Correction: This story has been updated with the correct spelling for Julia Zatz-Watkins' name and to specify that San Juan One will be Mutual Housing's first modular-constructed housing project in Sacramento.

It’s no secret California has a major housing crisis on its hands. A recent report by the National Low Income Housing Coalition estimates California is about 1 million homes short when it comes to low-income housing.

As the state stares down a drastic shortage of housing units, state lawmakers are looking for new ways to help developers build faster and reduce costs. 

That includes a new leader on housing policy in the State Senate.

“[I've] also been personally impacted by that housing crisis. I am one of the few senators who is a renter,” said Democratic Senator Jesse Arreguin, whose district includes Oakland and Berkeley.

Democratic Senator Jesse Arreguin in his State Capitol office, February 10, 2026.Laura Fitzgerald/CapRadio

Arreguin took over the reins as the Senate’s head housing lawmaker this session. For him, California’s housing crisis is personal.

“Growing up in San Francisco, my family was displaced on a number of occasions,” Arreguin said. “So, um I know what it's like to be evicted and to lose your home and not know where you're going to live. And sadly, so many Californians face that on a weekly basis.”

This is the experience he says makes him the right person to lead this key legislative committee.

And a lot of housing advocates agree. 

“We're very hopeful about him becoming the Senate Housing Chair,” Matthew Lewis, Director of Communications at California YIMBY. “We think he's clearly demonstrated a desire to solve the crisis. He's a renter himself. So, it’s not that legislation should be first personal, but I think it's important for people's lived experience to sort of inform the kind of policies they work on.”

Last year was a big year for housing policy at the State Capitol. Lawmakers passed a series of landmark reforms to streamline the environmental review process for new apartments and subdivisions.

“But it's still expensive to build housing and rents are still too damn high in the state and so there's more that we have to do,” Arreguin said.

From the new chair’s perspective, the state hasn’t done enough when it comes to establishing tenant protections to prevent displacement from existing homes.

But when it comes to tackling the state’s crisis, Arreguin said lawmakers have to take an “all of the above approach” – prevent displacement, but at the same time build more housing units and lower costs for construction.

One way to do that is incentivizing more modular construction, a process where housing parts are made in factories and assembled on site.

“I expect that housing innovation in construction design will be a key focus of the work of both houses this year. Looking at how we can incentivize modular and other types of innovative housing construction methods,” Arreguin added.

Modular construction has indeed emerged as a major theme for this session’s housing policy in Sacramento. Just this week, a bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced bills to expand factory-built housing in California. Some aim to reduce red tape for this type of construction and limit transportation costs for the needed housing parts.

Developers see the benefits of factory-built housing

Juliana Zatz-Watkins, a project manager at Mutual Housing, has worked on the San Juan One affordable housing community in South Sacramento, February 18, 2026.Laura Fitzgerald/CapRadio

Juliana Zatz-Watkins is a project manager at Mutual Housing in Sacramento. The group is developing an affordable housing community called San Juan One, in South Sacramento. The units are nearly finished and will be available to lower-income families based on a lottery.

“We're standing on San Juan phase one right now which was stick-built, but phase two just across the aisle away will be 70 units of senior housing and that'll be built using modular construction, which should make it faster and cheaper,” Zatz-Watkins explained.

She says this upcoming project will likely be the group’s first one that’s factory-built in Sacramento, but that they’re planning other similar developments in nearby communities. Zatz-Watkins and her colleagues say they hope lawmakers will pass bills streamlining this type of construction so they can pursue more of these same projects.

“The idea is if it's cheaper, if it's faster, then it's a more sustainable way to use the housing dollars to get more affordable housing homes for people,” Zatz-Watkins added

Sacramento city officials and housing advocates celebrated progress on a 67-unit affordable housing development for seniors in Oak Park on Friday.

Donner Field Senior Apartments is located on 45th Street just off Stockton Boulevard.  Once complete a year from this spring, it will house seniors ages 55 and older who earn 60% of Sacramento’s median income or lower. The project will reserve 17 units for those experiencing homelessness and include support services and case managers for those residents. 

At a city celebration of the project on Friday, District 5 City Councilmember Caity Maple said many in the historically Black neighborhood  fear being priced out. 

“One of the things I hear most from residents in the Oak Park community is there are a lot of concerns and fears around gentrification,” Maple said. “It’s become really unaffordable to live in this community, despite this formerly being one of the more affordable communities for folks.”

Affordable housing developer Eden Housing is behind the project. They specialize in affordable housing across the state, with this project being their first in Sacramento.

Charles Liuzzo, the company’s director of real estate development, told CapRadio that Eden Housing provides both a home and enrichment opportunities for their tenants. 

These will include spaces for recreational activity, such as a central greenspace, bocce ball court, as well as adult education courses, a computer room and community garden.

“?They're intended to give our residents some new skills, but also bring them out of their unit so they can interact with each others,” Liuzzo said. “We found  these kinds of things build the best kind of communities and they end up with the best results for our residents.”

Liuzzo said they bought the site in 2020. According to previous CapRadio reporting, the Sacramento Housing Redevelopment Agency (SHRA) previously owned the parcel for decades, which has sat vacant.

The complex costs a total of $36 million. The Sacramento City Council approved approximately $1.2 million in funding for the development last summer. According to Eden Housing, the majority of funding comes from state tax credits and grants, but SHRA is helping pay $12 million of the project.

Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty said the community is another step towards boosting  housing in the region, especially for the most vulnerable. 

“?We want to get people off the streets into tiny homes or shelter facilities and motel programs,” he said. “Hopefully they can move from there to projects like this.”

It has been four years since the City of Sacramento bought a 102-acre stretch of empty land in the heart of South Sacramento and the property still sits vacant and with no clear plan.

It was purchased in 2022 from the federal government for $12.3 million dollars. There has been a wide range of ideas for the site since the purchase. Some have proposed a youth sports complex, a mixed-use development that could include small businesses and parks. At the time of the purchase, before the current mayor’s term, city leaders said it could be used for a safe parking zone for people living in their vehicles. 

Whatever approach is chosen will have to comply with federal rules that require 25% of the land to be used for affordable housing. Still without a finalized plan, the land awaits a decision from the city that purchased it.

The city has launched a new step in the process by accepting what they call a “Request for Expressions of Interest” (RFEI). The city says it will use the process to gauge developer interest and assess what may be financially feasible before committing to a specific direction for the land. 

Councilmember Mai Vang, who represents the district where the property is located, describes this as an information-gathering step to assess what is possible. However, Vang believes this project could have been further along if it had not been paused in March last year.

“I would say it's a lack of political will from the Mayor and Council to invest in South Sacramento. We've been waiting for over a year now,” Vang said. “And I know we were ready to go last year in March, but we were asked to put things on hold.”

The last time the 102 Acres project was formally discussed by the city council was in the spring of last year. The meeting was expected to bring forward the next steps. But the council stopped short of proposing a final plan.

At that meeting, Mayor Kevin McCarty cautioned against committing to a concept without clear financial backing, saying the city should avoid locking itself into something it cannot afford over the long term.

In a recent interview with CapRadio, McCarty did not commit to what he wants the site to become, though he floated ideas including a public-private partnership, addressing current homelessness needs, and bringing in a development partner. He says the city should still avoid locking itself into something too costly.

McCarty said that selling the land could be considered.

“Certainly, the city could sell it. We could lease it. There are a number of options for us and we're exploring them all,” McCarty said.

McCarty says that without a clear project plan, the process cannot move forward.

“We don't have a partner to do anything there yet,” he said. “That's why we're launching this [RFEI] process… I’m looking forward to the outcomes and applications that come forward, and we'll go from there.”

Vang is still pushing for the development to happen. She has pointed to years of community listening sessions as the foundation for whatever comes next. Vang said she the vision to be led by South Sacramento residents.

Vang’s office earlier this month hosted an in-person community meeting where city staff walked residents through the city’s RFEI plan and explained what could come next.

Jesse Reese, president of the Meadowview Neighborhood Association, said his group has attended multiple meetings about the site over the years.

Reese said the community wants something that benefits families and keeps young people active.

“Somewhere where kids can go play,” he said. “They always talk about affordable homes. So, we know that 25% of that property is designated for affordable homes.”

He added that recreational amenities could also make a difference.

“For me, I wouldn't mind seeing a skateboard venture,” Reese said.

Reese acknowledged the project’s slow pace but said delays tied to leadership changes are understandable.

“When the new mayor took over… that been a slight bit of delay,” he said, noting that new councilmembers also needed time to get up to speed.

Neighboring communities are also watching closely. Junior Gorris, president of the Delta Shores Community Association, said his group has been tracking the site since forming about a year ago.

“It was a promise made by the city to the residents of District 8 and we want to make sure that they're following through,” Gorris said.

Gorris said whatever gets built should strengthen the local economy.

“We just want something that's economically beneficial to our residents and to our neighbors and to our business operators,” he said.

He said Delta Shores, which sits just a short drive away, could be directly impacted by whatever rises on the site.

“If you're not making a decision, someone's going to make a decision for you,” Gorris said.

At the most recent meeting, at least one developer attended, indicating private-sector interest.
But no specific proposal has been endorsed by the city.

The RFEI proposals from those interested in building on the land are due by late February. City staff are expected to review these submissions and report back to council later this year.

Even if a direction is selected soon, development would likely take years. Until then, the 102 acres will remain open land in South Sacramento, with multiple visions over the years but no final blueprint.

California has long struggled with providing enough affordable housing, especially for people looking to buy their own home.

The median home value in the Golden State reached $877,285 in 2024, according to the state’s Employment Development Department.

For the past couple years, a state-run lottery system has helped provide downpayment assistance to first-time, first-generation homebuyers. Called California Dream for All, the program provided vouchers to around 2,000 people out of around 18,000 eligible applicants last year.

The program is coming back this year, with the application window opening from Feb. 24 until March 16.

Eric Johnson is with the California Housing Finance Agency (CalHFA) which administers the program, and also works with developers, builders and municipalities to finance affordable housing for low-and-moderate income people.

Johnson spoke with Insight Host Vicki Gonzalez about how California Dream for All works.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Interview highlights

How did California Dream for All get started? 

Housing in California is very expensive. In Sacramento County it's “only $530,000,” which is still a lot of money. So, the California Legislature decided that they needed to take a big step. 

What the Dream for All Program does — started back in 2022 — is it provides a down payment of up to 20% of the price of the home in the form of a loan. It’s a novel form of doing it called the “shared appreciation loan.” The agency will loan the home buyer up to 20% of the value of the home, and then when the homebuyer sells the home or refinances the home — in, say, five to 10 years — then they have to pay back that initial amount of the loan plus 20% of any appreciation in the value of the home.

When we started the program [CalMatters] estimated the average homebuyer would save about $1,000 on the monthly payment. Then we'd use that money that we get from the repayments to fund the next round of homebuyers. So, hopefully it becomes a virtuous circle where it just keeps on propagating itself into the future.

How has it evolved and changed in this time? 

When we did the first round, we did it basically “first come, first served.” We went through the money in about 11 business days, which is really fast and quite frankly not equitable. So we made some adjustments to the program.. We had some time to adjust and then recalibrate it.

One thing we did was we made the requirement to be a first-generation homebuyer instead of just [a] first-time homebuyer. That's somebody who hasn't owned their own home in the past seven years and whose parents don't currently own their own home. Or, if their parents unfortunately passed away, then they didn’t own a home at the time of their death. 

The point of the program is to really kickstart the wealth generation for California. There's a lot of people who have been unable to access the home market either explicitly through federal [or] state regulations, or implicitly — they don't have the income.

What are some other requirements to qualify? 

It's available in every area of the state, there's no geographical requirement. There's income limits; in Sacramento County the income limit is $191,000 for a family. Yolo's $215,000, San Joaquin's $165,000. Those are really the two main requirements.

You also have to work with one of our approved lenders, you can't just go to anybody on the streets and get this loan. We work with people who know the loans backwards and forwards, are financially stable, and have the ability to walk people through these loans and help them out. 

How does the lottery work?

What we decided after the funds for the first time went out in 11 days, we needed to make it so that it wasn't like Taylor Swift tickets and only the people who jumped in first got the opportunity to have this. So, what we decided to do was have a random selection process. You can work with a loan officer, get your application together. The application window opens on Feb. 24 and closes on March 16. It doesn't matter where you apply on any day in that window, you have an equal opportunity of being selected.

Is there a preference for some regions of California over others? Do you have better chances in one location versus another?

Not really because we allocated the vouchers, as they're going to be called, basically proportionally to the share of the population. Los Angeles has 25% of the population of California, Los Angeles is going to get 25% of the vouchers. Rural counties have 4% of the population of California, they're going to get 4% [of the vouchers.] We're really trying to make it geographically equitable so that people in, say, the Bay Area just don't use them all. 

What counts as a home? Should you already have one in mind when you apply?

Anything that's zoned to single family. So, you can use a condo, a PUD [planned unit development], a townhome, a single-family home with an ADA attached. The one thing that isn't available is a duplex, fourplex, any sort of multi-family dwelling.

Actually, having a home in mind is not a great idea because if you find a great home, then you talk to a lender and they say, "sorry, you can't afford it,” then your dreams are dashed before you’ve even started. The best thing to do is talk to an approved lender at the very start.

How soon will people be notified if they've been selected? And how much time do they then have to select a home?

We've got a really rigorous audit process for this. We want to make sure that the first-generation requirement is really followed. People are going to have to submit their own birth certificate, some other documents, to testify to who their parents are. And then it's probably going to be a good two or three months after the window closes before we actually start letting people know that they've been selected. 

After they've been selected they've got 90 days to find a home, and then they can apply for another 90-day extension after that.

What happens if someone’s chosen for a voucher, but there is nowhere in their region where they can afford a home?

That is something that has happened unfortunately. It's frustrating for everybody, we want people who've had this opportunity to be able to use it. And if people get the opportunity to purchase their home, they're really, really excited. If there's nothing unfortunately in the price range, then that voucher goes back into the pool. We establish a wait list and it's going to go to the next person.

How else is this program funded? And given California’s murky financial health, are you concerned about the state’s ability to continue providing the program?

It started off with an allocation for the legislature out of the state budget. The initial funding was for $500 million, and there have been a couple augmentations after that — mostly for this latest round. This last one is between $150 and $200 million.

The legislature's priorities can shift. And right now, housing is very important to the legislature [and] to Governor Newsom. They're putting their money where their mouth is with housing. You can't anticipate what's going to happen in any subsequent year, so we're doing what we have with what we have right now.

What advice do you have for someone to improve their chances of getting a voucher? 

The best thing you can do [is] talk to a housing counselor. There are housing counselor agencies in Sacramento and the surrounding areas that are free, they're approved by HUD. They can walk you through all the steps you need to get to. Also talk to one of our approved under us at our website.

The most important thing is to make the first step. This is called Dream for All because we want to make dreams come true. Lots of people think, “there's no way I can do it,” but people have got a steady job. People have good credit scores, maybe don't have that nut to put for a down payment. This is exactly for you.

Last year, a shelter in North Sacramento helped over 100 unhoused young adults move into permanent housing.

The Grove is a cabin-style transitional housing site operated by the nonprofit First Step Communities. They are currently hosting their annual Adopt a Cabin campaign. The location serves young adults ages 18 to 24. Currently, all 50 cabins at the location are filled, and there is a waitlist.

In 2025, they set a record for the number of residents who transitioned from the shelter to permanent housing, according to First Step Communities.

They are calling on willing donors to adopt a cabinwith a $2,000 donation. This money would be used to sponsor an individual cabin shelter and resident services.

Brittney Gandy, a spokesperson for the nonprofit, says last year’s milestone reflects the effectiveness of the program.

“We were lucky enough and blessed to be able to see 109 individuals leave The Grove and transition to permanent housing last year,” said Gandy. “And so we hope to do the same, and even more, this year.”
According to Gandy, this shelter, being specifically for young adults, helps the organization reach people at an early age before homelessness becomes long-lasting.

“Because they are young, a lot of them have not been homeless for a very long period of time,” Gandy said. “So they’re able to bounce back a lot faster.”

Unlike traditional shelters in the region, The Grove offers private spaces for residents, with each cabin having a bed, desk, seating, and heating and air conditioning. Residents also have access to private bathrooms, shared kitchens, and more on-site resources.

Gandy said the private unit is not the only way the shelter differs from others. She says they get creative with how they can help.

“They host game nights, and I believe they're planning a prom,” Gandy said. “It’s a community. As we walked by, someone was giving someone else a haircut.”

Kaylee Glaspell, a case manager at The Grove, said that while enrichment is offered, the ultimate goal is to kick-start a success plan for the person.

“As soon as they step in ... that case manager is working with them to create an individual plan that meets their specific needs,” Glaspell said. “Mental health tends to be a need for almost everyone, getting connected to health care.”

Glaspell said case managers meet with residents multiple times a week to address employment, mental health, budgeting, and other barriers to housing.

“Our ultimate goal is housing,” she said. “Maybe somebody comes in is pretty stable, so we're just going to go straight into creating a resume, and I'm taking them out there to apply for jobs.”

For some, that means stabilizing mental health before pursuing work. For others, it means jumping straight into resumes and job applications.

For Nevaeh Hardison, a 20-year-old who has been living at The Grove for about a month, having her own space has been critical after experiencing homelessness and unsafe housing situations.
“Being able to sleep in a room by myself and feel more at home was really nice,” Hardison said. “Like I can lock my door and know that I’m safe and I’m okay and I can sleep at night.”

Hardison said she has met with her case manager one to two times a week while working to replace her identification documents, stabilize her mental health, and prepare for employment.

“They’re really helping me with that,” she said. “Today, I had a case manager sit in urgent care with me for about three hours just to make sure I get my medication.”

Glaspell said that level of involvement is what they aim to offer at this location.

“It’s texting reminders, it’s knocking on their cabin and saying, ‘Hey, how did that interview go?’” she said.

For Jackson Stanek, 19, who has been staying at The Grove since October of last year, the shelter has provided stability while he waits for permanent housing placement.

“I’ve been homeless for a few years,” Stanek said. “It was bad.”

Stanek said staff regularly help residents prepare for job interviews and check in beyond paperwork. He has a job collecting signatures for petitions and says additional support from staff is helping him stabilize.

“They go through interview questions and all types of stuff,” he said. “If you're working and stuff, they have a lunch that they pack for you.”

Staff says that many residents transition to permanent housing in about six months.

“We only have six months with them,” Glasspell said. “So it’s, ‘what can we do right now to make you stable in six months?’”

The site is entering its fifth year of being open. The staff say maintaining the cabins and funding services has become increasingly important.

“As you can see, some of these cabins need maintenance,” Knox said. “Paint touch-ups, new chairs, windows, there’s constant services [needed].”

Adopting a cabin would cover maintenance, a full interior refresh, and services for the young adult living there.

Glasspell said continued community support will directly benefit a resident by funding the upkeep of a space.

“109 folks stepped into housing [last year] … is wild, because there’s only 50 cabins,” she said. “The more support we can get from our community, the more success we can see.”

For residents like Hardison, this support feels like a push into long-term stability.

“I’m definitely looking forward to being able to save enough to get housing,” she said.

The Sacramento City Council will soon decide whether to cap shelter beds at around 600 in Sacramento’s River District as early as February.

The City of Sacramento’s Law and Legislation committee voted 3 to 1 to move the ordinance forward Tuesday afternoon. Committee members Roger Dickinson, Rick Jennings and Phil Pluckebaum voted in favor of the rule, and Caity Maple was the sole dissenting vote. 

Phil Pluckebaum, who is also the councilmember representing the River District, put the idea forward.

“The history of corralling folks into the River District I think is both shameful and not something we want to continue to replicate,” Pluckebaum said. “That is part of the intent of this ordinance, is to create some downward pressure on the River District that will create some upward pressure in other places in the city.”

Committee member Maple said that capping beds in certain locations could have unintended consequences.

“?This feels like it could be a slippery slope,” she said. “You have one community that has very real concerns, that are valid, and yet there are also many others.”

Pluckebaum said the intention behind the ordinance is to more evenly balance the amount of unhoused people in the area with its future development. Development in Sacramento’s Railyards is on track to include a soccer stadium for Sacramento’s Republic FC team, a new Kaiser Permanente campus and a community market that focuses on fresh food through Alchemist CDC. 

The region has approximately 526 beds. The ordinance would account for sites that are already in the works– this includes a safe camping site with occupancy for 100 people at 291 Sequoia Boulevard.

During public comment, many spoke against the proposed ordinance, but River District Board Secretary Greta Lacin said the issue of homelessness disproportionately affects the region.

“The River District has really suffered,” Lacin said. “Businesses have left, many businesses have left, especially in the East end. And our streets, some of them have become no man's land.”

The River District is home to the highest concentration of social and homelessness service providers in the city, according to city documents. District One in North Natomas and District 7 in the Pocket have no shelter beds. 

Angela Hassell is executive director of Loaves and Fishes, one of Sacramento’s largest homelessness service providers that operates in the River District. 

She told CapRadio that harmful policies from the 1950s and 1960s pushed people out of Downtown and Old Sacramento and into the industrial area of town for the sake of urban redevelopment.

She said the organization has chosen to operate there for the last 40 years because the need is there.

“Having a cap on the number of shelter beds and services that can potentially help people move out of those really desperate and dire circumstances just feels really incongruous with the reality of how many people there are that need the help,” Hassell said. 

Others who helped unhoused people on the ground echoed Hassell’s sentiment.

Vrshaank Mahesh is a medical volunteer with Sacramento Street Medicine. He finds that the problem isn’t where people are concentrated, but the fact that there aren't enough beds for everyone who needs it. 

?”When people talk about urban blight and crime, it's not because these folks are just evil and trying to wreak havoc on the River District,” Mahesh said. “It’s really because they’ve been ejected from institutional support. Capping the amount of beds is going to completely worsen that issue.”

Mahesh believes that conversation surrounding homeless strategy should focus on ways we can expand support versus reducing support.

“?It's better to write an ordinance that's focused on what we're capable of doing instead of what we shouldn't do,” Mahesh said.

The fate of shelter beds in the River District will next go to council for a vote, which according to Pluckebaum will most likely happen in February.

Sacramento homeless advocates are gearing up to count those experiencing homelessness on January 26 and 27 to gain insight into their situations and collect data. But they say they can’t do it without community help.

The effort is called the Point in Time (PIT) count, a federally-mandated survey that collects data on those living outside during the winter every two years. The findings help inform how much funding counties receive from federal and state governments for homeless services. 

Sacramento Steps Forward runs the survey. Trent Simmons, the nonprofit’s chief program officer, told CapRadio that volunteers are vital to the count and producing an accurate picture of what the unhoused face in the Sacramento region. 

“?It's 965 square miles and getting the right number of volunteers to actually comb through that entire space and accurately get that count is incredibly difficult,” Simmons said. 

This year, Simmons said they hope to get 1,000 volunteers. Currently 380 people have signed up. 

“?At the local level, it really is an opportunity for us to engage the community and to bring as many volunteers out as possible to actually walk the streets and to meet people,” Simmons added. “To talk to people who are experiencing homelessness and to understand who they are.”

Sacramento City Councilmember Eric Guerra will be volunteering for the fourth time this year. Guerra said that each year he has uncovered new insights. 

“One of the important things in that point in time count is we gather a lot of the statistical information,” Guerra said. “What their needs are and what their issues are, to recognize that not everyone has the same challenge and same issue.”

Volunteers are provided training on the evening of the count. They are divided into teams to survey specific neighborhoods, using census tracts on their mobile devices.

According to Sacramento Steps Forward, the survey questions will include “Where are you sleeping tonight?”, “Is this the first time you’ve been homeless?” and “What are two things Sacramento could do better to help people who are homeless?”

Different years often yield different results. Simmons noted that in 2024, the last year the count was conducted, there was a 29% decrease in homelessness – from 9,278 to 6,615.

Several groups that provide services for Sacramento’s unhoused community  questioned the figure and the accuracy of the count. 

Simmons told CapRadio the survey is meant as a sample, and is not an exact accounting.

“Was it exactly 29%? Maybe not,” he said. “But all of the data we are collecting outside of the PIT was pointing to some kind of a decrease.”

Still, the survey plays a major role in how much funding Sacramento will receive for local homeless shelters and related services. Those who run it say more volunteers provide a more well rounded idea of what’s happening on a given night in the winter. 

“I think for anybody who does it is rewarding, it is helpful. It means something,” Simmons added. “It is an opportunity to see exactly what our community is doing for those who are on the streets and beyond.”

The 2026 Sacramento Point-in-Time count will take place from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. January 26 and January 27.

Volunteers have until January 16 to sign up here, but Simmons said no one will be turned away from volunteering if they show up the night of. 

Correction: A previous version of this story misstated that the Sam & Bonnie Pannell Community Center is one of the winter weather respite centers. It is only used as a cooling center in summer.

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As the cold and rain roll in this winter, Ken Diggs at César Chávez Plaza in downtown Sacramento makes a few changes to his menu. Recently, he’s gone with warmer options, a steaming tomato-basil soup and grilled turkey sandwiches he cooked at home. 

Diggs comes out most Tuesdays to hand out free food, something he’s done for the past couple of years, to people sleeping near and around the park. 

“These people still got to eat,” Diggs said. “Something to keep some of these souls warmed up.”

For people sleeping under awnings, in tents, or along the river, the City and County’s rain and cold-weather respite centers can be lifesaving. They open up and provide shelter to many unhoused people every year when it gets cold. The centers typically open when forecasts meet thresholds such as prolonged rain, overnight freezing temperatures, and severe winds. 

But many of Sacramento’s unhoused residents and advocates feel the programs can be challenging to reach — or feel unsafe — even when they are activated for days or weeks at a time.

When the City and County activate weather-respite operations, only a few sites actually open throughout Sacramento. Alternative weather shelters not offered by the county or city can also be found through 211.  

The City operates two winter weather-respite sites: the Outreach and Engagement Center on Auburn Boulevard and, when needed, the North 5th Street Navigation Center near downtown. The County operates the Warren E. Thornton Youth Center gym, and, if more capacity is needed, the County will open the North A. Shelter.

In them, people can come rest indoors, bring their pets, sleep on cots, store their belongings, and use the bathrooms. 

Sacramento Regional Transit provides free transportation during these activations, and both governments say outreach teams spread the word daily when the centers open. But advocates and residents living outside say the reality of reaching and using these facilities can be far more complicated.

People don’t know about them

Gary Kelly, who sleeps beneath the Tower Bridge when it rains, said he uses city-operated respite centers “sometimes” when the rain becomes unbearable. But distance is a major barrier. So typically, he just avoids it.  

“Where I’m at, it’s a long way,” he said. “And by the time I get there, I’m still getting wet. So I just stay underneath the bridge.”

Kelly said most people around him have heard of the centers at some point, but that doesn’t mean they know where to go or want to. 

“Most people don’t,” he said. “I don’t just go up and tell people about them; it's not my job to do.”

He said he relies on packing light and being mobile. When it rains, he bundles what he can carry and endures until the weather improves.

How do people stay warm when they don’t go?

Some build makeshift insulation to survive cold nights. Enrique Espinoza described how he prepares for a chilly night, what to wear, and how to avoid hypothermia. He says it involves a combination of coats, blankets, and sweaters. 

“What you do … is you put [a layer of] cardboard down,” he said. “The cardboard will keep you warm on your shoulders, and your lungs from catching walking pneumonia.”

He layers tarps over the cardboard, then a bedspread comforter on top.

“You have to actually build a bed,” he said. “Cardboard, plastic and then a nice comforter on top.”

When asked whether he uses weather shelters, Enrique said he avoids them because being packed into a room with dozens of people can trigger conflict. He described the weather respite centers as having too many people packed all into one room, which he says can get complicated.

The weather respite centers are usually large, open spaces filled with cots. Espinoza says he can feel unsafe in them. 

“You have to basically be walking on eggshells sometimes… being around a lot of people that are in the same situation,” he said. “It’s too tight in there.”

What the City and County provide

In a written response, the City of Sacramento said its Department of Community Response is notifying people before and during an activation. 

The city and county posts center availability online and shares information through local partner organizations. 

The City of Sacramento says it opened weather respite centers more than 130 times last winter.

The city, through a written response, said these centers are intended to provide immediate safety during storms, not long-term shelter, and that while they are open, they work to connect people to behavioral health, shelter, and housing resources.

Sacramento County public information officer Janna Haynes said respite centers are often residents’ first point of contact with the county's homelessness resource system. Which she says can be a jumping-off point to get someone connected with support and resources. 

“One of the great things about weather respite is that a lot of the people that come in… we have not previously had a relationship with,” Haynes said.

During last winter’s storms, the county said it successfully connected 11 people to longer-term shelter through weather respite, Haynes said.

Some activations last much longer than the typical one- or two-night openings.

“There was a time last winter … we were activated for two straight weeks,” Haynes said.

Many choose not to go

Despite the expanded resources, people in César Chávez Plaza said they often choose to remain outside. Diggs says he talks to the people he serves food to at the park about the weather and shelters, and he hears the same concerns from many of them. 

“Most of the time, what I hear on the news in the mornings is that they’re shutting shelters down,” he said. “A lot of people have been turned down… because they don’t want to deal with the rules and regulations.”

He said large rooms full of strangers can feel dangerous.

“Mostly politics and a lot to do with just airborne diseases… nobody wants to be around that.”

‘It’s a patchwork’

Nikki Jones, executive director of the Sacramento Regional Coalition to End Homelessness, said the centers work for some but are still too unpredictable for most of Sacramento’s unhoused residents. 

“The thing about the weather respite centers is they are so inconsistent,” she said. “If people don’t know it’s there, they can’t utilize it.”

The City’s and County's partnership with SacRT provides no-cost transportation to and from weather-respite centers while they’re open. To ride for free, people are asked to screenshot or print the SacRT flyer and show it to the bus driver. 

Jones said asking unhoused people to show a flyer or a screenshot for Sac RT’s free rides creates an unnecessary barrier for the group the service is designed to serve. 

“You have to have the flyer… which is obviously just the most insane barrier,” she said.

She described the weather respite centers as helpful but not enough and inefficient. Jones said she does not discount the value of being in a warm building, but the reality of homelessness is more complex.

“It’s a Band-Aid intervention,” she said. “It’s a public health crisis, and we should be doing everything we can.”

City and county officials say they are expanding outreach to make the centers more efficient. Still, the distance, timing, crowded rooms, and fear of leaving belongings behind keep them from going until conditions become dangerous.

To check the availability of weather respite centers, both the city and county suggest calling 211 or visiting the 211 Sacramento website. 

Additional reporting by ASI Public Radio Experience Intern Kai Arellano.

Freshman students at Sacramento State will soon be required to live their first two years on campus, and the university is looking to expand its housing to accommodate them.

The university says that starting in Fall 2026, Sac State will implement a two-year residential requirement for non-transfer, first-year students.

Sac State President Luke Wood announced this new housing requirement in August during his 2025 Fall Address when talking about providing for students’ basic needs. 

He recalled living in his car while attending Sac State or going days without eating on campus. Wood said after he began sharing this story publicly as president, he was approached by students who said they were facing similar situations. 

“I was glad to hear that was inspirational in some ways, but I was really more upset that we still have this happening here on campus,” he told the audience. 

Wood said the live-on-campus policy would be geared toward students, “who are from a certain distance away… not for our local students here,” adding that, “when students are coming here we know that they have a roof over their head, and know where their next meal is coming from.”

Wood said the policy was also aimed at improving students’ academic success by providing them with more resources. “When you’re a commuter student and you go home, you go home,” he said. 

“When you’re a student who lives in our residence hall and you go home, you go home to academic advising and tutoring, and supplemental instruction, and resident hall advisors, and access to all the events that are happening on campus. You never stop learning.”

University officials note other benefits among students who live two consecutive years on campus include “higher academic achievement, greater sense of belonging, and stronger personal development outcomes.”

The new living requirement will not apply to all freshmen. A policy fact sheet released by the university says students living with immediate family within 50 miles of campus will be exempt in 2026-27. This range will shrink to 30 miles or less in 2027-28.

Other outlined exceptions include students who:

• Are aged 21 or older by the first day of class during the specified term.
• Are considered independent by the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).
• Are active-duty service members or veterans.
• Have a demonstrated and verified financial hardship.
• Are required to live at their job site as a care provider.
• Are participating in a study-abroad or study-away program or internship.
• Have a documented medical or disability condition that cannot be accommodated in campus housing.

Student housing expansion plans

In an Instagram post last Thursday, Wood said Sac State is starting the process of expanding its affiliated student housing as this requirement comes into effect. Wood reiterated that Sac State serves lower-and-middle-income students who may struggle to find shelter or food security.

“This is one reason why student housing (e.g. residence halls, affiliated housing complexes) is so essential,” he wrote.

Wood characterized the effort as part of Sac State’s work to “shed our past as a commuter campus and become a more residential community,” an idea also promoted by his predecessor, former President Robert Nelsen.

According to the 2025 Sac State Fact Book the university had almost 31,000 enrolled undergraduate and graduate students in Fall 2024, including nearly 4,000 first-year attendees. Of that entire student body, only 3,200 lived on campus.

Wood also noted the university has significant waiting lists for students seeking campus housing. Wood said the process would help meet Sac State’s current and future demand, especially as the new living requirement is implemented.

University officials say plans are in the works to increase the number of beds available in campus residence halls. The new Mt. Whitney Hall is expected to open in Fall 2026 and provide 335 new beds for first-year students. Another 160 beds for incoming students will be added in Riverview Hall by converting upper-division housing. 

In September the university also broke ground on a new campus-affiliated housing project along College Town Drive called Hornet Place, which will house more than 350 students beginning in Fall 2027.

Despite Wood’s message and goals, his post drew criticism. Commenters questioned how exactly the on-campus living requirement would help low-middle income students.

Some voiced concerns about decreasing affordability and talked about why some students might prefer to commute or find a place off campus. Others criticized increases in Sac State’s tuition costs, along with parking and meal plan requirements that could place additional financial burdens on students.

Sac State’s living expense estimate for the 2025-26 school year is $19,644 for on-campus living, compared to $22,140 for living off campus or $10,792 for living with parents.

Living requirements at California public universities

Sac State is not unique within the Cal State University system in requiring certain first-year students to live on campus, though there is no systemwide policy.

The 2025 Cal State University Systemwide Housing Plan Update submitted to state officials in July showed more than half of the CSU campuses do not have a first-year live-on requirement as of Fall 2024, though some like Sac State have since changed or modified their status.

CSU campuses with these requirements include Bakersfield (one year), San Diego (two years) and San Marcos (one year). CSU Monterey Bay suspended its sophomore live-on requirement due to increased demand for university housing, but still requires it for freshmen. San Jose State, meanwhile, suspended its first-year on-campus living policy for 2025-26 as more classes moved online.

Two polytechnic universities, Cal Poly and Cal Poly Humboldt, also require two years of on-campus living, with the former expanding this requirement to all first-year students across all colleges for Fall 2026 as additional campus housing became available. The third, Cal Poly Pomona, paused its first-year student residential requirement for the 2025-26 academic year.

Still others like CSU Stanislaus say while first-year on-campus living is not required, it is “highly recommended.” 

None of the 10 University of California system schools have blanket requirements for first-years to live in on-campus housing. However several universities, including UC Davis, provide housing guarantees for incoming students.

Editor’s note: CapRadio is licensed to Sacramento State, which is also an underwriter.

Sacramento city and county leaders, along with over 200 attendees, gathered for a seven-hour meeting at the Sacramento Public Library Tuesday to discuss how they can unify their homelessness strategies, but the plans for what’s next aren’t exactly clear. 

Ultimately, the majority of officials expressed interest in having regular meetings, potentially every month, to update one another on strategies and challenges. Elected leaders from the cities of Sacramento, Elk Grove, Rancho Cordova, Folsom and Sacramento County all participated in the rare collaborative meeting.

They acknowledged that better collaboration between specifically the city of Sacramento and the county will be critical at a time of shrinking state and federal funds. 

The group of electeds also requested that staff from both the county and other jurisdictions bring back more comprehensive data to compare and contrast what initiatives are working, where and why.

Sacramento City Councilmember Caity Maple said she wants a new shared governing body to cut through bureaucracy so agencies can respond fast as winter approaches.

“This is urgent. I hope that whatever we decide to do, whatever that may look like, is something that we can move quickly towards,” Maple said. “It’s a challenge in government.”

Maple acknowledged it took about six months to coordinate this week’s joint gathering.

The meeting largely discussed the status of homelessness service efforts around the county. 

Officials said some strides were being made: more people are getting into shelter, with Sacramento on track to build interim tiny home villages for unhoused seniors. Also, some  jurisdictions are partnering with outside agencies like Habitat for Humanity to up their housing stock.

(From left to right) Sacramento City Councilmember Eric Guerra, Citrus Heights Mayor Dr. Jayna Karpinski Costa and Sacramento City Councilmember Caity Maple at a joint meeting on homelessness. Oct. 28, 2025.Ruth Finch/CapRadio

Challenges to achieving goals 

Alex Visotzky, policy fellow from the National Alliance to End Homelessness, explained  some of the problems on the state and federal level.

According to his presentation, the federal government is responsible for helping fund rental assistance vouchers and providing large amounts of funding to Continuum of Care Programs. Those  are usually community-run homelessness assistance programs. 

Visotzky explained that the White House budget proposal for next fiscal year proposed “deep” cuts to rental assistance programs nationwide and the complete elimination of some programs and grants. 

In response, Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty said regardless of the financials, the region needs to be smarter about coordination so that resources are used appropriately.

He also emphasized that the city of Sacramento is in a $60 million budget deficit.

“It’s unfortunate that we have to do more with less,” McCarty added. “We don’t want to do that, we don’t want to brag about it, but that’s the reality.” 

On the whole, the region spent $418 million on homelessness services, according to the county presentation. Their presentation indicated that 66% of that money came from Sacramento County while the city of Sacramento spent 19%. 

Public frustration

Some residents who attended the meeting expressed frustration during a public comment period. They said they wanted quicker action and also supported greater cooperation amongst the layers of local government – noting that silos create cracks in support systems.

Shannon Shaw, Vice President of Programs and Development of One Community Health, said the narrative that unhoused people are refusing service is untrue.

“We can not blame the burdens of broken systems on the backs of our vulnerable population,” she said. 

Another commentator, Herman Barahona with the Sacramento Environmental Justice Coalition, spoke  on behalf of two residents who were evicted from Camp Resolution after the city shut down the self-governed homeless community in August of 2024. 

Barahona said the couple was not offered alternate shelter and later died in a motel room their doctor was paying for.  

“I hope that this effort begins to see the dignity that needs to be given respectfully, to all of our folks,” he said. 

Outside of commenters, some on the dais discussed the complexities of combatting homelessness that they felt didn't get enough emphasis in usual conversation. 

(From left to right) Sacramento City Councilmember Rick Jennings, Galt Mayor Shawn Farmer, Sacramento City Councilmember Mai Vang and Folsom Mayor Sarah Aquino at a joint meeting on homelessness. Oct. 28, 2025.Ruth Finch/CapRadio

Prevention

Sacramento District 2 City Councilmember Roger Dickinson, who represents North Sacramento, spoke at length at the meeting about the power of prevention. He told his fellow electeds that his district represents approximately 30% of the entire county’s population.

“What that means is that District 2 of the city of Sacramento is the most significantly affected of any part of the county in terms of the impact of homelessness,” Dickinson said. 

He emphasized  that preventing people from entering homelessness is a must. 

“We are never going to build our way out of homelessness. We have to get to the front end of the equation," Dickinson said. “We have to prevent people who are at risk of becoming homeless ending up in that condition. And by the way, it's a lot less expensive than it is to help people on the street when they’re there.”

Some of his  colleagues seemed to agree: Galt Mayor Shawn Farmer and Sacramento Council Member Mai Vang echoed Dickinson’s statement. 

More housing 

The 20 officials and hundreds of attendees sat through numerous presentations from different agencies, such as the county’s Behavioral Health Department. 

Ryan Quist, the County Behavioral Health Director, detailed how treatment works for unhoused people that are legally incapable of helping themselves for reasons that span from mental illness to substance dependency. 

After the presentation, Sacramento Mayor McCarty asked Quist what tools the department needs to help those people get shelter.

“To be very direct, we need housing,” Quist said. “Our service providers report everyday that they are having the hardest time finding locations for people to be housed. They’ll have them in services, help them with their substance use, and then where do we put them when they come out of residential treatment?”

Throughout the meeting, many officials agreed that more housing options, regardless of whether it is newly-constructed or not, is one of the top priorities for anyone experiencing homelessness. 

Farmer, the mayor of Galt, noted building affordable housing is overly complicated and the word “affordable" has essentially become a buzzword.

“It’s like pulling teeth to get anybody to build affordable housing in Galt,” Farmer said. 

Collaboration hopes

Though the meeting largely outlined challenges and frustrations, it also highlighted some progress. Notably, it pointed out that  the Sacramento region was the only major city in California to have a 29% decrease in homelessness during its most recent point-in-time count. 

Smaller municipalities in the county are also making some headway. 

City staff from Elk Grove said  their homeless outreach team has had a 70% success rate in getting people help. 

Folsom Mayor Sarah Aquino asked what contributed to this success rate.

Elk Grove City staff member Sarah Bontrager clarified that much of their work involves mental health services and can be done because of the city’s smaller and more manageable homeless population. 

“We don’t just see them as a number. These are individuals that we know by name, we know their individual needs,” Elk Grove Mayor Singh-Allen responded. 

Through a shared governing process, most elected leaders said they felt hearing about progress and different approaches to similar issues in neighboring jurisdictions was a fruitful practice they wanted to continue.

Sacramento County Supervisor Patrick Hume said there’s no one simple solution to the region’s vexing problem. 

“We need more housing, period,” he said. “But in addition to that we need facilities, we need the capacity, we need the bandwidth and we need the legislative ability to be more efficient, effective with our administration of mental and behavioral health services.”

Editor's Note: This story previewed a meeting that happened on Oct. 28. You can read key takeaways from the meeting here.

Also, a previous version of this story did not mention that Rancho Cordova was one of the partcipating cities. It has been updated.

Local government leaders from across the Sacramento region are meeting next Tuesday to figure out how best to collaborate on an issue top of mind for many Californians: homelessness. 

Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty announced the meeting at his first state of the city address earlier this week. He called it the first-of-its-kind, noting it will bring together the county and six major municipalities in the region.

“We need to partner, share our resources, to maximize success,” he said Monday.

According to a press release, the meeting will gather 20 elected representatives, local nonprofits and city staff from each jurisdiction present. Those include the city and county of Sacramento, and the cities of Elk Grove, Galt, Folsom, Rancho Cordova and Citrus Heights. 

The non-profits in attendance will include Mercy Housing, Sacramento LGBTQ Center, My Sisters House and the Salvation Army, among 25 or so more. 

The meeting will take the shape of a standard council or board meeting and will include a public comment portion.

A county spokesperson said elected officials will discuss current challenges and visions for the future. There will also be county staff tabling and offering information to the public during scheduled breaks during the meeting, which is projected to go until 5 p.m. 

The gathering comes amid McCarty’s push to create tiny home villages for unhoused seniors across Sacramento, which is one of his central approaches to tackling homelessness during his first year as mayor.

Though the meeting is hailed as the “first-of-its-kind”, some advocates for Sacramento’s unhoused aren’t convinced it  will make much progress.

Niki Jones is the executive director of the Sacramento Coalition to End Homelessness. She told CapRadio she fears the meeting could exclude the very population it’s aiming to help. 

“I'm worried that simply putting decision making in the hands of the elected leaders [won't] get to the solutions we really need.” She said, “I believe it to be sort of a rearranging of the chairs on the deck of the Titanic.”

Jones said the city and county of Sacramento have historically not had the smoothest relationship when it comes to collaborating on a regional homelessness strategy.

“The county and the city – for the last decade that I’ve been observing – they have each pretty consistently set blame and responsibility on the other,” she said. “They have accused one another of being bad partners.”

Jones acknowledges in the last couple years there has been more coordination and hopes that a productive relationship can continue. 

Twana James, a formerly unhoused Sacramentan living at Woodhaven Apartments, said she hopes the elected leaders  take into account what constant sweeps do those living on the streets.

“You keep taking their stuff and then moving them, and then you want them to trust you,” James said. “They’re not gonna trust you because you keep taking their stuff. They’re gonna be in panic mode.”

The meeting will take place Tuesday, October 28 at 10 a.m. at the Sacramento Public Library at 828 I Street in Downtown Sacramento.

Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty used his first State of the City address to outline new goals and ongoing efforts since taking office, with a focus on addressing homelessness in Sacramento.

McCarty laid out plans for funding a first-time homeowner program through a 2026 ballot measure to keep Major League Baseball in the region. 

Speaking at The Sophia, Home of B Street Theatre, McCarty told CapRadio’s Vicki Gonzalez that he’ll ask the city council to place a housing and homelessness measure on the November 2026 ballot.

“We’re looking to go to the voters in ‘26 to adjust our real estate transfer tax for high-volume sales in the city of Sacramento and really make a difference to focus on housing and homelessness,” McCarty said. “We don’t have a lot in our general fund right now, so we’re working with stakeholders and talking about how this would be structured.”

The mayor described the proposal as a way to close gaps from shrinking state and federal dollars for housing. He said homeownership rates among young adults in Sacramento have dropped to 15% and that rising prices are pushing families out of the city. 

“In the last decade, the median home sale price was $550,000,” McCarty said. “I think about my own kids and their generation … are they going to be able to afford rent or buy a home here? It’s daunting.”

He said this would include down-payment assistance and support for renters close to eviction.

Homelessness in the city

McCarty also reaffirmed his plans to build four new tiny home villages, focused on seniors and supported by a 30% income-based rent. He said the approach allows the city to do more with limited funds.

“If your income is $300 a month, you pay $100,” McCarty said. “Most of the time if you’re homeless and you get the call to get housing, you pay a third of your income. This is essentially a housing option that’s voluntary.”

McCarty defended the price tag of each tiny home unit, which is about $85,000 to build. He explained the difficulty of lowering overhead costs while building them out. He says that about $15,000 is the cost just for the units themselves, without other costs factored in.

“Heck, $85,000 is pretty good when you look at some of these projects in the city that cost $600,000 to house one homeless individual,” he said.

McCarty said the city learned lessons from Camp Resolution. The encampment closed last year, and the next safe-camping site will include kitchens, restrooms, and on-site staff.

“We want to be good neighbors,” he said. “We had a lot of problems with criminal activity inside and outside. This new one will have more structure.”

He said the city’s enforcement of camping bans will continue alongside expanded shelter options.

McCarty defended the city’s enforcement of camping bans outside City Hall and other public spaces, saying Sacramento now mirrors other large California cities. 

“We can’t have urban camping,” he said. “But we also need to help people where they can go. Cities like Berkeley, Oakland and San Francisco, not your conservative cities, are doing the same thing because they realize you have to have more balance.”

MLB ambitions and River Parkway

Outside of housing, McCarty pledged that the River Parkway trails would be done by 2030. 

“We’re going to complete the Freeport to Folsom Parkway so you can get on your bike, run or walk the whole river,” McCarty said. “There’s no more planning and talking. We’re doing it.”

McCarty also unveiled a campaign with West Sacramento’s Mayor Martha Guerrero aimed at keeping professional baseball in the region after the A’s leave for Las Vegas. 

“After talking to people in Major League Baseball, there’s one thing we can do to dramatically increase our odds … making sure that we support the A’s here and show that we are worthy of a Major League franchise,” he said.

McCarty said this is part of his larger vision for the city. 

“We need to grow our economy,” he said. “By having two million people come downtown every year, that’s going to dramatically impact our city budget.”

You can hear Mayor McCarty’s full conversation with CapRadio’s Vicki Gonzalez here.