Federal rent assistance money has run out. Could Sacramento’s homeless population double?
The city of Sacramento has run out of federal money for COVID-19 rental assistance. That could cause the capital city’s homeless population to double.
Roughly 20,000 households in the city submitted applications for the assistance, according to the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency (SHRA). Of those, 7,800 were funded and 7,700 were ineligible. That leaves roughly 4,500 who would qualify for the assistance, but are not set to receive it.
The average household size in the county is about 2.7 people, so that means over 12,000 people could be facing eviction this year, Councilwoman Katie Valenzuela said. There are currently an estimated 9,300 homeless people in Sacramento, but only about 2,300 city and county shelter beds.
“This will double our numbers of people on the street,” Valenzuela said through tears during a City Council meeting Tuesday. “We’ve got to be able to figure this out ... this is staggering ... I feel like we’re on the precipice of this emergency getting beyond the epic levels we’re already seeing on our streets.”
When the Sacramento Emergency Rental Assistance program started, it was helping a lot of people who had lost their jobs due to the pandemic, said La Shelle Dozier, SHRA executive director.
“As time went on and the rules also allowed us to assist anyone in dire need, then we did see people who were just struggling to pay rent because rent is so expensive,” Dozier told the council. “We went from a COVID-19 response to really trying to address the problem that a lot of people have out there ... who are really just struggling to pay rent ... I think it is a symptom of a bigger problem and issue that we have.”
High rent a factor in homelessness
Many of the people who are asking for assistance are employed, but still cannot afford rent, said MaryLiz Paulson of SHRA.
As of 2021, the typical Sacramento apartment rent was $1,760 — higher than both Washington DC and New York City. It’s likely gone up since then.
“The average median income in the central city is $32,000,” Valenzuela said. “We are seeing 500-square-foot apartments approaching $2,000 a month.”
The threat of eviction is real, especially as the COVID-19 eviction moratoriums have expired. Between Jan. 1, 2021 and Dec. 1, 2022, roughly 1,365 Sacramento households were evicted by a sheriff’s deputy after their case concluded in court, according to documents obtained by The Sacramento Bee through a California Public Records Act request. In comparison, 487 people were locked out by a sheriff’s deputy in the first year of the pandemic.
Experts say the real number of people evicted in Sacramento is much higher as most people leave after receiving the initial notice, before the case goes to court.
The city in 2019 created a Tenant Protection Program, but it only applies to units built before 1995 and still allows annual rental increases up to 10%.
Mayor Darrell Steinberg said he wants to find out how many of the 4,500 households are close to eviction and try to work out payment plans. He also said he wants council members and staff to meet with the California Apartment Association and Sacramento Association of Realtors to come up with solutions.
“Let’s see if we might come to a protocol, an agreement by which we might save as many of these households from eviction,” Steinberg said Tuesday. “Why cant we do that? Why can’t we? What would it take to do that?”
Valenzuela said she also wants to ask the county for funding, and Councilwoman Karina Talamantes agreed. The county received three times the amount of federal money the city did, Dozier said.
