City Beat

Officials with the homeless advocacy nonprofit Sacramento Steps Forward said Tuesday that they are $80,000 short of having the funding needed to keep the region's winter sanctuary program operable this year.

The winter sanctuary program kept more than two dozen faith-based organizations and congregations open last winter to provide beds, meals and services to 100 homeless men and women every night.

With a funding shortfall, "there is a critical need at this point," said Leo McFarland, president of Volunteers of America. So far, about $66,000 has been raised.

The Occupy Sacramento protesters asking to remain in downtown's Cesar Chavez Park 24 hours a day have more than the city's anti-camping ordinances working against them. They have the contentious debate over a sanctioned homeless camp to contend with as well.

As dozens of protesters filled the City Council Chambers on Tuesday to ask that they be allowed to remain in the park without being arrested, more than one City Hall insider mentioned to me that they were concerned about the long-term impact of allowing the demonstrators to stay.

For one, homeless advocates have pushed the city to allow them to camp along the American River Parkway and to establish a city-sanctioned "Safe Ground" homeless encampment. If the city suspends the camping ordinance for Occupy Sacramento, it's certain Safe Ground would demand the same.

Mayor Kevin Johnson thinks the region could meet his goal of providing 2,400 permanent shelter beds for the homeless in time for this winter's wet and cold weather.

Sacramento Steps Forward, the mayor's non-profit organization founded to address the region's homeless issue, has helped identify more than 2,000 beds so far, officials said today. Johnson's goal was to find 2,400 before next year.

While officials are ahead of schedule on finding permanent housing for the homeless, "there are still far too many people who are homeless" in Sacramento, the mayor said.

We should soon get a glimpse of what Mayor Kevin Johnson and homeless advocates have planned for a "Safe Ground" homeless facility.

Kunal Merchant, the mayor's chief of staff, told me this afternoon that city officials, homeless advocates and officials with the Sacramento Steps Forward organization have nearly developed a plan for a Safe Ground. The strategy includes size control, security and funding.

The last - and clearly the most contentious - element left to hammer out is location. The full strategy should be communicated to the public within the next few weeks.