Sacramento City Councilmember Lisa Kaplan questioned at Tuesday’s council meeting if expanding new services under Mayor Kevin McCarty’s plans to address homelessness is the best use of taxpayer dollars amid a $66 million budget shortfall.
McCarty’s “six-point” plan to address homelessness includes the creation of three “micro-communities,” each composed of 40 tiny homes. Seniors would pay 30% of their income to live in the 120-square-foot structures, placed on sites that offer electricity, bathrooms, showers and laundry, according to his office.
The first such micro-community — on city-owned land in Kaplan’s North Natomas district — has received opposition from some area residents, who flocked to City Hall on Tuesday with posters to oppose the site.
Kaplan has said she would “stand beside” any lawsuit blocking the site’s construction and did not know how the temporary shelter had been picked by city staff.
She said she is not against a micro-community site in her district and has proposed moving the tiny homes to 918 Del Paso Blvd., the city’s North Area Corporation Yard.
“We have to have these hard policy conversations,” Kaplan said.
Brain Pedro, the director of the Department of Community Response, said a micro-community erected on a city-owned parcel saves money because there’s no yearly lease. The North Natomas micro-community, at El Centro Road and Arena Boulevard, is scheduled to be completed in January 2027.
Kaplan’s comments on Tuesday came as she and Vice Mayor Karina Talamantes proposed to unwind the ordinance that allowed the micro-community locations to be selected without council input. The ordinance grants the city manager unilateral authority to approve contracts worth up to $5 million when they are related to creating a temporary shelters for the homeless.
Under the ordinance last year, then-interim City Manager Leyne Milstein selected micro-community sites at 3511 Arena Blvd. in North Natomas, 6360 25th St. near Sacramento Executive Airport and 2461 Gardendale Road in Meadowview. A fourth micro-community has been proposed for Councilmember Rick Jennings’ district, but the site has not been publically identified.
A city-owned lot stands vacant in September behind Fire Station 16 on Gardendale Road in Meadowview. The property is the proposed location for a tiny home micro-community for homeless seniors. HECTOR AMEZCUA hamezcua@sacbee.com
City Council members have repeatedly said housing and public safety are its top priorities. But Kaplan said the city will have to make choices between the two priorities because of the budget shortfall.
“Are we getting rid of our K-9 units or are we expanding tiny homes?” she said. “Are we getting rid of our high school cadets, or expanding tiny homes? These are the decisions that we have to weigh.”
During the meeting, the police and fire departments also presented sobering proposed cuts, although the presentations did not include layoffs of police officers or firefighters.
The Sacramento Fire Department proposed cutting 24 vacant positions and moving 24 positions into different jobs. The Sacramento Police Department proposed slashing 66 vacant positions and shifting 129 positions to other duties.
“(The) elimination of vacant positions and implementation of brownouts or dynamic staffing will result in longer response times, reduced operational capacity, increased risk of injury for all firefighters and diminished community outreach,” said Fire Chief Chris Costamagna.
Kaplan added cutting vacancies could lead to more overtime shifts, which could lead to more firefighters suffering injuries and higher overtime costs.
Shifting the money spent on micro-communities to other effective programs to address homelessness could help save millions, Kaplan said.
Pedro has said the initial construction cost for each micro-community site is about $3.5 million, and the annual maintenance cost is about $500,000.
The city is still waiting to see how much homeless grant funding it will receive from the state, adding uncertainty to the budget process.
The City Council is scheduled hear presentations from each department about proposed fee hikes, programming cuts and eliminating vacancies throughout March.
Related Stories from Sacramento Bee
The Sacramento Bee
Ishani Desai is a government watchdog reporter for The Sacramento Bee. She previously covered crime and courts for The Bakersfield Californian.