Exclusive: Sacramento’s homeless shelter measure could be pulled from November ballot
The Sacramento City Council could pull or alter a measure it placed on the November ballot that would force the city to provide more shelter for homeless residents, according to the lead proponent for the initiative.
Daniel Conway, who led the drive to put the initiative before voters, said city officials are considering withdrawing or changing the ballot question because the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors has not agreed to place a companion measure on the Nov. 8 ballot.
The City Council in April voted 7-2 to put the measure on the ballot. Until then, Conway and a business-backed coalition had been gathering signatures to put the initiative before voters.
“The city has once again come to us asking to link the implementation of city action on the homelessness crisis to the county taking action on homelessness, even though after five years at attempts at collaboration, the city and county are not even speaking to each other on these matters,” said Conway, who was chief of staff to former Mayor Kevin Johnson.
Mayor Darrell Steinberg through his Chief of Staff Mary Lynne Vellinga declined to comment.
Until recently, members of the county Board of Supervisors said they were open to placing a measure before voters that would mirror the city’s in requiring local government to provide more shelter and empowering officials to clear certain encampments. Now, county officials reportedly favor an enforcement ordinance but not a measure that would require more shelter.
The city measure would allow the city to clear camps of four or more people on public property, but also require the city to open at least 1,000 new shelter beds and spaces. Homeless activists have criticized the city measure saying it would cause harm to homeless people, especially women, who seek the safety of a group
“If we go forward in November as is and they don’t, they go opposite and pass enforcement only, you’re absolutely right you will hear a great sucking sound and it will be sound of hundreds, thousands of people unsheltered in the unincorporated part of the county, and (American River) Parkway, coming right into our city,” Steinberg said at the meeting July 26. “It’s time to call a different question and it is going to be called.”
Councilwomen Angelique Ashby and Katie Valenzuela also criticized the county at the meeting.
“I want to see this body compel the county to join us,” Ashby said. “We can’t just keep standing in their place.”
Group collected signatures for November election
When they placed the measure on the ballot, the council added language that read: “This act is not intended to relieve the state and county of their obligation to provide services to those who need assistance. It is intended to prompt the county to adopt a comparable county measure. This should be a unified regional approach to successfully address this crisis.”
Conway’s coalition is urging the council to leave the measure on the ballot as is. The group collected over 20,000 signatures earlier this year for the initiative.
“Agree 100% with Mayor Steinberg that Sac County must step up and do its job, but amending or removing the city’s ordinance would violate the agreement made with biz and community leaders and voted on 7-2 to place city homelessness measure on Nov ballot in lieu of our initiative,” Amanda Blackwood, President and CEO of the Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, and a proponent of the initiative, posted to Twitter last week.
The coalition and its lawyers last month sent county officials 13 pages of proposed language for a measure, which would have included sections on mental health and substance use.
Sacramento’s growing homeless population
County Supervisors Phil Serna, Rich Desmond and Patrick Kennedy did not immediately return calls seeking comment. Kennedy, who previously said he was interested in a countywide measure, is no longer interested, he told the Sacramento Business Journal Thursday.
The city has opened about 1,100 shelter beds and spaces, while the county funds about 1,300. The beds are all full on any given night. Steinberg has said the county should do more because the county’s budget is about six times larger than the city’s and includes mental health and substance abuse staff, while the city’s does not.
The County Board of Supervisors this summer voted to open two tiny home villages on Florin Road in South Sacramento, totaling 145 tiny homes.
There are an estimated 9,287 homeless individuals in Sacramento County on any given night, a recent count found — nearly double the amount from January 2019 and more than San Francisco. Up to 20,000 people will experience homelessness at some point throughout the year.
The next council meeting will be held Tuesday, which could include a vote to amend or remove the measure. The agenda will be posted online Thursday.
This story was originally published August 3, 2022 at 5:25 AM.
