Sweeps kill, so why is Sacramento still doing them against a court order to stop? | Opinion
In direct violation of a court order, the city of Sacramento has swept at least two homeless encampments this week.
The city’s excuse? That the sweeps were “unintentional oversights.”
“The city has communicated the information contained in the order to its employees, including those in the Sacramento Police Department, code enforcement and other departments and divisions,” said city spokesman Tim Swanson. “However, the city was previously not as effective in communicating with one of its contractors and their employees, leading to the unintentional oversights that occurred Friday and Monday.”
The Sacramento Homeless Union, which brought forward the lawsuit against the city that resulted in the court order, says there was also a third sweep in front of City Hall that occurred on Tuesday, but the city denies it.
Putting lives at risk and disregarding a court order can hardly be called a simple oversight. The fact that these sweeps literally occurred in front of City Hall is unacceptable and gives the impression that the city has no control over its employees.
Sweeps kill
There is overwhelming evidence that sweeps kill, especially in extreme weather conditions such as summer heat over 90 degrees.
A study published earlier this year in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that “encampment sweeps, bans, move-along-orders and cleanups that forcibly relocate individuals away from essential services (leads to) substantial increases in overdose deaths, life-threatening infections and hospitalizations.”
Sweeps are often violent and are designed that way on purpose to scare and harass homeless people.
People’s possessions are demolished or stolen, clothes and bedding are lost, and lifesaving medications get destroyed — and all for what? An increased risk of overdose, hospitalization and death.
It’s also incredibly expensive to conduct a sweep. Research shows it costs taxpayers more than $30,000 every year to criminalize just one unhoused person, while the yearly cost for providing that same person supportive housing is around $10,000.
The city of Sacramento should be held accountable for these “oversights” and found in contempt of the court order. Then, let the punishment fit the crime, and force the city to donate every penny that was spent on this sweep to the services and assistance these people deserved in the first place.
Sacramento must end its practice of homeless camp sweeps, effective immediately.
