Camp Resolution in Sacramento is closed. Here’s what its final day looked like
By Renée C. Byer and
Paul Kitagaki Jr.
Sacramento police, firefighters and members of other city departments descended on Camp Resolution on Monday to remove the longtime homeless encampment.
By the time they arrived, many of the camp’s residents had already left. But others remained, including some that hoped to hold out against the city’s crews by fortifying fences with barbed wire and welding the gates shut.
For many, it was an emotional end to a place they had called home for up to two years.
“I want my home back — don’t take my home,“ cried resident Betty Edwards. “I have nothing now. They are taking everything from me.”
A homeless resident from Camp Resolution pulls his belongings on a cart in around 5:30 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 26, 2024, before city of Sacramento crews arrived to sweep the self-governing homeless encampment on Colfax Street. Renée C. Byer rbyer@sacbee.com
As the sun rose at Camp Resolution on Monday, its residents scrambled to gather their belongings before city of Sacramento crews arrived to remove the homeless encampment. Renée C. Byer rbyer@sacbee.com
A resident of Camp Resolution works to secure some of her possessions on her trailer before the city of Sacramento came to remove the homeless encampment on Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. Renée C. Byer rbyer@sacbee.com
A Camp Resolution resident uses barbed wire to secure the encampment’s gate before the arrival of city of Sacramento crews to remove the homeless encampment on Monday. Renée C. Byer rbyer@sacbee.com
Camp Resolution residents place barbed wire on the gate of the homeless encampment Monday with the hope of warding off city of Sacramento crews charged with removing camp residents. Renée C. Byer rbyer@sacbee.com
A dog belonging to a Camp Resolution resident rests next to a memorial to the deaths of Sacramento’s homeless population on Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. Camp resident Twana James said it was made to remind city officials of the consequences of removing homeless encampments. Renée C. Byer rbyer@sacbee.com
A resident who said he had been living at Camp Resolution the past two years shouts from the top of its gate in protest as Sacramento Police arrive to remove the encampment on Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. “You are not here to help us – where were you the past two years,“ he shouted. Renée C. Byer rbyer@sacbee.com
Sacramento police and firefighters work to break down the Camp Resolution fence, which residents had welded shut and fortified with barbed wire, before removing the homeless encampment on Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. Renée C. Byer rbyer@sacbee.com
A Sacramento police officer detains a person at Camp Resolution on Monday. The deadline for a group of homeless people to vacate the encampment on a city-owned lot passed overnight. Paul Kitagaki Jr. pkitagaki@sacbee.com
Pastor Deshon Brown of IM Ministries hugs a Camp Resolution resident outside the encampment as the city of Sacramento arrived to remove the homeless encampment on Monday. Renée C. Byer rbyer@sacbee.com
Camp Resolution resident Steven Goble sits with the dog of fellow resident Shonn Adams outside the homeless encampment on Monday, Aug. 26, 2024, before the city came to remove it. Adams, who depends on a generator for her oxygen, had been rescued from the camp by the Sacramento Homeless Union. Goble said he wasn’t sure where he was going, but he was happy to save her dog. Renée C. Byer rbyer@sacbee.com
Marie Mowder, a two year Camp Resolution resident, stands on her portable generator outside the fence talking with camp neighbor Jackie Decima as dozens of Sacramento police officers, staffers from the city’s Department of Community Response, and other city workers work to clear Camp Resolution on Monday. Paul Kitagaki Jr. pkitagaki@sacbee.com
Sacramento police officers and other city workers enter Camp Resolution on Colfax Street to take back the FEMA trailers the state had loaned the city while homeless scrambled to get their belongings on Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. Residents marked an X on the trailers occupied by disabled people. Renée C. Byer rbyer@sacbee.com
Betty Edwards, 60, center, who goes to dialysis three times a week, breaks down in tears watching the city of Sacramento remove Camp Resolution on Monday. “I want my home back – don’t take my home,“ she cried hysterically. Sacramento Homeless Union President Crystal Sanchez, right, said it was heartbreaking watching people lose their homes. Renée C. Byer rbyer@sacbee.com
William Doyle, 80, looks over his belongings as he decides what he can take as he moves out of Camp Resolution before it was cleared by the city on Sacramento on Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. Renée C. Byer rbyer@sacbee.com
Dozens of Sacramento police officers, firefighters, and staffers from the city’s departments of community response, public works, code enforcement and animal control work to clear Camp Resolution on Monday. The deadline for a group of homeless people to vacate a city-owned lot had passed, and the city of Sacramento has sent a team to “begin the process of clearing and securing the site.” Paul Kitagaki Jr. pkitagaki@sacbee.com
This story was originally published August 27, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
