City moves in to dismantle Camp Resolution; 4 cited as Sacramento crews breached encampment
The deadline for a group of homeless people to vacate a city-owned lot called Camp Resolution has passed, and the city of Sacramento has sent a team to “begin the process of clearing and securing the site,” according to a Monday morning post on the city’s blog.
Sacramento police spokesman Sgt. Dan Wiseman said officers detained and cited four individuals as crews breached the camp. He said the four face charges of “resisting/obstructing/delaying” outside the North Sacramento camp and were since released. It was not known if the people cited were residents of the camp.
Several residents of the encampment, meanwhile, were seen voluntarily leaving.
Some residents had lined the fence of the Colfax Street property with barbed wire and propane tanks as several city vehicles drove onto the property. Police had cordoned off the parcel and surrounding streets.
Satearah Murphy, a Camp Resolution resident, sat outside the gate with her two pit bulls, Mississippi and Bane, watching as crews prepared to tow away the city-issued trailer, her previous home, to an unknown location. There were a total of 16 city-owned trailers that were taken away.
“I don’t know where I’m gonna be,” Murphy said. “I won’t part with my dogs. One is my protection and the other my emotional support. I guess I’m gonna be in a tent.”
The eviction notice stated that people on the property at the corner of Colfax Street and Arden Way would be considered trespassing after midnight Monday.
“It is inexcusable in the capital city in the state of California, which is home to more billionaires than any other state, can’t find a way to find housing for people,” Sacramento Homeless Union attorney Anthony Prince said. He has been representing the residents of Camp Resolution.
The city stated that the team sent to clear the camp included staff from the Department of Community Response, public works, code enforcement, animal control, the Fire Department and the Police Department, according to the post.
Nearly 50 people, including many seniors with disabilities, have been living at the encampment in city-issued trailers vacant lot on Colfax Street and Arden Way since 2022. As of Sunday afternoon about 30 people remained, and some expressed no plans to vacate.
The city has offered shelter beds to all 48 residents at city shelters located on Roseville Road and Auburn Boulevard. Both shelters usually allow guests only to have one dog, meaning many Camp Resolution guests would have to part with some of their pets. In addition, the Roseville Road trailers and tiny homes do not have electricity or generators, creating issues for Camp Resolution residents on medical devices including oxygen machines.
The city, in their Monday post, said that during the previous week they had offered to place people in motel rooms to accommodate the needs of some residents. The city was also offering to provide temporary shelter for people’s animals, with the help of a Sacramento County grant.
The Sacramento Homeless Union has filed a motion for a temporary restraining order requiring the city to hold off on closing Camp Resolution. The court hearing will be held 11 a.m. Friday at the Sacramento Superior Court.
On Saturday, Disability Rights California also called on the city of Sacramento to halt the planned shutdown of Camp Resolution until after the court hearing, “in light of the high risk of grave bodily harm or death facing these residents.”
Andrea Henson, co-counsel for the union, said she planned to sleep in the camp overnight in case the city began eviction procedures immediately.
“Historically, in Sacramento and in other jurisdictions, sweeps are violent, they’re hostile, they’re unforgiving, and they’re certainly not empathetic,” Henson said. “So I’m not leaving because these individuals deserve that.”
The residents who lived at the camp relied on community members and organizations for food, clothing and supplies. The camp was self-governing with the homeless residents making their own rules and key decisions.
Although they were not in permanent housing, residents said they felt they were in an environment that was safer than the streets while they waited for housing. They had doors and gates that lock, bathrooms, water and a sense of community.
The camp had a waitlist of over 800 people, and mostly admitted people with chronic physical disabilities. Although those people collect disability and Social Security checks, they have said those payments are too little to afford market rate rent in Sacramento, where a studio often costs more than $1,500 a month. There are thousands of people on the waitlist for affordable permanent housing in Sacramento. Some report waiting years for a spot.
Crystal Sanchez of the Sacramento Homeless Union said she had been attempting to find permanent housing for a few of the camp’s most vulnerable residents, but said she had been unsuccessful so far because she has been unable to connect with the city.
She said the two shelter options offered to residents are “band-aid solutions” that will not provide people adequate medical and mental health resources.
Due to vapor contamination, a state agency allowed people to live in the site in trailers, but not in tents on the ground. The type of contamination that’s present is not harmful to people in vehicles because they’re raised off the ground, the California State Water Resources Control Board has said. In an April letter, the city said there were people sleeping in tents and that the camp would close in May.
The city then backed off on that plan after residents begged the City Council for more time, and people stopped camping on the dirt.
On May 15, the homeless union sued the city, seeking a judge order barring the city from closing the camp until all residents are in permanent housing. The judge has so far ruled in the city’s favor on that case, but it is still active.
Meanwhile, in July civil rights attorney Mark Merin, whose nonprofit Safe Ground Sacramento had held lease with the city, sent a notice of plans for lease termination, which went into effect Monday.
Merin has said that although the lease is ending, it is up to the city whether to clear the residents off the site.
The lease states, “upon the expiration or termination of this lease, lessee shall peaceably vacate the premises and deliver the premises, vacant of all guests to city.”
However, because it’s a city property and city trailers, the city could have let the camp stay.
The council discussed the situation behind closed doors last Tuesday, but the high-profile decision to close the camp did not get a vote or discussion in an open session of a City Council meeting. Neither City Manager Howard Chan nor Mayor Darrell Steinberg were present at Tuesday’s open meeting, where several Camp Resolution residents spoke.
This story was originally published August 26, 2024 at 10:02 AM.
