Amid realities of Sacramento homeless crisis, 3 county leaders criticize news coverage
Emily Halcon recited a troubling fact about the spiraling homelessness crisis as she stood Tuesday afternoon before the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors.
The director of the Department of Homeless Services and Housing started her position with the goal of helping the county’s homeless population, which comprises at least 9,278 people. She told the board about the many promising initiatives undertaken by the county.
She also said: “For every one person who exits homelessness in Sacramento County, more than three people will enter homelessness.”
That, 3rd District supervisor Rich Desmond said, “seems like a hopeless situation.”
Factors including poverty, high housing costs and limited eviction protections are pushing people onto the streets faster than social service agencies move the already-unhoused into permanent homes.
But even as the supervisors faced the reality of this snowballing crisis, multiple officials complained that news outlets were being too negative.
While other supervisors focused on questions about how county and city agencies were addressing the actual crisis, Supervisor Phil Serna, whose district covers much of the city of Sacramento, focused on what he called “public perception.”
“How do we kind of get this ever-growing, complex response to this challenge in the minds and hearts of the people we serve, the people that digest the media on a daily if not hourly basis?” he asked. “Because I think that’s absolutely critical. Otherwise, the conclusion is gonna be made by Sacramento County residents that we’re sitting on our hands. And that hasn’t been the case. ... That’s an extremely frustrating part of this complex subject, so is there a plan to manage public expectations and perceptions?”
Chevon Kothari, the deputy county executive for social services, responded.
“I also recognize exactly what you’re saying, Supervisor Serna: That from a media perspective, that doesn’t seem to be enough,” she said. “We have to highlight our successes. We have to demonstrate the successes our programs are having.”
The county, Serna said, needed to start relying less on journalists.
Serna, Kothari and County Executive Ann Edwards complained specifically about a Sacramento Bee story examining the Department of Housing Assistance’s attempt to “ramp down” Project Roomkey, a pandemic emergency sheltering program that last month still housed more than 200 people. The people in the hotels had lived there for an average of nine months, and the county plans to shutter one hotel, the Vagabond Inn, at the end of June.
As of last week, the new housing navigators brought on to help in this transition had not yet met with any of the residents.
Edwards and Serna cited what they described as inaccuracies in The Bee’s coverage. One complaint that the county expressed to the reporter was that she used the word “evict,” when technically the residents have waived tenancy rights; the county prefers the term “exited from the program.”
The county complained in a blog post that the story didn’t mention things that were, in fact, included in the story, such as the housing navigation services at outside organizations that residents have had access to for the length of their stays. The post said The Bee hadn’t clarified that the program would offer each participant two alternative shelter options that the county deemed “viable.” The Bee had updated the story with this information after the county notified it, and the story stated the change had been made.
The post also noted The Bee’s mention that new housing navigators had not yet met with residents last week — with only six weeks left until the Vagabond Inn’s closure. The post argued that although that was accurate, The Bee should have said that the navigators were doing prep work before the meetings.
The Bee has launched an initiative to cover homelessness. In a column last week introducing the project, it said: “Over the next months and likely well into next year, The Bee will publish ‘Homelessness: Our urgent human crisis’ — an ambitious newsroom-wide reporting effort. As part of this series of stories, we will investigate and assess previous efforts and programs. We will take a hard look at the money being spent. And we will do out best to uncover and illuminate what has worked elsewhere.”
This story was originally published May 25, 2023 at 5:00 AM.
CORRECTION: This story was changed to correct the title of Chevon Kothari.
