Homeless initiative could force Sacramento to build more shelters. What else would it do?
A proposed ballot measure that would require the city of Sacramento to create more than 3,000 new shelter beds and Safe Ground sanctioned camping spaces for homeless individuals could be heading to the city ballot.
The concept is very similar to Mayor Darrell Steinberg’s legal “right to housing,” an idea he’s been pitching for years, and formally proposed to the council in November.
Daniel Conway, former chief of staff to former Mayor Kevin Johnson, filed paperwork with the city Tuesday to start collecting signatures for the ballot measure, called the “Emergency Temporary Shelter and Enforcement Act of 2022.” If it gathers enough signatures it will be on the Nov. 8 local ballot.
“It’s meant to disrupt the status quo in Sacramento and hopefully this becomes the model throughout the state,” said Conway, who’s also a policy adviser to the LA Alliance for Human Rights, a nonprofit organization. He’s also a plaintiff in a federal lawsuit seeking to order Los Angeles officials to create shelter beds.
Steinberg said the ballot measure and his proposed ordinance are similar. He’s open to supporting Conway’s initiative with some adjustments.
“The essence of his proposal is what I’ve been pushing not only in Sacramento but statewide for three years,” Steinberg said. “The essence is that the law should require government to act.”
But there are several key differences between the ballot measure and Steinberg’s proposal.
While the ballot measure would require the city to create enough shelter or Safe Ground camping spaces for the vast majority of the city’s unhoused individuals, the mayor’s version would require either shelter, Safe Ground spaces, or designated affordable housing.
Steinberg said he would get behind the ballot measure if Conway and his partners change the language to require the city create shelter and also housing, not just shelter, among other changes. Conway said he is open to the change to include housing.
The ballot measure would also add language to the city code to prohibit people from storing “hazardous waste,” such as needles and feces, on public or private property. Violating that rule would be a misdemeanor, which the city could charge either with civil or criminal action.
Steinberg said he opposed the creation of the misdemeanor offense.
“It shouldn’t be a crime to be homeless,” he said.
Conway said he did not want to make that change.
How many new shelter beds?
The ballot measure would require the city to create shelter beds of Safe Ground camping spaces for at least 75% of the homeless population from the most recent federally mandated “point in time” count. The ballot measure would use the data from the new count, set to take place later this month. But even if it used data from the last count, it would require thousands of new beds.
The last count, conducted in January 2019, estimated about 7,300 people would experience homelessness in the city throughout the course of that year. Under the ballot measure, the city would need to have roughly 5,475 shelter beds and Safe Ground spaces.
The city today runs about 1,000 beds, while nonprofits and the county operate an unknown number that is likely less than 1,000. So the city would need to create at least 3,475 more to comply with the ballot measure using the 2019 count.
The next count will likely show a significant increase in the number of unhoused individuals. Officials canceled the count last year due to the coronavirus pandemic. A recent survey by a team from California State University, Sacramento showed the number of camps has easily doubled since the last count.
The council in August approved a plan with 20 new sites for homeless shelters, Safe Grounds and tiny homes, which would serve a total of 2,209 people at any given time. The city has not yet opened the new sites, some of which staff have since deemed not viable.
Steinberg’s ordinance is less specific, but says the city has to have enough housing or shelter beds for all homeless people living in the city. If an unhoused person cannot get housing or a shelter bed, he or she could sue the city.
The ballot measure also would allow unhoused people to sue, in addition to housed people. If the city manager does not create the beds by the deadline, it would be a violation of a mandatory duty.
Elizabeth Mitchell, an attorney who worked on the ballot measure with Conway, said the proposed initiative has more “teeth” than a council ordinance would.
“The whole point was to give it some bite and give it some teeth so the city has to move on it and if city doesn’t move on it, there’s consequences,” Mitchell said.
Both would require the city to have the new spaces open by early 2023.
Camps on public property
Under Martin v. Boise, a 2018 decision by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, government officials cannot cite unhoused people for camping on public property unless a shelter bed is available. All Sacramento shelter beds are full on any given night.
That protection has resulted in large camps springing up on public property across the city, including at Cesar Chavez Plaza, under freeways, on sidewalks and along the American River Parkway, where people can live without the fear of all their belongings being bulldozed.
Under the ballot measure, residents can file paperwork with the city to demand the city manager “abate the nuisance” if they are harmed by a camp on city property.
In order to “abate the nuisance,” the city would need to offer everyone shelter beds and spaces so they can leave the property. If the city does not do so, an administrative hearing would be held.
“It will compel the city to produce the beds,” Conway said. “It takes public spaces away as the default for local governments. At the end of the day, this will reclaim public spaces.”
Sacramento County also has control of many public spaces, including the American River Parkway, which would not be covered by the city ballot initiative. The county’s budget is much larger than the city’s, and includes funding for mental health and substance use services, Steinberg pointed out.
Conway said “discussions are underway” regarding a similar ballot measure at the county level.
Conway said he has support from businesses and labor groups, but did not name specific ones. Region Business said it supported it in a social media post Thursday.
“Region Business has endorsed this measure and will galvanize the business community to ensure it passes,” the post said. “Enough is enough.”
This story was originally published February 10, 2022 at 1:44 PM.
