City Council votes to continue motel program that shelters more than 500 parents and children

The Sacramento City Council Tuesday voted to continue providing emergency shelter to unhoused families in motels leased by the City.

As of mid-June, the motel program - funded by state and federal dollars - was sheltering 572 adults and children, mostly in properties fully leased by the City for that purpose. The Council Tuesday approved contracts with five motels with 200 rooms until February 2025. The Council also voted to extend a contract with service provider Step Up on Second Street, which currently operates the motel program.

Guests stay an average of six to 12 months, during which time they are assigned a caseworker and offered services to help them access benefits, find work and obtain housing.

Since December 2020, the City Motel Program has sheltered 2,866 people, including 1,219 children. Nearly 500 of these guests have found permanent housing.

The motel rooms are a key component of the City's emergency shelter program, which currently includes 1,350 beds. The City has also helped fund hundreds of additional units of permanent supportive housing in the past few years.

The City's investments are producing results on the street. According to the 2024 Point-in-Time Count conducted by the Sacramento County Continuum of Care, the number of people experiencing homelessness in the city and county dropped by 29 percent between 2022 and 2024. The number of people living outdoors or in cars fell 41 percent.

The PIT Count also found a big improvement in the percentage of homeless families living in shelter or interim housing rather than outdoors or in vehicles - up from 68 percent in 2022 to 96.7 percent in 2024 - largely due to the City's motel program.