Who’s running for Sacramento supervisor? Pat Hume, Jaclyn Moreno compete for District 5 seat
Jaclyn Moreno
Age: 43
Birthplace: San Jose
Residence: Elk Grove
Occupation: Mental Health Counselor / School Psychologist
Education: Bachelor’s degree, psychology, Sacramento State; master’s degree, psychology, San Francisco State
Offices held: President, Cosumnes Community Services District Board, since 2018
Website: jaclynforsupervisor.com
Homelessness remains a regional Sacramento crisis despite efforts to solve the problem and get people off the streets. What action must the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors take to alleviate the crisis and how would you lead that effort? Should more permanent shelters be a part of that effort?
We need a regional approach to homelessness — a plan that has clear goals and delineates responsibilities between each jurisdiction involved. As supervisor, I will advocate for and help create this regional plan. We need housing — the county board recently passed no-camping ordinances. Although I agree that enforcement needs to be a part of the solution, passing this ordinance with no housing options in place is irresponsible. Where are the unhoused supposed to go? The end result will be the shuffling around of people from one street corner to the next. We need services — as a mental health counselor, I will lead the effort in finding more funding for county services such as mental health care and drug addiction services. In addition, we need an internal audit on where and how the money directed toward homelessness is currently being spent. This is essential to help determine where we are going wrong and what needs to change.
As Sacramento County continues to grow, transportation improvements including rail service and a new freeway connector are on the horizon. But traffic congestion and long commute times continue to frustrate residents and exact a toll on roads, neighborhoods and the environment. What will you do as a county supervisor to address those issues?
I will focus on providing more opportunities for transit. We need to expand Bus Rapid Transit and create better transit systems that allow people to move around our county efficiently and easily. I’ll also focus on community outreach to make sure we are creating a long-term transit plan that addresses the concerns of the community as we move toward creating transit-accessible communities. As we continue to build housing, I will advocate for the development of walkable communities so that people do not need to drive in order to access goods and services. In addition, I’ll work with our community members and my colleagues to push for developing more specifically transit-oriented housing that provides a variety of housing options close to transit.
Rising rental costs in Sacramento County are pushing housing out of reach for more residents as housing demand continues to grow. More affordable housing is needed to address that demand. How would you as supervisor ensure Sacramento County meets that need and how best should affordable housing be integrated into Sacramento County communities?
To start with, Sacramento County needs to immediately streamline the affordable housing approval process and cut red tape to make sure we’re approving projects that provide housing units at a faster pace. Alongside this, we must create a more robust redevelopment fund at the County. We need to be going after every regional and state dollar available for infill development. In addition, we need to make sure we are setting aside dollars from current development projects that can be utilized for redevelopment. With an inclusionary zoning ordinance, we can create a significant supply of both affordable and market-rate housing that inherently boosts affordable housing each time we approve a new development.
Pat Hume
Age: 50
Birthplace: George AFB, Victorville
Residence: Elk Grove
Occupation: Businessman
Education: Bachelor’s degree, San Diego State; master’s degree, organizational leadership, Claremont Lincoln University
Offices held: Elk Grove Planning Commissioner, 2000-2006; Elk Grove councilmember, since 2006
Website: pathume.com
Homelessness remains a regional Sacramento crisis despite efforts to solve the problem and get people off the streets. What action must the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors take to alleviate the crisis and how would you lead that effort? Should more permanent shelters be a part of that effort?
This is obviously one of the most-pressing and complex issues facing our region. Homelessness is a humanitarian, economic, environmental and public safety crisis. But, it is not an “issue”, it is a collection of people, many of whom require serious help. My plan focuses around tough love. The first step is enforcing existing laws. We cannot have two sets of standards depending on whether one is housed or unhoused. The next hurdle is changing the conversation so services that are available are utilized. Many people who are suffering from mental illness or addiction don’t even know they are sick, and so we have to figure out how we can compel accepting the help that is being offered. Shelters and transitional housing play an important role, but they should not be considered “permanent.” The goal is not to move people into shelters, the goal is to move people out of homelessness. Finally, we need to be sure that all of our programs have clear and defined metrics to determine whether or not they are having a positive impact. It doesn’t help anyone if we continue spending money on the wrong things.
As Sacramento County continues to grow, transportation improvements including rail service and a new freeway connector are on the horizon. But traffic congestion and long commute times continue to frustrate residents and exact a toll on roads, neighborhoods and the environment. What will you do as a county supervisor to address those issues?
Serving on the boards of the San Joaquin JPA (passenger rail), Regional Transit and the Capital Southeast Connector, I am intimately familiar with the importance of transportation improvements and providing for different modes of travel. I’ve long maintained that the only true way to address congestion is to put the places people want to be closer to where they are. So, land use and planning play an important role, but so does having an honest conversation about people’s habits. Electric cars are great for reducing emissions, but they do nothing to ease congestion. If we are not planning for roads, while we are encouraging the shift to electrify the fleet, we are planning for failure. Transit is a wonderful, efficient model to take cars off the road, but people won’t ride it if it’s not clean, safe and frequent. I have been working for years to bring more passenger rail service to the region, including new stations in Elk Grove, City College and midtown. This opens up another opportunity for people to choose a different mode of travel both within our region and throughout the larger mega-region.
Rising rental costs in Sacramento County are pushing housing out of reach for more residents as housing demand continues to grow. More affordable housing is needed to address that demand. How would you as supervisor ensure Sacramento County meets that need and how best should affordable housing be integrated into Sacramento County communities?
The reality is that housing is a supply and demand equation, also known as supply-side economics. So the only solution to bring down the cost for residents is to build more of it. We need to identify the logjams that are keeping new projects from coming out of the ground, examine our fee structure and regulatory environment so that isn’t acting as a barrier and improve our processes so that the County is more responsive and customer service oriented. Also, we should figure out how to incentivize the development of vacant parcels in already urbanized areas, or redevelop underperforming properties. Failing to respond to consumer demand results in rents that are out of reach, lost opportunities for homeownership and gentrification of fragile neighborhoods. My background is in land use and planning, so there is no doubt I am the candidate in this race that can find these solutions.
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