Homeless activists, medical students urge officials not to clear Sacramento homeless camps
Sacramento activists are urging local law enforcement not to clear homeless encampments starting June 15.
That’s the date the county’s coronavirus public health order is set to expire. The order prohibits the city and county from citing the homeless or removing “life necessities” from encampments unless the camp poses a public safety hazard or adversely impacts public infrastructure. Life necessities include tents, vehicles, hygiene equipment, food supplies, water, medicine, walkers, canes, wheelchairs and bicycles, the order says.
Whether any law enforcement activity will occur is unclear, however, because the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance is still in place, said county spokeswoman Janna Haynes. That order says encampments should not be cleared unless people can be moved into individual housing.
“Clearing encampments can cause people to disperse throughout the community and break connections with service providers,” the CDC guidance reads. “This increases the potential for infectious disease spread.”
Sacramento Police Department said it will continue to follow the CDC guidance after June 15, a department spokesperson told The Sacramento Bee.
The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office and Department of Regional Parks rangers did not return an email asking about their plans starting June 15.
The uncertainty is causing anxiety in the homeless community.
“Neither the city nor the county have made any announcement that protections will be put in place when the order expires,” said Joe Smith, advocacy director of Loaves and Fishes.
On Tuesday, about fifty homeless activists and medical students marched from City Hall to the Sacramento County Administration Building. They held signs that read ”HOMELESSNESS IS NOT A CRIME” and “SWEEPS KILL.” They carried a large banner that read “STOP THE SWEEPS.”
“The key to primary care is continuity of care,” said Tony Menacho, executive director of Sacramento Street Medicine. “They can’t have continuity of care if they’re there one day and gone the next. You can’t treat a patient that’s not there.”
Inability to provide that care could sometimes even be fatal, Menacho said.
“Many of the people ... we know and love today could be gone tomorrow,” Menacho said. “Continuing these sweeps will lead to more deaths.”
Sacramento Street Medicine includes medical students from UC Davis, California Northstate University, Sacramento State, American River College and Cosumnes River College, Menacho said. The students started visiting the camps to provide free healthcare to homeless men, women and families after the coronavirus pandemic struck last spring.
Betty Rios was one of about 70 people the Sheriff’s Department cleared in 2019 from a large encampment along Stockton Boulevard on a lot owned by the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency. Rios has not yet found housing, and still sleeps outdoors.
“There’s no place for these people to go,” Rios, 48, said. “It needs to stop now. My camp has already had 10 deaths.”
Rios said the city and county should open more motels for the homeless and more Safe Ground lots where people can safely camp in tents or vehicles. The city opened two Safe Ground lots earlier this year, but they are typically full.
This story was originally published June 9, 2021 at 9:26 AM.
