Sheriff, district attorney appear to be preparing legal action over Sacramento homeless camp
Two Sacramento County law enforcement agencies are soliciting information about a highly visible homeless encampment on Fair Oaks Boulevard within Sacramento city limits in a manner that suggests they are preparing some kind of legal action.
The efforts by the District Attorney’s Office and Sheriff’s Office — which include asking residents to fill out forms, submit photos and describe any illegal activity they’ve observed — could signal that tension between the city and county over the homeless crisis has reached a boiling point.
The camp sits on a grassy city-owned lot near the corner of Fair Oaks Boulevard and Howe Avenue, a busy commercial strip characterized by apartment buildings and the University Village shopping center.
For more than a year, roughly 30 men and women have been living in tents there. City officials have been visiting the site and offering services that could help people find housing, but the city is not moving to clear out the encampment.
City officials view a 2018 decision by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals known as Martin vs. Boise as limiting their ability to clear homeless camps. The ruling prohibits cities and counties from citing people for camping on public property unless a shelter bed is available. All shelters in Sacramento are full on any given night.
“The fact is recent court cases now require cities to follow strict protocols when addressing homeless encampments,” Assistant City Manager Chris Conlin said in a written statement. “The City of Sacramento is actively following this process in relation to the Howe/Fair Oaks encampment and will continue its work assisting those experiencing homelessness while addressing issues that arise from encampments.”
The Boise decision is vague in certain aspects, however, opening it up to different interpretations by the city and county.
Sheriff’s deputies last month handed out surveys to businesses and apartment complexes in the area. The survey, called a “Neighborhood Nuisance Abatement Questionnaire,” asks respondents to write down any activity they have seen that is a “illegal or a nuisance,” asks if the camp is causing property values to decrease, and asks what happens when they report issues to the city.
It also alludes to potential legal filings.
The survey, obtained by The Sacramento Bee, reads: “Are you willing to sign a written declaration prepared by the District Attorney’s Office to be filed with the Superior Court?”
Another post to social media, obtained by The Bee, appears to be the text from an email from the Sheriff’s Office asking for people to submit surveys if they’ve “experienced a negative impact” from the camp. The post gives a deadline of Wednesday.
DA hears ‘numerous complaints’ about camp
The District Attorney’s Office did not answer a question about what it plans to do with the information it’s soliciting, but provided a statement.
“The District Attorney’s Office is very concerned with the conditions at the corner of Fair Oaks Boulevard and Howe Avenue and the impact those conditions have on public safety, criminal activity, and quality of life in the areas surrounding that intersection,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Rod Norgaard said.
“We have received numerous complaints from community members, including local business owners, that the conditions are affecting the entire community and surrounding neighborhoods. We are currently investigating whether those conditions are injurious to health, indecent or offensive to the senses, or an obstruction to the free use of property so as to interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property,” he said.
Civil rights attorney Mark Merin, who frequently represents unhoused people in lawsuits against the city and county, said the messages reflect a divide in the agencies’ approach to homelessness. He noted Sacramento Sheriff Scott Jones is running for Congress this year, while District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert is running for attorney general.
“It’s really a county and DA campaign against city management, city government and city police,” Merin said. “It’s pretty incredible. It shows a conflict that’s very deep.”
‘Way safer than the river’
Jessica Lady’s apartment window looks directly at the camp. She wrote in the survey about how unhoused people had defacated in a dumpster enclosure, stolen items from the laundry room, and used the laundry room sink to bathe, she said. She urged the city and county to open vacant buildings to use as shelters.
“Nobody should be living on the street,” Lady said. “It’s very unfortunate I have a front row view.”
People at the encampment this week said the site is safer than other locations in the city in part because it’s near businesses and a busy road.
Sick of the rampant crime and safety issues on the American River Parkway, over a year ago, two people walked about half a mile from the river to the lot and set up their tents.
“They’d been harassed, robbed at gunpoint, beat up, fires were started at peoples’ camps for retaliation, people died out there,” said Joy Gonzalez, who lives at the camp, and is its unofficial spokeswoman. She’d also experienced violence on the river.
“I’ve been beaten up, held against my will, I had my dog stolen,” said Gonzalez, who grew up in Carmichael.
Jamie Gardner, who’s known as the mom of the camp, agreed.
“This is way safer than the river,” said Gardner, 55, who grew up in Arden, adding she was once robbed at knife point. “It’s creepy and scary down there.”
On Friday morning, cars sped by on all sides of them, but at least they were seen, they said. At night, the area is well lit, surrounded by grocery stores and parking lots. It’s a sharp contrast to the darkened woods of the parkway, where rangers estimate as many as 2,000 unhoused people live.
Priced out of housing
The people camping at the lot said they want to be in housing, but it’s been hard to find. Gonzalez receives Social Security and food stamps, and still cannot afford housing. A studio apartment in Sacramento typically costs at least $1,100 a month.
The city’s Department of Community Response visited the site Thursday to help folks throw away trash and offer services.
One city employee told Dina Steffani, 53, about the new Safe Ground opening at Miller Park this week. They told her to call Tuesday to get on the list, she said. Flowers sit on a table outside her tent, next to a lime green sign that reads, “Jesus Loves You.”
“I’m gonna be the first one on that list,” said Steffani, who used to be a nurse before she got in a car accident. “I wanna get outta here so bad. I feel not human at all. Dogs live like this.”
Gonzalez said she was disappointed the Sheriff’s Office did not talk to them about the surveys.
“I think it’s one sided,” Gonzalez said. “I think it’s unethical and wrong.”
She is grateful the city has not swept them, though.
“For some reason, someone in the city has more empathy,” she said. “They’re the nicer of the two parents.”
This story was originally published February 5, 2022 at 9:11 AM.
