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Elk Grove has secured a home for its future permanent homeless shelter, purchasing 1.5 acres for $856,000 as the city moves toward opening the facility in late 2028.
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The site at the intersection of Survey Road and East Stockton Boulevard was approved as the city’s homeless shelter site in February. The city entered into a purchase and sale agreement June 24, according to city spokesperson Kristyn Nelson. The sale was recorded and finalized Thursday, she said.
The land was privately owned by Dennis Beaman, according to the Sacramento County Assessor’s Office. The Assessor’s Office said the sale had not yet been recorded in its system.
The site, near the city’s southeastern border, was part of a shelter project previously estimated to cost between $12 million and $14.5 million, including $750,000 to purchase the land, $1.7 million to $2 million in site development, $7.2 million to $8.5 million in “hard” construction costs and $2 million to $3 million in “soft” costs, such as fees, permits and insurance.
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The shelter is expected to cost $1.5 million per year to maintain, according to a city staff report.
Design work is underway, and construction is expected to begin in late 2027, The shelter is expected to open in late 2028, when the city’s lease on its temporary homeless shelter site ends, according to previous Bee reporting.
What the new shelter will look like
The new shelter will be able to house up to 20 people and four families, plus five emergency beds, according to previous Bee reporting. Families will be housed separately from individuals, with separate entrances and common areas. Pets will be allowed at the shelter. The shelter will also have a commercial kitchen.
The shelter will be open only to Elk Grove residents or people with deep ties to the city, verified through a vetting process, who receive referrals from the city’s homeless services navigators or police officers.
“This shelter project is going to solve Elk Grove’s needs,” Sarah Bontrager, the city’s housing and public services manager, said at a February City Council meeting. “It is not meant to solve the region’s needs. It’s not meant to solve Sacramento’s needs.”
The shelter will help guests focus on “what’s next,” Bontrager previously said, including finding permanent housing, employment and services such as health care and mental health care. The standard stay will be six months, but it can be extended for people who are working toward securing housing or completing applications and need more time, Bontrager said.
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The shelter will provide guests with three meals a day, as well as snacks.
A minimum of three staff members will be on-site at all times. Cameras at the shelter will be monitored by the Elk Grove Police Department, and guests will have an overnight curfew.
Registered sex offenders and people with serious behavioral health or substance use challenges will not be allowed at the shelter, and walk-ins will be prohibited. Weapons, drugs and alcohol will also be banned.
The shelter would be funded primarily by Measure E, the one-cent sales tax overwhelmingly passed by Elk Grove voters in 2022 and earmarked for issues identified as important by the community, including homelessness, reducing crime and maintaining traffic. The city previously said it would use additional local, state and federal money when available to help fund the shelter.
The city will begin the process of selecting a shelter operator next year, Bontrager previously said during a community meeting.
What the current homeless shelter looks like
The current shelter is in a building leased from Calvary Christian Center at 9499 E. Stockton Blvd. It can consistently house up to 30 people for up to 180 days, plus five emergency short-term beds. Families experiencing homelessness receive motel vouchers through a partnership with the Elk Grove Homeless Assistance Resource Team.
The city will close its existing temporary shelter in October 2028 when its lease ends, according to a city staff report.
The temporary shelter led to a 65% reduction in encampments, served 95 people and helped 14 households transition to permanent housing in its first year of operation, according to Bontrager and a City Council staff report.
The city said Elk Grove had one of the lowest homelessness rates in Sacramento County.
The 2024 count of people experiencing homelessness in the county, performed by nonprofit group Sacramento Steps Forward, found 83 people in Elk Grove were unhoused. However, the city says that staff estimates that number could be as high as 150 people, based on information from the city’s homeless outreach team and the Police Department.
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