New law would allow Sacramento to clear homeless camps from levees, some downtown streets
Sacramento may soon begin clearing homeless camps from sections of riverfront levees, several downtown streets and outside public facilities in what top city officials describe as an effort to protect critical infrastructure and prevent wildfires and catastrophic floods.
A federal court ruling in the controversial Martin v. Boise case in September 2018 barred police in western states from issuing citations to homeless people sleeping in public places unless a shelter bed is available. However, Sacramento officials say a footnote submitted by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit allows them to bar campers from certain places in order to “protect the public health, safety and welfare,” according to a city staff report.
The City Council is now scheduled to vote on an ordinance Tuesday that would allow the city to prohibit people from camping within 25 feet of the riverfront levees, hospitals, bridges, fire and police stations, pump stations and other public facilities, according to the city staff report.
Between May and October of 2019, there were at least 1,009 fires in the city caused by encampments, the report said. Many were along the Sacramento and American rivers, where dozens of homeless line the banks in tents, often building fires to cook food and stay warm.
In September, a fire broke out from a homeless encampment along Morrison Creek in south Sacramento, adjacent to a residential neighborhood, the report said. The next month, a north Sacramento Department of Utilities facility used for sewer drainage was damaged by a fire from an encampment.
Fires like that, many of which occur in wildfire danger areas, caused officials to draft the ordinance, Assistant City Manager Chris Conlin said.
“Based on what we saw in Paradise and other nearby localities, we really can’t afford to have something like that happen in the city,” Conlin said.
A hazard mitigation plan released by Sacramento County in 2017 showed a majority of “essential services facilities” in the city of Sacramento are in areas considered at “little or no threat” of wildfire. However, 64 facilities are in areas facing moderate fire risk, including 32 emergency evacuation shelters, 20 medical facilities, five fire stations, five government facilities and one police facility, according to the report.
Homeless advocates criticized the proposed ordinance, saying it would further harm an already vulnerable population.
“I wish the city would spend more time focusing on the logic of Boise, which is to create more shelter and more housing, rather than trying to figure out ways to criminalize people experiencing homeless,” said Bob Erlenbusch, executive director of the Sacramento Regional Coalition to End Homelessness.
Homeless damaging levees
About three miles of the American and Sacramento riverfront levees, which protect the city from flooding, are located within the city limits, and would be covered by the ordinance, Conlin said.
Councilman Jeff Harris, who supports the ordinance, said levee damage could lead to a flood “from which we would not recover for decades.”
“There is not one area in this city that is not vulnerable to flooding and it only takes one breach of the levee to bring us literally to our knees,” Harris said.
Some people have dug into levees so deep it takes the city months to repair, Conlin said. Often, the deep holes are hidden by tents and tarps, preventing inspectors from accessing them.
“Right now the only thing (city levee inspectors) can do is ask the person to leave and if they don’t leave, they’re kind of stuck,” Conlin said.
In addition to the levees, if the ordinance passes, homeless individuals will no longer be able camp on streets with “hollow sidewalks,” the report said. Those blocks exist mostly on J and K streets between 12th Street and the Sacramento River, city spokesman Tim Swanson said. They were rebuilt and raised after the city flooded in the 19th Century.
The proposed ordinance language defines roads as critical infrastructure. But Conlin said officials do not plan to remove homeless from large stretches of roadways except the “hollow sidewalks,” or anyone who blocks access to fire stations, police stations, pump stations, hospitals and other facilities.
If the ordinance is passed, there would be a period of education before enforcement would begin, Conlin said. The city would install signage and tell people in prohibited areas to move. If they refuse, the city could call the police as a last resort, Conlin said.
Homeless people who violate the new ordinance could be cited between $250 to $25,000 for each day the violation continues, according to the report.
Anti-camping law criticized
This spring, the city plans to open cabin-style shelters for 48 young people in north Sacramento, as well as two 100-bed shelters for adults in North Oak Park and Meadowview, along with other initiatives.
“After a few years, this ordinance will not be necessary,” Mayor Darrell Steinberg said, referring to his plans to get thousands of people off the streets. By the start of summer, there will be about 700 new and repurposed shelter beds, he said.
In the meantime, there are an estimated 5,570 homeless people living in Sacramento County, mostly in the city, at last count. All shelter beds in the city are typically full on any given night.
Civil rights attorney Mark Merin said if the city approves the ordinance without having available shelter beds, it would violate the Constitution and he would likely file a federal lawsuit against the city.
“It’s an attempted way around the Martin v. Boise decision,” said Merin, who frequently files lawsuits against the city. “The restrictions are so comprehensive that there are almost no other places for homeless to be other than in one of those restricted areas. That’s a problem.”
Steinberg said he supports the concept of the ordinance, but wants to see the maps of the proposed restricted areas and hear from the public before deciding how to vote.
“We need to protect critical infrastructure, so having some limits on where people can camp is appropriate,” Steinberg said. “Ultimately we should not be having to address this in this way because we have to bring people inside.”
A map showing what areas would be restricted should be available to the public in a couple weeks, Conlin said.
Damaging levees is already a misdemeanor crime in California. Assemblymen Jim Cooper, D-Elk Grove, and Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento, have introduced a bill that would strengthen enforcement. It would prohibit a person from damaging or physically or visually obstructing any levee that is part of the State Plan of Flood Control. It would also allow police to enforce it, and allow officials to inspect and remove any physical obstructions to the levees.
“I think this is a very important matter but not something we do lightly,” City Councilman Steve Hansen said. “I think the council deserves a debate on this and I’m sure we’ll get it at some point soon.”
