The Abridged version:
- Next month marks the halfway point of Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty’s first term. He said he’s planning to finish the term and run for reelection.
- The mayor spoke during his second State of the City address about his main priorities, including homelessness, public safety and bringing professional sports teams to the Sacramento area.
- McCarty announced a tiny home grant program modeled after a Sacramento resident’s efforts to house people in her backyard.
Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty will be halfway through his first term in a month, and he said he plans to run for another one.
During his second state of the city address Thursday, McCarty addressed his main priorities for the city, including homelessness, public safety and economic development. But housing and homelessness remained a central focus, issues he campaigned on heavily before taking office.
“We still have a lot of work to do,” McCarty said.
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In his first state of the city address, eyes were on his proposal to increase property transfer taxes, with the generated revenue dedicated for housing programs and reducing homelessness.
But following the announcement, the proposal faced pushback from local realtors concerned about market impacts, leaving the measure short of making it to the Sacramento City Council.
On Thursday, the mayor detailed ongoing efforts aimed at creating more housing, with the goal to reach 500 more shelter beds as part of the city’s broader homelessness response.
As of the last point in time count, nearly 7,500 individuals were experiencing homelessness in the county.
A program milestone
Part of McCarty’s six-point plan to address housing the unhoused includes the Robin Moore Tiny Home grant program.
Funded with private money and some City Council budget, the program involves three nonprofits. McCarty said each housing unit would receive $10,000 in start up costs.
The program’s vetting committee selected the Collective Liberation, Color the Block and Calvary Christian Center, according to the mayor’s office.
“We’re really excited about this because we want to expand this,” he said Thursday at the Crocker Art Museum. “And it could be a model.”
The program was replicated and modeled after retired preschool teacher and local resident Robin Moore, who started building tiny homes in her backyard during the pandemic. Now, Moore said 14 people live in her Del Paso Heights backyard, and she keeps in touch with nearly half of the families who find better footing and move out.
“I did what I did because this is Sacramento, California, and there are families living in their cars,” she said. “It didn’t seem like it was improving, it seemed like there were more families and there were more people.”
While the city expects to commit $10,000 per unit, Moore said there are additional infrastructure costs to consider for a more sustainable tiny home. In Moore’s experience with the Cosumnes River College construction department, she said the costs to build range from $15,000 to $20,000 per unit.
“Homelessness is bigger than what you see,” she said. “What I was trying to fill was the community and collaboration part of it, because not one solution can fit all families. You just have to be able to give them the autonomy and the dignity to move through their situation.”
Growing Sacramento’s economy
While homelessness was a central focus, the mayor also highlighted public safety, youth programming and economic development as priorities for the remainder of his first term.
As outside cost factors continue to affect development, McCarty stressed the importance of “what the city can control.”
One effort toward that vision is to reboot the city’s economic development department. The reboot would also include a concierge service that helps people with their business permits. McCarty’s hope is to make it easier to build housing and develop projects.
“We don’t control labor costs, interest rates, material costs and tariffs,” he said. “We need to focus on what we can control. And this is how we can grow public safety, grow our fire department, our youth programs.”
The announcement comes as Sacramento continues to face long-term financial pressure after closing a $66.2 million budget shortfall in 2026.
As the second half of his first term is approaching, McCarty acknowledged that there’s still significant work ahead.
“I think all of these things are realistic,” he said. “And that’s one thing I really wanted to strive upon as mayor is not promising stuff you can’t deliver. I think all these things are within our reach.”
