Sacto also looks to be accelerating its encampment clean-up strategy, post-Grants Pass and Newsom directive
Image by Wikimedia Commons
Behind the scenes, Sacto appears to be following SF's example and getting more aggressive about alleviating the suffering at homeless encampments. The Sacramento Bee's exceptional "Reality Check" series explores.
Actions that have been largely unannounced publicly could lead to an overhaul in the way the city responds to its homeless crisis.
On Friday, the city added a new item to its 311 system, allowing residents to report a new complaint — unlawful camping. The category falls under the city’s Incident Management team, which means it could include a police response. That means the unhoused at the reported camp could be cleared or criminally cited for camping. Previously, reported incidents that were directed to the Incident Management Team included blocking sidewalks, being within 500 feet of schools, or storing items on public property.
For the callers who did not know if the camp met one of those specific categories, they would likely previously file the complaint under “homeless concern,” which was directed to the Department of Community Response, social workers and behavioral health specialists — people who cannot write criminal citations or order sweeps.
Since Friday, the city has received 126 complaints for the “unlawful camping” category, said city spokesman Tim Swanson. The Sacramento Police Department spokespeople did not immediately respond to an email asking how many criminal citations it had written for camping-related violations in recent weeks.
In March, police issued a criminal citation for storing personal items on public property to Theresa Rivera in the River District. She now faces a fine of $233. On Wednesday police again swept Rivera, who is in a wheelchair, and threw away her medical papers and supplies.
“My hands are sore from packing,” Rivera said Thursday. “I can’t even sit down and eat right now because they keep coming around and around til we have nothing left.”
The type of criminal citation that Rivera received is among the options that Incident Management Team can take in responding to the newly added unlawful-camping 311 category.
The Grants Pass ruling overturned the 2018 Martin v. Boise ruling and is generally interpreted to mean cities can go back to clearing and citing homeless camps on public property without offering shelter beds.
After the high-profile ruling, the city posted a long FAQ to its website July 25 to help the public understand what it means for them.
The public post did not include an important new policy however, which top staff only sent to the council.
“In an email to the council we were told the IMT will be primary, however other city departments were going to be asked to enforce ordinances proactively when they have capacity to do so,” Councilwoman Katie Valenzuela said. “I’m interpreting that to mean code, park rangers and police officers ... I certainly think that would increase citations.”
The city when it clears camps typically gives at least 48 hours’ notice. But on July 16, the city gave no notice to clear a large camp under the overpass at F and 5th streets. And earlier this week, the city placed a new type of notice at camps that gives a “temporary 24 hour notice.”
“The city of Sacramento is educating residents about this code following the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson and is temporarily providing 24-hour notice for people in violation to comply,” reads a copy of one of the notice, placed near Harris and Grand avenues in North Sacramento.
The 24-hour notice is shorter than the 48-hour notice Gov. Gavin Newsom included in his executive order last month. The executive order only applied to state property, not city property where the city is posting the 24-hour notices.
The city is under increasing pressure to clear homeless camps, including increasing lawsuits from businesses and from Sacramento District Attorney Thien Ho.
The ruling has been making waves across California. San Francisco has also stopped giving its usual 72-hour notices to clear camps and criminally citing homeless people, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Read the whole thing here.
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