Sacramento’s newest try to deal with homelessness comes with a hefty price ticket: roughly $20,000 per mattress for a government-run tent camp full with raised wood platforms, city-issued tents and around-the-clock safety.
The brand new $2.5 million secure tenting web site within the metropolis’s River District formally opened this week with room for as much as 125 folks.
And the prices don’t cease there.
Metropolis officers estimate it is going to value one other $1.2 million yearly to function — about $9,600 per mattress annually, in keeping with ABC10.
Every resident will obtain a city-provided tent set atop a raised platform, together with a cot, two storage bins and a garden chair.
The location additionally contains shared showers, moveable restrooms, behavioral well being companies and 24-hour safety.
There isn’t any kitchen or air-con, though officers say swamp coolers and followers shall be introduced in throughout the summer time.
The opening comes simply days after Sacramento’s unbiased metropolis auditor launched a overview of the town’s homelessness response that raised questions on whether or not taxpayers are getting the very best return on their funding.
The audit discovered Sacramento spent $63.2 million working 14 homeless shelter applications throughout fiscal years 2024 and 2025.
However auditors discovered Sacramento has no clear commonplace for figuring out when its pricier shelter fashions are value the fee — and no constant methodology for determining which homelessness applications ship the largest bang for taxpayers’ bucks.
“Given restricted sources and rising demand,” auditors beneficial the town develop a system to judge shelter prices, outcomes and efficiencies to enhance how homelessness {dollars} are allotted.
The report additionally discovered the town might shelter extra folks at minimal further value by growing occupancy at some present congregate shelters as a substitute of continuous to pour cash into new tasks.
Whereas outcomes various relying on the kind of shelter and the populations they served, auditors discovered “no sturdy hyperlink” between the companies folks obtained and optimistic outcomes primarily based on the obtainable information.
In addition they concluded the town lacks a complete efficiency framework, making it tough to measure general success or evaluate which shelter fashions carry out greatest.
In keeping with the audit, greater than half of individuals leaving within the metropolis’s shelters, tiny-home villages and motel applications returned to homelessness or had an unknown consequence.
At Sacramento’s largest tiny-home village on Roseville Highway, 65% of residents returned to homelessness or had an unknown consequence after leaving, in keeping with reporting by Abridged.
Regardless of the audit’s findings, metropolis leaders say further shelter stays urgently wanted.
Sacramento County’s newest point-in-time rely identified greater than 7,400 folks experiencing homelessness, together with 3,944 dwelling unsheltered.
Mayor Kevin McCarty acknowledged the brand new campground gives solely fundamental lodging however argued it’s preferable to leaving folks on the streets.
“There are too many people who find themselves nonetheless languishing on our streets, and generally, sadly, dying on our streets,” McCarty mentioned throughout Tuesday’s opening, in keeping with Abridged.
“And look, this isn’t good,” he added. “There’s not particular person A/C models for everyone right here, there’s not particular person rest room amenities. … However I’d prefer to go for a stroll 100 yards down the road and ask, is it higher than what we’ve got exterior?”
Metropolis Supervisor Maraskeshia Smith referred to as the campground a short lived step towards everlasting housing.
“The long-term resolution is to get folks into housing, however that doesn’t occur immediately,” Smith mentioned, in keeping with Abridged, noting many individuals want identification, employment and supportive companies earlier than they will safe everlasting housing.
The River District web site replaces Sacramento’s earlier sanctioned tenting web site.
The metropolis shut down the self-governed Camp Decision in 2024 after officers declared it a “failed experiment,” in keeping with Abridged.
