Ballot measure to force Sacramento to act on homelessness likely headed to voters
The Sacramento City Council will hold a special meeting Wednesday to consider placing a homeless measure on the November ballot that would legally require the city to create shelter beds for the majority of its homeless population.
Proponents have been collecting signatures for the ballot measure, called the “Emergency Homeless Shelter and Enforcement Act of 2022,” since February. But if the council votes to put it on the ballot, it will not need to gather any more signatures.
The measure would require the city to provide shelter beds or Safe Ground camping spaces for 60% of the city’s homeless population, according to language that was posted on the city website Tuesday evening.
Previously, proponents wanted the measure to require the city to provide shelter for 75% of its homeless population based on the biannual “point in time” count. They loosened requirements to make it easier for the city to meet them.
The measure will also include language that allows the city to open the new beds in phases, as they are filled. If voters approve it Nov. 8, the city would also have more time to open the beds — three months instead of two.
“This is about turning the corner and pressing reset,” said Daniel Conway, former chief of staff to former Mayor Kevin Johnson, who’s leading the measure effort along with Region Business and other business groups.
The City Council is scheduled to hold a special meeting Wednesday at 5 p.m. to consider the measure.
Mayor Darrell Steinberg said he will support the measure going on the ballot and urge the rest of the council to do the same.
“I’m pleased we’re ending up in a place that is consistent with what I have believed and advocated for for a long time and, frankly, imitation is the highest form of flattery,” Steinberg said.
In the summer of 2019, Steinberg proposed a statewide “right to shelter,” which he later called a “right to housing.” He raised the idea as a potential citywide ordinance last fall.
He plans to drop the ordinance proposal because the ballot measure is fundamentally similar to his concept, he said. While ordinances can be changed by future councils, ballot measures can only be changed by the voters.
“Sacramento is poised to be first city in country to hold ourselves legally accountable for better results on homelessness,” Steinberg said.
Los Angeles recently signed a legal settlement agreeing to shelter or house thousands of homeless people within five years, but only as the result of a federal lawsuit filed by the LA Alliance for Human Rights.
The idea is to crank up the urgency on Sacramento to open shelter beds. While the city now has about 1,100 shelter beds and spaces open, there are still thousands on the street.
The council in August approved a $100 million siting plan with 20 new sites, but none of them have opened, and some have been blocked by council members. The council last year approved a shelter along Auburn Boulevard, for instance, but Councilman Sean Loloee blocked it after hearing concerns from the neighboring nonprofit the Children’s Receiving Home.
Can city move encampments?
The measure also contains some language that could be controversial.
It says encampments would be illegal in the city, defining them as four or more unrelated people living within 50 feet of each other without permitted power, running water and bathrooms.
In those situations, the city could theoretically move people without offering a shelter bed.
But that piece would only go into effect if a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision that generally blocks cities from citing people camping on public property is overturned, Conway said.
Unhoused people camp in groups for safety, Sacramento Homeless Union President Crystal Sanchez said.
“They protect each other,” said Sanchez, adding that the union opposes the measure. “When people are separated from their community they fall prey to assaults, rape and murder. Woman are especially targeted.”
The union opposes the measure for that reason and also because homeless people will not have the resources to sue the city to enforce it, she said.
The measure also includes language that classifies storing hazardous waste, including garbage, debris and used needles, on public or private property as a misdemeanor, which the city could charge with civil or criminal penalties. Steinberg said previously he wanted the “misdemeanor” to be removed, but said Wednesday he does not plan to propose amendments.
Does Sacramento have the money?
It’s unclear where the money would come from for the new homeless shelter spaces. The city does not currently have the funding to keep running its current 1,100 spaces beyond July 1, yet alone open more, City Manager Howard Chan told the council earlier this year.
“I think this is going to put the onus on not just city government but all of the advocates, including the business advocates to get over to the state capital — it’s only five blocks away — and advocate for more funding,” Steinberg said.
New language in the measure requires the city to spend half of its annual surplus, up to $5 million, on new beds, Conway said. That money would not be available without a surplus.
This story was originally published April 6, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
CORRECTION: Daniel Conway is not a plaintiff in a lawsuit that forced Los Angeles to provide shelter for more homeless people. A previous version of this story inaccurately described his involvement in the lawsuit.
