West Sacramento's City Council has voted to create a brand-new city department dedicated entirely to homelessness, responding to an unhoused population that has jumped nearly 24% in just two years. The council approved the Homelessness Response and Support Department, a move meant to replace a patchwork system that had spread outreach, housing, and cleanup duties across four separate city offices.
According to the Sacramento Bee, the council's vote consolidates personnel and funding that previously sat with Parks and Recreation, Economic Development and Housing, the police department, and Public Works. The shift brings the city's homelessness work under dedicated leadership. The paper notes the fragmented structure had actually disqualified West Sacramento from some grant opportunities that require a coordinated approach to homelessness response.
The Numbers Behind the Decision
The city's 2026 point-in-time count identified 358 people experiencing homelessness in West Sacramento, with 159 counted in shelters and 199 living unsheltered, the Bee reported. That's up from 289 people counted in 2024, when 105 were in shelters — a roughly 24% increase over two years, according to the same count. Countywide figures released by Yolo County show West Sacramento recorded the highest unhoused population of any jurisdiction in the county that January night, ahead of Woodland's 320 and Davis's 194, accounting for nearly 40% of the 912 people identified countywide.
The county's own data, reported by the Davis Vanguard, shows that 65% of Yolo County's unhoused population — 597 of 912 people — were living unsheltered in vehicles, tents, or other locations not meant for habitation, with only 315 people accommodated in shelters or transitional housing. That imbalance helps explain why field outreach, encampment response, and emergency housing all landed as central pillars of the new department rather than being treated as separate problems. A presentation to the Yolo County Board of Supervisors this month, detailed by Abridged, found the county's unhoused population has doubled over the past 15 years, with the sharpest increases since 2017 tied to shifting state and federal funding guidelines — a trend county officials say individual cities have historically had to confront without any centralized regional structure.
What the New Department Will Do
The department will bring the city's homelessness response into a single organizational structure. The city will transfer 20 existing positions into the new department and add three leadership or supervisory positions, per the same account.
The new department gives the city's homelessness response dedicated structure and leadership. Mayor Guerrero separately noted in December that the city's population has more than doubled since its incorporation in the 1980s, when it had roughly 20,000 residents, placing growing demands on emergency services and infrastructure citywide, according to ABC10.
Funding the New Office
Measure O is a one-cent local sales tax West Sacramento voters approved in November 2024, according to Ballotpedia. The measure is projected to generate about $20 million annually for general city services. A broader three-year staffing plan covered 48 positions spanning police, fire, road maintenance, and homelessness initiatives.
West Sacramento's emergency housing portfolio has grown substantially since the pandemic. The city acquired a 40-unit motel in 2020, a 21-unit site in 2023, and two more properties with over 40 combined rooms in September 2024, expanding its Homeless Emergency Housing Program, according to the City of West Sacramento. Those placements are coordinated alongside Yolo County Health and Human Services and nonprofits including the Yolo County Children's Alliance. The city's first motel conversion traces back to October 2020, when Governor Gavin Newsom visited a West Sacramento property on West Capitol Avenue — where the state had launched Project Roomkey — to announce it would become permanent supportive housing under Project Homekey, part of a statewide round that awarded more than $835 million.
More Housing on the Way
The new department's work will intersect with other supportive housing projects already underway in the city. Hoodline previously reported that the state awarded $35.9 million to The Bridge at West Gateway, a 60-unit affordable family development in the Bridge District that includes six permanent supportive housing units reserved for families experiencing chronic homelessness. The four-story project near Sutter Health Park is being built in partnership with developer Jamboree Housing.
West Sacramento's increase stands out against a mixed regional picture. Yolo County as a whole saw a slight overall decline in unhoused individuals this year even as West Sacramento's numbers climbed, underscoring why city leaders decided their local response needed its own dedicated department rather than relying on county-level trends.
