SACRAMENTO, Calif — Sacramento County unveiled new transitional housing set to open next week in South Sacramento. It's their second tiny home community in the area.
The new Safe Stay Community is on East Parkway in South Sacramento with 56 beds in private tiny home style cabins.
The transitional housing community is complete with showers, laundry, meals and access to resources on site.
"The primary thing is to get people off the streets and into a dignified cabin...," said Brad fieldhouse, CEO of City Net.
This is the second site of its kind in Sacramento, with the first opening over the summer on Florin Road.
It's enough space for 125 members of the homeless community at a time, which includes people like Keith Marciante.
"This is the best thing to happen to Sacramento, no doubt," Marciante said.
For him, it means having a roof over his head.
"It's a good feeling that you're not going to get rained on, and it's an awesome feeling that they have people who care about us," Marciante said.
The county said the East Parkway site will welcome its first guests next week.
The site operator said the goal is to get people into more permanent housing in 90 days after they arrive.
The Florin Road site is almost full and has been open for about four months.
During that time, five people who have stayed at their 125 beds have been placed in permanent housing. But not everyone is onboard with the idea.
ABC10 asked the county to respond to community concerns about the potential for more homeless to come into the area after the site opens.
"We haven't seen a huge influx of people coming into the Florin location, but we still want to engage those people in services and hopefully be able to place them somewhere," said Janna Haynes, spokesperson for Sacramento County
First priority is given to the unhoused who are already living on the streets in the surrounding area. Haynes said walk-ins are not allowed. Sex offenders and those with violent felony convictions are also not able to stay on this site.
"We have our outreach workers out there daily, in the hopes that they can build that trust and rapport to bring them into the site and off the streets," said Haynes.
The county said they already have 30 people on a waiting list to get in when they open next week and more housing is in the works, including a site on Stockton Boulevard. The county also purchased a large building off Watt and Roseville Road that will be a Safe Parking zone and eventually a tiny cabin community.
The county said they are also searching for land near the American River Parkway to get those folks into housing.
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