Sacramento carries out homeless sweep near Camp Resolution. Dozens of people moved again
For the second consecutive morning, Victoria Reyes was forced to move her belongings and four dogs a few hundred feet to abide by the city of Sacramento’s code enforcers.
On Wednesday, Reyes was among the dozens of the people cleared from a homeless encampment lining a bike path near Colfax Street and Arden Way in North Sacramento. She spent that morning battling the rain and pain from her hernia to push her carts of clothes and blankets. All the while, Reyes tried to appease her dogs — Baby Girl, Paco Ralph, Brown and Güero.
“I love my dogs more than I love myself,” said Reyes, 56, with a weathered face and shaggy black hair.
Reyes was moving them yet again Thursday morning. She was one of the few people from the encampment who had remained in the area.
This time, she was told by a city of Sacramento park ranger that her belongings were blocking the bike lane, although it was not in the direct path Thursday morning. She planned to relocate just down the road to a nearby sidewalk, where the park ranger said it was not his jurisdiction.
“Jesus Christ, I’m tired,” said Reyes, before she started removing the tarps from her makeshift home.
It’s a process that Reyes has endured many times since she became homeless eight years ago. Reyes said shelters won’t accept her because of the four dogs. Reyes had only spent one month near the bike path before Wednesday’s enforcement, which homeless advocates called one of the bigger enforcement sweeps in recent memory.
“It was one of the larger camps that was left,” said Niki Jones, executive director of Sacramento Regional Coalition to End Homelessness.
Homeless advocates are expecting a future sweep near Colfax Street and Arden Way in the coming days. This enforcement could potentially affect more than a hundred people, Jones said.
Last year, Sacramento County’s Point-in-Time count estimated there were roughly 6,600 homeless people in the region. There are approximately 2,600 emergency shelter beds throughout Sacramento County.
City spokesperson Julie Hall said Sacramento outreach workers offered shelter spaces at the city’s Outreach and Engagement Center, but the people in the area did not take the offers.
Wednesday’s enforcement was spurred by the city’s Department of Utilities, Department of Youth, Parks and Community Enrichment and calls for service by residents, according to Hall. Zero arrests were made on Wednesday, Hall added. One citation was issued related to possession of an air gun.
The sweep, led by about 30 city employees and 20 inmates with Sacramento County’s work release program, occurred just feet away from an empty city-owned lot that once housed a tight-knit homeless camp. Dubbed Camp Resolution, the homeless camp was self-governing with 48 homeless people. Last August, Camp Resolution shut down after a public demise.
But Jones and some of the people affected by Wednesday’s sweep called it “ironic” that it took place so close to Camp Resolution. They argued the homeless camp was the “solution,” meaning it offered an opportunity for people to build community and receive support.
“There is a better way to address this issue,” said Satearah Murphy, a former Camp Resolution resident and organizer, as she pointed to the empty lot.
Jones arrived Wednesday morning at the homeless encampment to offer coffee and help those relocating. She had heard about potential enforcement from some residents in the area, who said the city officials had come Tuesday to warn them. Others, including monolingual Spanish speakers, were not aware of the sweep until the operation began.
Hall said neighborhood resource coordinators from the city’s Department of Community Response conducted outreach at least 24 hours before any notice was issued. English physical notices were later placed in the area by the city’s Department of Utilities and park rangers.
“The NRC (neighborhood resource coordinators) team has two certified bilingual Spanish speakers who can respond to interpretation requests … NRCs did not receive any language requests during their recent outreach,” Hall added in a written statement.
Alfredo Sanchez, 39, had lived in the encampment for five months before Wednesday. He was welcomed into the space by a friend. Sanchez, a native of Mexico, said his friend had left to the store that morning and perhaps did not know about the sweep.
As for himself, Sanchez was still deciding where to go next. He had arrived in the country just a year ago in search of the “American Dream” and was struggling to find work.
“I’ve been thinking about that all morning,” Sanchez said.
On Thursday, Sanchez was gone from the area. A forklift tore through his friend’s home at 9:39 a.m.
This story was originally published February 20, 2025 at 3:09 PM.
CORRECTION: This story has been updated to clarify which city department issued physical notices prior to the sweep.
