Safe Stay Supportive Housing

The County of Sacramento is innovating a unique prototype community in response to homelessness. The County is advancing a vision to convert a former big box retail building and associated parking lots into temporary housing with supporting shelter, amenities and social services. The adaptive reuse project in North Highlands will become the third, and largest, Safe Stay community in the County, with a strong focus on immediate emergency shelter – and a longer-term goal to help transition occupants of encampments into longer term shelter and permanent housing.

As the Lead Architect, NORR is aligning design with purpose to manage the greatest use of space and functionality to maximize value for the public agency and achieve common goals to improve the lives of the unhoused. The architecture program proposes three main spaces to serve the various needs of guest types.

• The existing large format building will be repurposed to centrally provide multiple support services for distinct government funded programs. The design provides integration of amenities, community rooms, training and development areas, mental health and case management spaces, catering services and emergency weather response.
• A large portion of the parking lot will be transformed into “shelter neighborhoods” made up of modular tiny homes that will serve a total of 225 guests. The tiny homes will offer double and single occupancy as transitional shelter.
• A segregated secure outdoor space for up to 50 parking guests will provide overnight stays on the site with access to amenities and services as required.

The Safe Stay community prototype will offer compassion and dignity to its guests with measurable social impact. The collaborative design services from NORR, in combination with the outcomes-focused public services of the County of Sacramento will help individuals and families experiencing homelessness to regain health, income and permanent housing stability.