The road from being housed to unhoused to being housed again is not circular or linear. It is fraught with turns, breakages, and twists that no one can predict or always avoid. A person’s ability to fully circumvent homelessness isn’t always up to them; it also depends on the support they have around them, the environmental factors they live in, and the uncontrollable circumstances in which they live their lives. So many people are one catastrophic life event away from homelessness—but for some, that life event never comes.
But for many, that life event does come. And they don’t have families to care for them, to offer them a bed, or to help with bills, food, childcare and transportation—essential elements we need to continue working, going to school and keeping ourselves afloat.
Not everyone living on the streets is on drugs. Not everyone on the streets is suffering from an acute mental illness. Not everyone is there by choice, and many—so many—are actively working to change their circumstances.
Sacramento County, in partnership with nonprofit partners, its cities, and with state and federal funds, is working tirelessly to lift people out of these circumstances, put them back on their feet in whatever way makes sense for them, and put them back on the straightest path to rehousing.
Congresswoman Doris Matsui secured and presented Sacramento County with a $1 million grant to further that mission on Oct. 6 at the Florin Road Safe Stay Community. Open since August 2023 and now run by partner Five Keys, the Florin Road Safe Stay Community was the County’s first tiny home campus. Having now served more than 614 people, with a 35% successful outcome rate, these funds will further the goal of increasing successful outcomes and moving more people from the street to shelter to housing as quickly and successfully as possible.
“This infusion of critical funding comes at a pivotal moment in Sacramento County’s mission to continue its success in addressing homelessness in impactful and unique ways,” said District 2 Sacramento County Supervisor Patrick Kennedy. “We’re grateful to Congresswoman Matsui’s tenacity in working for Sacramento and for the important work of addressing homelessness when funding is rapidly dwindling. We’re grateful for her continued advocacy in Washington.”
The Florin Road Safe Stay was the County’s first individual-occupancy-style shelter. After the success of Project Roomkey during COVID, the County pivoted its old sheltering model to focus on what people said yes to: privacy, a locking door and a place where they could shelter with a partner, their pet and their possessions in dignity. A shelter that was near the neighborhood where they camped—near whatever support system they deemed important to them.
“It is difficult to build a stable future when your most basic needs aren’t being met. At Florin Safe Stay, we are providing people with something critically important: a safe place to begin again,” said President and CEO of Florin Road Safe Stay Heather Calomese. “At Five Keys, we believe something very simple: Your circumstances today do not determine your possibilities tomorrow.”
Homelessness does not have to define people. It does not need to be the last chapter of their story. It is part of their story, but so are the helpers—we can all rewrite the end of the story together.