The two candidates vying to be Sacramento’s next mayor agree — the number one issue voters care about this election cycle is homelessness. They disagree about what to do about it.
Mayor Darrell Steinberg’s successor takes office Dec. 10 and will inherit a city with roughly 1,300 shelter beds — virtually all of which opened under his tenure. They will face a city with more than 2,500 people and nearly 850 families on shelter wait lists and a looming $77 million city budget deficit will hinder the council’s ability to open more beds.
Both candidates, Assemblyman Kevin McCarty and Flojaune Cofer, facing off in the Nov. 5 election, have proposed the city open sanctioned campgrounds where people can live in trailers, tiny homes or tents with water, food and bathrooms as they await permanent housing.
McCarty has suggested locations city and state officials have floated previously. During forums in recent weeks, he has said he wants to open Safe Grounds at former city corporation yards, 100 acres in Meadowview, as well as at a Cal Expo parking lot and Caltrans land.