers to create additional units as well as seeking federal funding through the Performance Partnership Pilot for Disconnected Youth Program. With those additional units and vouchers, Sacramento will be able to provide housing resources for a total of 1,755 individuals experiencing or at-risk of homelessness.
“This is a great start for our community but it is not the end,” said Supervisor Serna and Mayor Steinberg. “We need more affordable housing and supportive services to ensure people can get the help they need to end the cycle of homelessness. We look forward to working closely with SHRA to implement these proposals.”
SHRA’s recommendation comes on the heels of a historic joint meeting of the City Council and the County Board of Supervisors specifically on the topic of homelessness. At that meeting, the City allocated all the turnover in public housing to the homeless and the County directed SHRA to explore what options are available to use Housing Choice Vouchers to address Sacramento’s homeless crisis. SHRA’s proposed strategy includes specific set-asides for homeless veterans and youth. It also leaves vouchers available to serve the current waitlist.
SHRA will present their recommendation to the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Commission on March 15th as well as the City and County at their respective meetings on March 21st.
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