A 2022 estimate of the number of people in Sacramento County that experience homelessness at any time during a year is between 16,500 and 20,000. An estimate of the number of people in Sacramento County that experience homelessness on any given night is 9,300. Roughly 1,300 shelter beds are available and typically full. The waitlist exceeds 2,300. Sacramento County spent $220 million in 2023-2024 on the homeless problem. However, the homeless problem never goes away. (Video)

The solution to Sacramento County's homeless problem is free housing. Moreover, the long-term solution is employability. In order to be employable, a homeless person must become clean, groomed, dressed, healthy, and educated. How does the Sacramento community transform a class of people on a mass scale?

Sacramento County needs to redirect the annual $220 million homeless line item to fund Sacramento Dorms. The dorms will be in an environment of education.

Sacramento Dorms will need a block of downtown real estate. The building needs to be big enough to have 5,000 rooms, each 10x8 square-feet. The furnishings in each room will be a:

1. bed
2. closet
3. dresser
4. bookcase
5. desk
6. chair
7. broom/dust pan/duster/trash can
8. thin client computer (a minimalist computer designed to connect to a server)

The Sacramento Dorms reception area will be staffed 24/7/365. Upon registering, all of the tenant's possessions that won't fit in a duffel bag will be thrown into a dumpster. Any shopping cart will be collected and returned to its rightful store. After registering, the tenant will be directed to the quartermaster.

Sacramento Dorms will have a 24/7/365 quartermaster facility. The staff will issue for free the essentials that Target now locks up, including:

1. set of casual clothes
2. pair of casual shoes
3. duffel bag with a toiletry kit
4. pillow
5. linen set
6. box of laundry detergent
7. school kit containing a:
   • touch typing self-study book
   • business writing self-study book
   • business math self-study book
   • dictionary
   • 3-ring binder
   • notebook paper
   • ruler
   • pencil
   • eraser

Residents are expected to be doing homework.

Sacramento Dorms will have a book repository to offer free textbooks that teach:

1. business writing
2. business math
3. bookkeeping
4. computer programming
5. everything else

Sacramento Dorms will have a study hall, staffed with tutors having social science degrees. Computers, secured within a desk, will be available for education. Every resident is encouraged to learn to generate cash-based financial statements and write computer programs. The primary objective is to learn how to use the computer to manage home finances. The secondary objective is to learn how to use technology to gain fulfilling employment.

The Sacramento Dorms reception area will display a banner on a wall that says:

All residents will have to sign away their fourth amendment right to privacy. All of the dorms are subject to search. Anything not stored away, excluding personal papers, will be discarded. Also, any contraband, even if stored away, will be discarded.

Each floor will be a single gender and will have communal bathrooms, showers, and a laundry room.

Sacramento Dorms will have a 24/7/365 cafeteria to serve free meals. The ingredients will be day-old (expired but still good) groceries from supermarkets. The cafeteria will display a banner on a wall that says:

Sacramento Dorms will make our homeless community clean, groomed, dressed, healthy, and relatively educated. To become fully educated, Sacramento County needs a line item in its $8.9 billion budget to fund the nearby Sacramento Community College.