Number of tents in Sacramento homeless camps has ‘easily doubled’ since 2019, survey shows
The number of tents across Sacramento County has “easily doubled” since the last time officials conducted a homeless census in early 2019, according to the researcher in charge of the biennial count.
During the last count in January 2019, researchers estimated there were 5,570 homeless people living in Sacramento County on any given night, in tents, vehicles and shelters. The count was scheduled to occur again in January 2021, as required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, but was canceled due to the pandemic.
In January and February 2021, a California State University, Sacramento team conducted a less extensive survey of encampments, which indicated the number of tents in the county had at least doubled, to at least 1,000, said Arturo Baiocchi, a Sacramento State professor who led the effort.
“I think it’s very clear that there’s been a large increase in the visibility of tents,” Baiocchi said. “I think that’s undeniable. And I think this is corroborating evidence of that. I think one could assume the tents have easily doubled since 2019.”
Based on the survey, when it comes time for January’s official Point in Time count, Baiocchi said the number of homeless individuals living in the county on any given night could also double, hitting 10,000.
“Realistically, I think I could see it going up to 10,000,” Baiocchi said.
That number would represent a remarkable milestone for Sacramento. By comparison, the most recent Point in Time count conducted in San Francisco showed just over 8,000 homeless people in that city.
If the homeless population has increased in Sacramento, it would mean the city and county would receive more state funding to address the issue. But it also would mean local officials are facing a more daunting challenge to alleviate the crisis in a noticeable and meaningful way.
Why the increase in homeless?
Faye Wilson Kennedy of the Sacramento Poor People’s Campaign believes the pandemic played a major role in the increase of Sacramento’s unhoused population.
“People who had jobs, either their hours were reduced or they were just let go altogether,” Wilson Kennedy said. “People couldn’t pay their rent or their mortgage.”
The state had an eviction moratorium in place, but it only protected tenants who were not paying rent and who submitted paperwork to their landlord saying they had been financially impacted by the coronavirus. During the first 14 months of the pandemic, roughly 600 tenants were evicted in Sacramento County, not counting those who left before the Sheriffs’ Office got involved, as most do.
Another factor increasing homelessness is likely displacement, fueled by the increase in rental prices and exacerbated by a wave of Bay Area workers moving to Sacramento during the pandemic, Wilson Kennedy said. The average rent in the Sacramento region is now higher than Washington, DC, New York and Seattle.
Despite a misconception that Sacramento’s homeless move here from elsewhere, of the 152 homeless people the researchers surveyed, 98% said they were from Sacramento.
“We know the vast majority of the people who are unhoused in Sacramento are from Sacramento,” Wilson Kennedy said. “I think we as a community don’t want to acknowledge that.”
Crystal Sanchez, president of the Sacramento Homeless Union, was not surprised to hear of the increase in tents. She has mapped about 300 encampments in the county, many of which are large, she said.
“In 2018, you could walk down the trail of the American River Parkway and see a few tents,” Sanchez said. “You could drive throughout Sacramento and homelessness didn’t seem prevalent, although you’d see a few people downtown. With the exception of a few major encampments, like Stockton Boulevard, there wasn’t much in the way of huge encampments. Jump to 2020, you cannot drive a block without seeing somebody who is unhoused. We now have full on shantytowns. Some include stores and more.”
In addition to the increase of tents along the parkway and in the central city, an increase has occurred outside the city in areas that historically have not had many homeless people — places like Carmichael, Antelope and Arden Arcade, Sanchez said.
What can be done?
In August, the City Council launched its most significant homelessness effort to date — a $100 million siting plan to open shelters, tiny homes and Safe Ground sanctioned tent encampments at 20 sites. Once those sites open, they will serve up to 2,209 people at any given time. City officials are also adding new sites to the plan. But it still won’t be enough to account for the increase in the unhoused population, Wilson Kennedy said.
The city has opened two 100-bed shelters and two Safe Ground sites, but many homeless people do not want to live in a shelter, especially during the pandemic, and tents do not protect them from rain, cold and heat, Wilson Kennedy said. The focus should be on housing, she said.
The council last month voted to apply for state Project Homekey funding to convert a downtown hotel into homeless housing. It’s also applied for the funding for a Natomas hotel and received the funding for a South Sacramento hotel. The city and county should apply for more, Wilson Kennedy said.
An estimated 45,580 new housing units, including 16,769 for low-income residents, are needed in the city by 2029, according to a state-mandated report.
“You have to build more affordable low-income housing,” Wilson Kennedy said. “And when I say affordable, I don’t mean $2,000 a month.”
This story was originally published November 8, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
