Who’s running for Sacramento’s District 5? Caity Maple, Tamiko Heim run for council seat
Sacramento voters in Oak Park, Hollywood Park and parts of south Sacramento will choose between two first-time candidates to represent them on the City Council’s District 5.
Caity Maple
Party: Democratic
Age: 31
Birthplace: Jacksonville, Florida
Residence: Oak Park
Occupation: Small business owner and educator
Education: University of California, Davis, bachelor’s degree in psychology
Offices held: - This is her first campaign for elected office
Campaign website address: www.caitymaple.com
The city is in a severe homelessness crisis. What types of solutions are you in favor of? Safe Grounds? Large congregate shelters? Tiny homes? Something else? Where would you propose these be built in your district?
As a co-founder of a nonprofit that provides direct aid to individuals on our streets, I know that “homelessness” is a catch-all word that represents many reasons why people end up without homes. These can include escaping domestic violence, medical debt, a lost job, a mental health crisis, addiction, and so much more. Many people are working and sleeping outdoors — they may be your own coworkers or classmates. Research tells us a primary driver behind homelessness in Sacramento is the affordability and availability of housing. In order to solve for something as complex as homelessness, we must employ many different solutions at once to capture the greatest number of people we can. This includes shelter, but I believe the biggest return on investment for our region and the most humane solution is focusing on building transitory, supportive, and permanent housing for those who need it. The city also must work with the county to bring in wrap-around services including mental health care, addiction treatment, legal services, and job training and placement. I know residents of District 5 care about their neighbors and want to see an end to the human suffering on our streets, so I plan to work directly with the community to identify sites, solicit feedback, and address concerns. The path to getting 10,000 people experiencing homelessness the help they need is not an easy one, but it is achievable if we work together.
What would you do to improve housing affordability in Sacramento?
Affordable housing has become unattainable for many in Sacramento and this is one of the biggest issues impacting residents of District 5. Indeed, according to The Sacramento Bee, “the typical rent in the Sacramento region went up an astonishing 19.5% in 2021”. We know that wages did not increase by nearly that much and we also know that inflation is taking its toll across the nation. This includes the skyrocketing cost of gasoline, food, and everyday household items. It is no wonder that many residents of District 5 are burdened under this weight. I believe that we must start by strengthening the city’s Tenant Protection Program, which currently allows for a 10% rental increase in 2022 — a rate that is untenable for many residents. We also must address the supply issues that plague our region. Sacramento is chronically short of affordable and low-income housing by tens of thousands of units, and according to the city’s Housing Element, needs to build nearly 17,000 new lower-income units by 2029 to be compliant with state requirements. We must prioritize investing in these projects to improve quality of life, reduce the rent burden, and keep more people from ending up on our streets due to being displaced. We can make it easier for those who seek to build affordable and low-income housing here by streamlining permitting processes and adding supports to the Planning Department. We also need to work with our federal, state, and regional partners to advocate for the funding we desperately need to build the supply.
The Sacramento Police Department often asks the council for more funding, saying their staffing levels have not kept up with the city’s growth over the last decade. Activists say we need to reduce police funding and reallocate it to mental health and youth programs. Would you vote to substantially increase the police budget to add more police officers?
Every budget requires careful assessment and leaders that will review all available information and make decisions based on the ever-changing dynamics of our city. This is also why I support participatory budgeting, which means, simply put, that the city is consistently checking in and surveying the community to ensure that the budget aligns with the priorities and values of residents. I also believe the Police Department budget should be regularly assessed and aligned with calls for service. For example, if twenty percent of calls are a result of a mental health crisis or a need for homeless services, then it would make sense for the budget to reflect those needs and allocate sufficient funding for social workers, mental health, and services for those on our streets. Similar models have shown success and even resulted in cost-savings. For example, in Denver, the police chief stated that the reduction in calls officers had to respond to “free[d] up law enforcement to do what law enforcement is supposed to do, and really what law enforcement is good at, and that is addressing crime issues, violent crime, property crime and traffic safety”.
Tamiko Heim
Party: Democratic
Age: 43
Birthplace: Travis Air Force Base
Residence: Sacramento
Occupation: Infrastructure planning manager, state of California
Education: MTI College, associate of applied science degree in business administration MTI College; Folsom Lake College, project management certificate
Offices held: Appointed to city of Sacramento Active Transportation Commission in 2019
Campaign website address: Tamikoheim.com
The city is in a severe homelessness crisis. What types of solutions are you in favor of? Safe Grounds? Large congregate shelters? Tiny homes? Something else? Where would you propose these be built in your district?
I am in favor of using multiple types of housing options to serve as both emergency shelter transitional housing, and permanent supportive housing solutions, however our homeless crisis will not be fixed by shelter alone. Homeless individuals are faced with several factors that have placed them in their current situation. Mental illness and addiction are just a few factors that plague our homeless community and unless all community partners such as the city and county work together to provide comprehensive treatment this will continue. Sacramento can no longer afford to allow individuals to not accept the help they are offered - it is unsustainable and unhealthy to all parties involved. District 5 currently has many shelter and transitional housing options: X Street, two motel sites, one Homekey site (in the new D5), and other housing options run by Wind, Lutheran Social Services, and others. I do not propose to add any shelters in D5 at this time until other districts add shelters, and we have a plan with the county to put people on a sustainable path of living. Too many times communities in need of investment are saddled with the burden of taken in more trauma-stricken community members, which in turn pushes out business and resources in the area. The Homeless crisis is a community wide problem not just a District 5 problem, so the city needs to work together to combat this problem.
What would you do to improve housing affordability in Sacramento?
I will continue to advocate for more housing at all price levels. I will collaborate with all who want to combat the housing affordability issue in a meaningful way. I will work with the city manager to seek incentives wherever possible to build housing in District 5. I will also work with the community by being open and transparent on the efforts that are being made when it comes to housing.
The Sacramento Police Department often asks the council for more funding, saying their staffing levels have not kept up with the city’s growth over the last decade. Activists say we need to reduce police funding and reallocate it to mental health and youth programs. Would you vote to substantially increase the police budget to add more police officers?
As I review the Sacramento Police Department’s website, it is clear the department has vacancies. The website does not include a vacancy rate, which would show us the total of positions authorized versus the total number of vacancies, so the ask to increase the department budget should be related to need. It’s my understanding the department is also restructuring, partially as a response to the communities call for changes in approach to policing. The Police Department is taking on the Office of Violence Prevention, has created non-sworn positions, and created a mental health unit. I believe the restructure needs time to provide us data on its functionality. I do believe the city should focus more efforts on prevention. That is why I support Measure L – to fund youth programs. Youth programs are not just extracurricular activities they also serve as a method of prevention. Youth programs can be invested in a variety of ways to support our kids holistically. For example , Measure L can fund programs that help foster youth transition to independence, mental health counseling for children/youth, job training, and early substance abuse prevention and intervention for our young people