Sacramento Shelters Burn Through $63 Million, Housing Gains Fall Flat

An audit released Thursday by the city says Sacramento has little to show in lasting housing results for the $63.2 million it spent on city-run shelters between July 2023 and June 2025. Reviewing 14 shelter programs and 8,885 stays, auditors found that spending more per stay does not reliably translate into more exits to permanent housing, and in some cases slightly better housing outcomes came at many times the cost per exit of lower-priced programs.

What the audit set out to measure

The report, part of a planned series on the city’s homeless response, set out to compare shelter types, per-client costs and housing exits to see which models are linked with stronger outcomes, according to the Office of the City Auditor. To do that, auditors pulled Homeless Management Information System data, reviewed contracts and interviewed providers to assess not just cost-effectiveness but also how accessible each shelter model is for people trying to get inside.

Big gaps between cost and results

Across that $63.2 million in spending from July 2023 to June 2025, auditors found “no strong link” between what the city pays and how often people exit to stable housing, according to The Sacramento Bee. The Bee highlighted audit examples showing Common Ground’s cost per exit at about $3,029 compared with more than $20,000 per exit at Saint John’s Program for Real Change.

Despite the steep price difference, Saint John’s saw roughly 16 percent of stays end in permanent housing, versus about 8 percent at Common Ground. Auditors noted that longer stays at Saint John’s help explain part of the gap, but they also said the city has not laid out a clear framework for when those higher-cost shelter models are worth the extra money.

Officials say they'll act

Mayor Kevin McCarty and City Manager Maraskeshia Smith acknowledged recent implementation problems and called the rollout “disappointing,” according to The Sacramento Bee. The audit is scheduled to go before the Budget and Audit Committee at its 11 a.m. meeting Tuesday, and city leaders told reporters they plan to work directly with families who were affected by recent changes to motel programs.

Local fallout and the path forward

Advocates warn that program redesigns can leave people without rooms, even for a night, when policies change faster than placements. Earlier this month, families scrambled when enrollments paused during the city’s motel reshuffle. For a closer look at that chaos, see our coverage of the motel shakeup that stranded families.

The audit also flagged underused congregate shelter beds and recommended that the city improve data collection, adopt clearer success metrics and consider contracting to fill more of those empty beds to reduce the cost per exit, according to the city report.

What comes next is whether the Budget & Audit Committee pushes the city to tie performance targets to shelter contracts, and whether any near-term changes tighten enrollment rules in ways that avoid leaving families without options during transitions. Advocates argue that clearer metrics and fuller use of existing beds could bring costs down without cutting capacity, but say the real test will be how quickly the city turns the audit’s recommendations into on-the-ground changes.