Caltrans to pause clean-ups at homeless camps, buying Sacramento time to find alternatives
Caltrans will be postponing clean-up operations at homeless camps next week.
In a joint statement released on Friday, Caltrans and the mayor’s office said the pause is meant to “allow city officials additional time to identify all available options as we work together to locate resources and collaborate on solutions to help people living alongside our roadways.”
The delay is aimed at giving city officials time to identify resources for those displaced.
The announcement came after an encampment in midtown was cleared by Caltrans crews on Tuesday who were working to clean up the site. The dirt lot, located on 29th Street between F and H streets, is owned by Caltrans. Many of the camp’s residents moved about a block away to another dirt lot.
The clearing garnered criticism from activists, as well as Sacramento City Councilwoman Katie Valenzuela, who noted that five Caltrans sites under the W-X freeway between 18th and 24th streets that have been slated to house people in 200 tiny homes have not yet opened.
In the statement, the agency said it would delay removing more encampments, including one at the Interstate 80 split near Watt Avenue planned for Friday.
The statement said state and local agencies would be working to collaborate on finding alternatives when property needs to be cleaned. Clean-up operations and relocation of encampments take place if an immediate safety concern or threat to infrastructure is identified, according to Caltrans.
“Prior to each cleanup, Caltrans will work with the city and county to consider resources available for people at the encampments while leveraging the funding recently approved through Governor Newsom’s California Comeback Plan,” the statement said. “Caltrans works closely to support local agencies’ efforts to connect individuals living in encampments with resources for safer living conditions as available to keep the individuals and our freeways safe.”
The statement also noted the recent opening of a 100-bed emergency shelter on Caltrans property at Alhambra Boulevard and X Street, and the collaboration between city and state agencies in working to relocate an encampment during recent highway construction work.
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg praised Newsom’s administration and expressed gratitude to Caltrans for working with local agencies.
“I’m grateful we have a governor who has put more resources into combating this problem than any governor in history,” Steinberg said in a statement. “We are committed to working with Caltrans to make sure it can perform its public functions while at the same time working together to provide real alternatives for people living adjacent to or under the freeway.”
The city of Sacramento has added 1,050 shelter beds, tiny homes and safe ground spaces since 2020, plus nearly 400 transitional housing rooms in motels. The City Council also approved its $100 million Comprehensive Siting Plan to Address Homelessness in August, which laid out plans to add about 5,000 new beds or other spaces for homeless people to take shelter.
This story was changed Oct. 10 to clarify who released the joint statement.
This story was originally published October 9, 2021 at 2:34 PM.