The best plan to ease Sacramento homelessness is too hard for politicians to enact | Opinion
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg’s proposal to delegate the identification of “Safe Ground” managed homeless encampments to City Manager Howard Chan is a pivotal moment for the City Council on its most vexing issue.
It represents the best and only opportunity to make visible progress in a matter of months. But it also means a more geographically dispersed homeless population — albeit staffed and managed — that will increase anxieties in some neighborhoods and likely among some homeless people as well.
Identifying new shelter locations is the only way to relocate an existing encampment that is on public property. It is the only way to begin to reclaim Sacramento’s downtown and Midtown, among other neighborhoods. The idea comes with risks, but on balance, the potential benefits make this gamble worth the risk.
The mayor’s proposal, recently announced in a city blog, is a tacit admission that the city council itself is not up to the job of finding new locations for the homeless. “Safe Ground” refers to homeless encampment locations that are staffed 24 hours a day with portable bathrooms and cleaning stations.
The concept is not new: In 2021, the city developed a Comprehensive Siting Plan that included locations proposed by city council members.
“The problem was the sites had not been vetted,” Steinberg recently said. “One of the lessons learned from me is there needs to be a single point of authority when it comes to any siting. That is not the system that we have.”
In his July 3 letter to Chan, Steinberg proposes to “authorize you to choose any available sites under your authority and to expend the resources necessary to bring more unsheltered people to safe ground.” The mayor believes that state funds expected this fiscal year should be sufficient for additional costs to launch any new Safe Ground sites.
The alternative is to wait. The new partnership between the city and the county of Sacramento calls for the county to construct 200 more shelter beds within the city. But identifying the site and constructing the shelter will take time. Meanwhile, people are increasingly fed up, including the judges at downtown’s Sacramento Superior Court, where staff and jurors are facing disruptive members of the homeless population.
Safe Ground makes all the sense in the world when it comes to providing social services. With the homeless populations in known locations, outreach is less of a logistical nightmare. Homeless people would get better access to the help that does exist, and Safe Ground sites would be safe for them and safer for neighborhoods overall.
Steinberg proposes “additional emergency safe camping or motel shelters on as many sites available dispersed geographically throughout the city.” This will prove controversial to neighborhoods largely spared from homeless populations but may be close to a future Safe Ground site. There will be outrage. There will be pushback. City council members may still feel at great political risk for delegating to Chan on Safe Ground decisions that they may end up disagreeing with.
But is Sacramento’s status quo, with unmanaged massive encampments in public spaces any better?
On the homeless issue, Chan is not Switzerland: He is neither universally regarded as neutral nor without controversy. He has openly had heated exchanges with city council members, most recently Katie Valenzuela on police financing.
That said, Chan can hopefully make professional assessments of potential Safe Ground locations rather than political ones. He can seek the help of a capable staff. Any sites must be capably managed to prevent problems for both Safe Ground residents and neighbors. Yes, his job duty may expand. But remember, so did his paycheck; Chan was the highest-paid city manager in California last year with a total wage of $547,905.
Sacramentans have rejected the model of a “strong mayor” over the years, with expanded powers to hire city managers and make the tough decisions. Steinberg has little choice but to seek Chan’s leadership, and neither do we. Safe Ground is a step toward managing what is now a mess.
Save Ground sites are also not the ultimate solution. What is needed is more affordable housing first and foremost, combined with better mental health care for homeless people through the emerging Care Court system and drug treatment.
Safe Ground though, at least, is a start in the right direction.
This story was originally published July 13, 2023 at 5:00 AM.