How do Sacramento Councilwoman Katie Valenzuela and her challenger differ on homelessness?
The political contest to shape the future of Sacramento is about more than who wins the mayorship. The candidate who wins the central city will be in a position to advance — or frustrate — elected mayor’s agenda.
If Flojaune Cofer is mayor, she will need Councilwoman Katie Valenzuela to move the city farther left. If Steve Hansen is mayor, he will need her challenger Phil Pluckebaum’s vote to move the city more moderate.
Valenzuela, elected in 2020, considers herself the “change” candidate even though she is the incumbent.
“We have not had the votes,” Valenzuela said, referring to herself and unopposed Councilwoman Mai Vang, on homelessness. “But what we have been able to do has been significant. We’ve shown this is a solvable issue if everyone in this region has the will to do it.”
During her term Valenzuela opened a large homeless Safe Ground next to Southside Park, and another in Miller Park. Both are now closed, partly due to a looming budget deficit. But during the time they were open, they provided shelter, bathrooms, showers, drinking water and other services to hundreds of unhoused people, Valenzuela said. In addition, hundreds moved directly into housing from the Safe Grounds.
Pluckebaum said he supports Safe Grounds, but not in city parks.
“I think any location in the city appropriate for housing is appropriate for Safe Ground campgrounds,” Pluckebaum, former Planning and Design Commissioner, said. “Unfortunately the city doesn’t own a lot of those. There’s the 100 acres in South Sacramento. We could do some amount of Safe Ground there.”
The city bought the 100 acres in Meadowview, Vang’s district, for $12 million in 2021, but has not yet opened anything there. It’s planned for a sports complex, and possibly homeless housing, but first needs roads and infrastructure, which seems unlikely anytime soon amid the deficit.
Asked where he would put a homeless shelter in the central city district he is running to represent, Pluckebaum suggested the building at K and 9th streets the city bought as part of a $26 million settlement to developer Paul Petrovich. Valenzuela also last year suggested using that building for the homeless, but ran into obstacles.
Pluckebaum criticized Valenzuela for briefly floating the idea of a Safe Ground in 2022 at Sutters Landing Park without what he considered enough community outreach. That location, adjacent to the affluent East Sacramento neighborhood, did not end up opening.
Candidates also differ on housing policies
Developing enough housing to keep up with the need is a difficult problem to solve in a city where three people become homeless for every one person who receives housing. The two candidates differ on how to change this trend.
Valenzuela wants to reduce the amount landlords are allowed to raise the rent each year, which is currently at 10%.
“I’ve had several constituents call me whose rent had gone up within the legal limit and they just can’t afford it anymore and couldn’t afford to move,” Valenzuela, a midtown renter, said. “They’re saying ‘I’m gonna be homeless.’ People can’t keep up.”
Pluckebaum, a River Park homeowner, said he wants to keep the annual rent cap at 10%.
That position is likely part of why Pluckebaum has received thousands in campaign donations from developers and landlords — groups from which Valenzuela says she doesn’t accept funding.
On the topic of building more affordable housing, Valenzuela is gearing up to try to convince her colleagues to vote to increase fees on developers who don’t create enough affordable units for low-income residents. Pluckebaum said he has not yet decided if he supports that idea.
“I think that needs to be evaluated in the larger context of our housing goals,” Pluckebaum said.
Given the city deficit, cutting the police budget may be one of the only ways for the council to create new shelter beds in future years. Valenzuela last year voted to shift $6 million from the $228 million police budget and redirect it toward expanding non-police response to nonviolent homeless calls. This year Valenzuela said she is unsure if she will again attempt to reduce police funding.
“We’re in a conversation where we are trying to figure out how not to eliminate any staff members,” Valenzuela said of the looming deficit.
Pluckebaum, who’s supported by the city police union, wants to fill the roughly 100 police officer vacancies, he said.
That would add to the police budget, city spokesman Tim Swanson has said.
Valenzuela wants to place an item on the November ballot to ask voters to approve a new higher tax for owners of vacant properties — an idea Pluckebaum opposes.
An independent expenditure committees, which is separate from Pluckebaum’s campaign, put up an $8,000 billboard in midtown, and also sent mailers that read, “Phil will ensure everyone has a clean safe place to sleep.”
There are roughly 5,000 unsheltered homeless people in the city, not counting the 1,300 who are in a city shelter bed.
“I would never make such a bold claim myself,” Pluckebaum said. “I will absolutely work to make sure everyone has clean safe place. Ensuring? I guess the ingredient is by when. I don’t know if it’s possible in the next four years.”
The contest is the only city race this year that has just two viable candidates. That means it’s likely one of them will get over 50.01% of the vote in the March 5 primary, eliminating the need for a November runoff.
J. Marilynn Mackey Meyer, a real estate broker, will also be on the ballot but has not raised any money to fund her campaign..
This story was originally published February 9, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
