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GETTING WORSE, NOT BETTER. THIS IS THE CENTURY-OLD CAPITO PARK HOTEL AS IT LOOKS TODAY. BUT LATER THIS SUMMER, IT MAY LOOK LIKE THIS. A 180-BED TRIAGE SHELTER FOR THE HOMELESS. DESIGNED FOR PEOPLE LIKE PREM RIDEAU, WHO’S BEEN LIVING ON THE STREETS OF SACRAMENTO FOR NEARLY SEVEN YEAR >> IF I’M INSIDE THE TENDENCY FOR ME TO WAKE UP AND GO BACK TO SLEEP IS GREATER THAN IT WOULD BE IF I WAS OUTSIDE. MIKE: RIDEAU TOLD US HE PREFERS LIVING OUTSIDE TO A SHELTER, BUT FOR CITY OFFICIALS THE CONVERSION OF THIS HOTEL IS ESSENTIAL UNTIL MORE PERMANENT HOUSING CAN BE BUILT. IN THE MEANTIME, CURRENT RESIDENTS OF CAPITOL PARK HOTEL WILL LIKELY HAVE TO FIND A NEW PLACE TO LIVE. WILL ANYONE LIVING THERE NOW BE DISPLACED? >> ABSOLUTELY NOT. THE RESIDENTS LIVING THERE NOW WILL BE ELIGIBLE FOR RELOCATION BENEFITS. MIKE: THE CITY SAYS IT PLANS TO PROVIDE RELOCATION CONSULTANTS TO WORK ONE ON ONE WITH CURRENT RESIDENTS LIKE 75-YEAR-OLD GEORGE GREEN. >> IF THERE’S SOMEWHERE ELSE TO GO I’M NOT WORRIED. AND IT HOPE IT’S A PLACE THAT CAN FACILITATE THE FACT OF OUR ADVANCED AGE, THAT’S NECESSARY. MIKE: THE CITY’S PLAN IS TO PROVIDE THE HOMELESS WITH DRUG, ALCOHOL AND MENTAL HEALT COUNSELING ONCE THEY ARRIVE AT THE SHELTER BUT MAYOR STEINBERG WANTS 800 SHELTER BEDS CITYWID HE SAYS AS THEY TRANSITION TO HOUSING THAT CAN TAKE 2400 PEOPLE OFF THE STREETS. BUT SACRAMENTO HAS MORE THAN 3000 HOMELESS PEOPLE ACCORDING TO THE LATEST CENSUS. THERE’S STILL 1000 PEOPLE OUT THERE WHO HAVE NO SERVICES. >> I’VE NEVER SAID WE’RE GOING TO CURE THE PROBLEM. BUT I THINK WE CAN MAKE IT DRAMATICALLY BETTER. WHAT IF WE CUT IT IN HALF? OR DID EVEN BETTER THAN THAT MIKE: SACRAMENTO IS ALSO CONVERTING THIS HOUSE IN MIDTOWN INTO A 12-BED FACILITY FOR

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Huddled in the shadows beneath the Capitol Park Hotel in downtown Sacramento, Prem Rideau was selling newspapers. Rideau said Thursday he’s been living on the streets for nearly seven years.At first glance, it would seem that Rideau would be the ideal person to live in a triage shelter, now planned for the Capitol Park Hotel. But, Rideau was unsure about wanting to live there. “I'm not so certain if I would or wouldn't,” Rideau said. “It would have to be open and it would have to be at that moment and I would like to make a choice.”Rideau said he prefers living outdoors.“If I'm inside, the tendency for me to wake up and go back to sleep is greater than it would be if I was outside,” Rideau said. Sacramento city announced plans Thursday to convert the Capitol Park Hotel into a homeless shelter. The plans including turning the half-full space into a 180-bed triage center. “Everybody complains but nobody wants to be part of the solution,” Sacramento City Councilmember Steve Hansen said. “This is really a challenge, in a lot of ways, to others to say, ‘It's time to step up.'"The last count revealed more than 3,000 people living on the streets of Sacramento on any given night. Mayor Darrell Steinberg’s goal is to establish 800 shelter beds citywide -- and ultimately, to find permanent housing for up to 2,400 people. Steinberg acknowledged that about 1,000 won't get the help they need with this plan. “But, I think we can make it dramatically better," he added. "What if we cut it in half? Or did even better than that?"The city plans to help current residents of the Capitol Park Hotel with relocating, helping people like 75-year-old George Green. “I think it's a good idea as long as they have someplace else to go for us,” Green said. “And, that we have access to the things we need.”In the meantime, current residents of the Capitol Park Hotel will likely have to find a new place to live but won’t be displaced, according to La Shelle Dozier, executive director of the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency. “The residents living there now will be eligible for relocation benefits,” Dozier said. “A relocation consultant will sit down with each individual and assist them in relocation."“If there's somewhere else to go, I'm not worried,” Green said. “And I hope it's a place that can facilitate the fact of our advanced age, that's necessary.”The city’s plan is to provide shelter to homeless residents with complete care.“We’ll have intense wraparound services,” Dozier said.Those services would include “social service providers, health care, professional mental health, really to address all of the needs of the residents there,” Dozier added. Sacramento is also converting a house in midtown into a 12-bed facility for young people in the LGBTQ community, providing them with a safe place to live. The city council will vote on the plan next Tuesday. If approved, Sacramento would loan Mercy Housing $13 million for the purchase of the hotel and that money would be paid back over time. The cost of operating the shelter, estimated at $16 million, would come from voter-approved Measure U funds, allocated by the city council in February.