Sacramento County’s $64.7 million project raises questions about pandemic spending, years of delay and the decisions that left people waiting.
In California’s capital county, taxpayers financed a troubling contradiction: Sacramento County purchased a warehouse to shelter homeless people, then paid private security while homeless people were kept outside.
I visited and photographed the Watt Avenue property in April 2023. What I witnessed was private security keeping homeless people out of the property the county had purchased to shelter them.
The county’s federal spending records identify Patrol Solutions providing security at the North Highlands Safe Stay site during 2023 and 2024. The county did not announce its groundbreaking until January 23, 2025, more than two years after purchasing the property. [1,2]
The county’s publicized acquisition and construction figure is now $64.7 million. Its website still describes active construction and anticipates residents moving in during late 2026. [3,4]
How did an emergency response become a project that took years to deliver shelter?
“We had to spend it or lose it.”
I questioned former Sacramento County Supervisor Sue Frost about the purchase. Frost had worked in real estate. I asked her why the county would buy a warehouse for human occupancy when, in my assessment, its ingress and egress would never be approved by the fire department for that use.
Ingress means the way into a building. Egress means the way out, including the escape routes people need during a fire or other emergency. A warehouse’s suitability for storage does not establish its suitability for sleeping accommodations.
Frost’s response was: “We had to spend it or lose it.”
That was the explanation I received for a decision involving millions of taxpayer dollars.
A spending deadline does not establish that a property is suitable, reasonably priced or capable of providing help when people need it. The county’s inspection and feasibility records should show what officials knew before committing public money.
A premium purchase, followed by a different plan
The property at 4837 Watt Avenue in North Highlands, an unincorporated Sacramento County community, sold for $12.45 million in September 2021. About fourteen months later, the county purchased it for $22.8 million. An independent appraisal reportedly valued it at $16.9 million. [5]
