Sacramento County Board of Supervisors to consider, vote on proposed Florin Road homeless housing site

By KCRA Staff

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    SACRAMENTO COUNTY, California (KCRA) — The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors will vote Wednesday on a proposed housing site for people experiencing homelessness.

The site would be located at 8144 Florin Road, on the corner of Florin and Power Inn Road in Sacramento County.

According to documentation posted online ahead of the meeting, the supervisors will vote Wednesday morning to use the site as a “Safe Stay Community.”

The supervisors would also need to approve $6.4 million in funding to purchase the shelters and $1.2 million to operate the community for two years. The $6.4 million would come from Phase One of The American Rescue Plan Act, according to documentation posted with the meeting agenda.

“There are so many options to say that’s why they ended up homeless,” said Mikaela Wilkins, who works nearby. “I feel like, we’re all humans and we all deserve a second chance. We wouldn’t we? Why wouldn’t we?”

There is opposition to the proposal.

Florin Historical Society President Cindy Russell said the organization has a range of concerns with the project.

Russell said the organization aims to preserve the history of Florin, through community outreach, scholarship and by working to revitalize the historic area. Russell said that significant funding has already gone into preserving some of the historic buildings in the area.

Russell said the tiny home site falls into the designated area. She said the organization is also concerned about the lack of details about how the site will be run and who will be allowed to live there.

“We have a lot of children within a very short distance of where they’re putting this tiny home (community),” Russell said. “They have not been clear as to how they’re going to interview or what type of folks they’re going to bring in.”

Russell said the organization has created a set of criteria that should the site meet the benchmarks, the organization could back the project. She planned to be at Wednesday morning’s meeting.

In a letter addressed to the supervisors, Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg urged the supervisors to approve the site.

“I am writing to respectfully urge you to vote yes on Supervisor Patrick Kennedy’s proposal to create a Safe Stay Community with 125 tiny homes for Sacramento’s unsheltered residents at 8144 Florin Road,” he wrote in Tuesday’s letter.

Steinberg said the need for more housing for people experiencing homelessness is great.

“I am hopeful that the county board will send a strong message and approve this vital project,” he wrote. “There is inevitable opposition to any housing for our unsheltered neighbors. We must consistently say yes. If not now when? If not here, then where?”

The board is scheduled to meet Wednesday at 10 a.m.

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