Sacramento City Council to vote on banning homeless camps near schools

The Sacramento City Council will consider on Tuesday adding K-12 schools to the city’s “critical infrastructure” list, in essence prohibiting homeless camps within 500 feet of campuses.

Council members Angelique Ashby and Jeff Harris requested the changes to a city ordinance following an incident outside Sutter Middle School in East Sacramento last month in which a homeless man was arrested by Sacramento police after he was allegedly seen shouting obscenities and making sexual gestures at students as they walked to school.

The city’s current critical infrastructure list, first approved in 2020, includes fire stations, hospitals, bridges, levees and water sources. It states that it is “unlawful and a public nuisance for any person to camp, occupy camp facilities, or use camp paraphernalia” near critical infrastructure. Those who violate the ordinance can be fined up to $25,000.

Ashby, who is running for state senate in November against former state Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones, could not be reached for comment Thursday. She proposed the ordinance change at a press conference in East Sacramento’s McKinley Park last month.

“Schools should be on the list, too,” she said at the press conference. “Our kids have enough to worry about. They had to worry about the pandemic, they have to worry about COVID. We have a national epidemic of gun violence.”

While stopping short of saying she would oppose the proposal, Councilwoman Katie Valenzuela expressed concerns with the changes.

“Of course I think we should do everything we can to protect schools,” she said, “but my frustration is that this will do nothing to address the issues parents are having at Sutter. I think this is a political stunt and my constituents are seeking real solutions.”

Valenzuela said she has tried pitching a “yellow brick road” plan that would clear camps from designated routes to and from schools, but that the idea was denied by the city’s attorneys. She said that instead of simply removing camps, “we need actual solutions that are not going to lead to us arresting more people,” such as mental health services and more shelter space.

“My colleagues are using real concerns and putting forward a solution that won’t solve those concerns,” she said. “And parents deserve a solution that works.”

This story was originally published October 14, 2022 at 7:00 AM.