The Abridged version:
- Neighbors near a proposed tiny home site in Natomas say the lack of transparency has left people confused and stoked fear.
- City Councilmember Lisa Kaplan accused city staff of developing plans for a site in her district “on the fly” and called for a pause in the process.
- City leaders are looking to build more tiny homes across a broader geography.
Stadium Club Estates is the kind of mobile park community where long-time residents know everyone, garden parties are common and everyone talks — a lot.
At Wednesday night bingo last week, the talk was the city of Sacramento’s plans to put in a new tiny home village on the other side of a cement wall that borders the south side of the park.
The plans include 40 units on a 1.58-acre city-owned lot. The site would be aimed at helping seniors who are homeless move from shelters into 120-square-foot tiny homes. The Sacramento City Council voiced broad support on Tuesday night for the city’s plan to build 160 new tiny homes across four sites.
‘We have to build in our yard for our neighbors.’
Strong opinions have filled the mobile home park, which has about 174 units that are also aimed towards people 55 and older.
Tamara Holyfield and her mother live in a home that backs into the 8-foot wall that would separate Stadium Club Estates from the proposed tiny home site.
“My mom came down here to bingo and her friend said ‘you gotta hear this, they’re going to have a homeless city down here,'” Holyfield said.
When Holyfield began researching the site, she learned it would be earmarked specifically for senior residents. After reading up on the project, she said that her mother is now planning on hosting a “welcome wagon” with flowers for the new tiny home residents.
“They’re not looking at the facts, it’s so easy to judge people,” Holyfield said. “We have to build in our yard for our neighbors.”
She said she was glad she and her mother found more affordable housing at Stadium Club Estates. If their circumstances were different, “it could have been my mother, it could have been me,” seeking out a tiny home, Holyfield said.
Safety concerns persist for some
Other neighbors are sounding the alarm over safety concerns.
“I’m really worried about crime,” said resident Geri Ridge, adding that the average age of her neighbors is around 75.
She said she moved from Stockton to Sacramento five years ago, hoping that homelessness and crime would be better.
“I just don’t think they thought it through,” Ridge said, referring to city staff.
The Sacramento City Council is increasingly looking to tiny homes to help relieve the city’s homelessness crisis, and looking across a wider geography. The city manager has held authority over choosing where sites will be, per a 2023 vote from the council.
“We can’t say go somewhere else. We need to be everywhere in the city of Sacramento,” said Mayor Kevin McCarty, at the council’s Tuesday night hearing on homelessness.
The other locations include 6360 25th St. in Brentwood near Executive Airport and 2461 Gardendale Road in Meadowview. The address for the fourth location — planned in near the Pocket or Land Park neighborhoods — has not been made public.
Locations of proposed tiny home developments. (Jamie Judd)
Some criticize city’s lack of transparency
Residents and city leaders alike are scrutinizing the city for lack of transparency.
Sue Carter, park manager at Stadium Club Estates, keeps a watchful eye over the property and is used to being on call around the clock. The first time she heard about the tiny home proposal was when contractors appeared next door and began doing soil samples. She made a call to Councilwoman Lisa Kaplan and started soliciting feedback from residents shortly after, she told Abridged.
“People are just caught off guard,” Carter said. “When they said it was for seniors, it eased the fear.”
“I’m restful knowing its 24/7 security and locked down at night,” she added. “I guess we have to face the issues if they come.”
Councilmember Lisa Kaplan, who represents North Natomas, said she found out about the project site through a post on Nextdoor a month ago. When she reached out to city staff for more details on the site — before the Sept. 16 council meeting — they were unresponsive, she said.
Area councilmember says the process should slow down
“I want the city to pause,” Kaplan said, “and figure out a plan that we are not figuring out the details of on the fly.”
Kaplan said she remains supportive of the city’s focus on tiny home communities, but wants to make sure the community’s voice is heard.
Now that the city is past its Sept. 16 homeless workshop and the sites are public, city staff plan to host listening sessions and community meetings, according to Julie Hall, spokesperson for the Sacramento’s Department of Community Response. The outreach efforts will start within weeks, Hall said.
“Several of the sites identified have been considered for shelter or interim housing in the past. The four selected locations are on all city-owned land and were chosen for practical and strategic reasons to meet community needs,” Hall said, in a written statement.
Felicia Alvarez is a reporter at Abridged covering accountability. She’s called Sacramento home since 2015 and has reported on government, health care and breaking news topics for both local and national news outlets.
