Sacramento will start charging monthly fees at some of its homeless shelters, a move that remains uncommon nationwide and marks the city’s latest strategy to address its homeless crisis.

In a 7-2 vote on Tuesday night, the City Council approved implementing fees at its new interim housing sites of tiny homes. Four of these sites, called micro-communities, are planned on vacant lots across the city and will be designated for homeless seniors.

People in the units would be required to pay no more than 30% of their gross monthly income after an initial grace period of 90 days.

Charging rent for non-permanent housing will be a first for Sacramento, and one that city leaders said is part of its broader homelessness strategy. Shelter fees of 30% of a household’s income is a rare practice in the U.S., though Hawaii began working toward a similar goal in 2023.

Brian Pedro, director for the Department of Community Response, framed the fees as a way to foster self-independence, help offset operating costs and create a sustainable housing model. He first raised the idea of fees earlier this year.

Pedro estimated the city would spend $85,000 per micro-community unit compared to $420,000 for a permanent supportive housing unit. People paying fees would also earn tenancy rights and not have a time limit on their length of stay.

“They can be permanent,” Pedro said. “They can be interim, and they’re affordable and scalable. This not only helps us expand our capacity for our 55 and older to live, but it also opens up more space in our emergency shelter so that we can bring in more people.”

Each micro-community will offer roughly 40 tiny homes of 120 square feet with shared bathrooms, showers, laundry and cooking facilities. Residents will be subject to rules including pet limits, no overnight guests, bag checks and daytime visiting hours.

Criminal activity would be grounds for eviction, Pedro said.

The sites will be at 3511 Arena Blvd. in Sundance Lake, 6360 25th St. near the Sacramento Executive Airport and 2461 Gardendale Road in Meadowview. A fourth micro-community site is being reviewed in District 7.

Following the meeting, Pedro said he expected the first micro-community site to open in about a year.

The locations were chosen by Interim City Manager Leyne Milstein and did not need City Council approval, which follows an ordinance passed in August 2023.

Much of the council, including Mayor Kevin McCarty, voiced their support of the sites, locations chosen and implementation of fees. McCarty compared the 30% of income going toward rent to other federal housing programs, calling it a “fair proposition.”

“If people think it’s too much, they don’t have to participate,” McCarty said. “This is a voluntary program.”

Others, including Councilmember Rick Jennings, called the fees an opportunity for people to have “skin in the game” and “pay it forward” to future people who will come into the program.

“We find that it works,” said Jennings, who has led a nonprofit since 1997. “We find that they come to the classes, they pay attention to what it is that we’re trying to teach. They take that information, they take it back to their families, back to their communities.”

The idea of fees again received pushback from multiple public speakers and Council members Mai Vang and Roger Dickinson, who voted against the proposal.

Vang said the tiny home units do not constitute permanent housing, given that they do not have individual amenities such as bathrooms. She suggested that the city allocate money from the city budget to cover the annual costs of maintenance, which Pedro said would be $500,000.

The initial construction cost for each site is estimated at $3.5 million. Money for the costs will come from the city’s general fund.

“We shouldn’t be asking our unhoused seniors to pay a fee when they have to go outside of the micro-communities to use the restroom or even shower,” Vang said.

Dickinson, who acknowledged his colleague’s “compelling” arguments, said he couldn’t support charging people who earn a monthly income of only $1,000.

“How much skin do they have to give up?” Dickinson asked. “Haven’t they given enough skin by the experience they’ve had, living on the street, being exposed day in and day out, to assaults from every direction?”

Pedro said the city had identified about 600 people in the city’s existing emergency shelters or coordinated access system who earn a monthly income. Those people would be given first priority for the micro-communities.

The decision on the fees was part of a broader discussion of the city’s homelessness strategy. ​Sacramento funds 18 shelter sites with 1,375 beds at an annual operating cost of $28 million, according to a recent city staff report.

On Tuesday night, Pedro highlighted eight new homeless sites that will add approximately 1,000 new beds if all are successfully established. Among the potential sites were the four micro-communities interim housing sites, one safe camping site, one safe parking site and two permanent housing projects dependent on federal funding.

The safe camping site — at 291 Sequoia Blvd. in the River District — will offer a temporary area for about 100 people to legally camp. Tents, which will be provided by the city, will be protected by shipping containers anchored to the ground. Services offered will include a scheduled shower trailer, restrooms, trash collection and 24 hour security.

The city will be in charge of the safe camping site, unlike Camp Resolution, which was a homeless camp self governed by residents and shut down last year. City leaders have since called Camp Resolution a failure.

“We had a safe camping site that was self governed, that wasn’t successful, and this is why we’re going to try safe camping again, with us governing it and having security and control over the site,” Pedro told the council.

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