Sacramento County has scuttled plans to open a $1.3 million sanctioned parking lot for 30 homeless people after the city displaced dozens of individuals the county intended to serve through “sweeps” and then surprised the county with an announcement that it would open a different shelter not far from the parking lot.
The lack of communication between the city and the county is a large factor in the sudden reversal. County spokeswoman Janna Haynes wrote on Wednesday, “The opening of the City’s Safe Ground wasn’t something we had planned on when initially applying for this grant and, in fact, did not know of this location until it was announced in early January.”
While the city and the county have publicly celebrated their cooperation codified in the year-old city-county “Partnership Agreement” on homelessness , the two local governments often operate in silos.
That same lack of communication was evident in the sweeps that the city undertook along Roseville Road in June, right as the county applied for a grant to establish this now-canceled parking lot. The lot was intended to help unhoused residents living in vehicles along Roseville Road.