If the mayor has his way, the temporary winter homeless shelter in North Sacramento will remain open past its original March 31 closing date.
"I think it's worked really well to be the longer term triage solution for this part of the city," Sacramento's Mayor Steinberg said at a community meeting Thursday night.
In return, Steinberg added, the city would not open the second triage center they have planned at the site of the former Lumberjack building materials store.
Although that proposal drew some tepid applause from those in attendance, some neighbors in the area said they still have concerns about the current facility.
"If it was really effective and working then we would be in favor of it," Jane Macaulay, who lives in North Sacramento, said, "But it's really not effective. It's super loud inside, people are doing drugs outside, tons of dog fights."
Others said they have noticed more homeless people loitering outside businesses in Del Paso Boulevard.
The city, however, says the shelter has been successful and has made North Sacramento safer. They say 34 out of the 264 people who have been sheltered there since December have been placed in permanent housing.
They also pointed out that the meeting Thursday night had half the attendance than a previous meeting about the shelter, suggesting the objection to it may have subsided.
Joseph Jones, a veteran who was once homeless in North Sacramento himself, was one of those people at the meeting in favor of the city's plan.
"Having a shelter going to be open on a more permanent basis," Jones said, "Helps people who are homeless start that process of getting back off the streets again."