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of Broken Dream is a sadder, more desperate place today.

Broadway has always known bums. In 1980, the Volunteers of America Public Inebriate Center was a metal building at the foot of Miller Park. Cops hauled winos there. When they dried out, derelicts wandered down the Boulevard of Broken Dreams.

Decades before 1980, Broadway was called Y Street. It was the city limits. In 1910, Ed Kripp built a gambling hall and baseball stadium at 11th and Y—Riverside and Broadway. Buffalo Park, eventually named Edmonds Field, rose atop the city’s first garbage dump.

The Boulevard of Broken Dreams was never Easy Street. Nobody can tell me it’s aged well.

R.E. Graswich can be reached at regraswich@icloud.com. Previous columns can be found and shared at InsideSacramento.com. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: @insidesacramento. n

The city currently spends up to $550,000 per unit for permanent supportive housing. Interim housing can be erected for about $50,000. Dignity Moves, a Bay Area nonprofit, has built three interim housing communities and demonstrated encouraging results getting individuals stabilized and ready for a future in permanent housing.

The campus-to-courtyard model used by San Antonio’s Haven for Hope is very effective, but requires many millions of dollars to build. Haven is supported by 60% private investment.

WellSpace has developed the Crisis Receiving and Behavioral Health center. It’s an effective intervention for substance abusers. We need to replicate this effort and build a wellness campus, a front door for homeless services.

The needs are clear: Cities and counties must supply places to build housing. They must support programs and service providers.

Sacramento purchased 102 acres in the south area to tackle the homeless conundrum. But all we’ve heard from City Council is a desire to build a soccer complex there. It’s an ideal place for interim housing.

In contrast, the county has purchased a large warehouse to create a campus-style model. The county also set in motion two tiny home communities. I cheer these efforts, and wish the city would show similar enterprise.

As far as providers go, we have many. Most are excellent. Volunteers of America, Hope Cooperative, WellSpace, Shelter Inc., Women’s Empowerment and many others do tremendous work. This is not our problem area.

If we want to resolve this crisis, we need coordination of providers, more private resources, and cohesive political direction and leadership. Without these elements, the situation will only get worse.

Jeff Harris represented District 3 on the City Council from 2014 to 2022. He can be reached at cadence@mycci. net. n