Sacramento mayor’s common sense approach to homelessness and why he’s right | Opinion
Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty leads the city’s homeless response with his values front and center, and he is starting with City Hall.
“No matter how you feel about homelessness, I think it bothers your heart to see people who are sleeping in the cold or the heat,” McCarty said. “But I also have a value of common sense that public places that the community uses are not appropriate for people to have campsites and overnight camping.”
McCarty’s common sense is leading him to make a change in the city charter that allows for unhoused people to be at the capital. McCarty wants to prohibit that from continuing.
The change will ban someone from sitting or laying down outside the downtown City Hall, except in certain situations. In 2019, the city council voted to allow people to sleep on the property overnight but not during the day.
Under the proposed change, people will be prohibited from sitting or laying down on the ground outside City Hall except in limited circumstances.
The moral dilemma
To McCarty’s earlier point, no one in Sacramento who sees someone experiencing homelessness wants to just turn a blind eye to it. I believe that we all hope that people who are unhoused can get help.
McCarty’s decision to ban camping at the City Hall, and his overall demeanor towards homelessness can appear cold or aggressive. But in actuality he’s reflecting the people who elected him.
The first year mayor was elected last year, due in part of his clear messaging around homeless: we need to end the encampments on public land.
Further, requests like the one he made this week are not far away from public sentiment.
“City Hall is built to be a place to do business, not be a campsite,” McCarty said on Wednesday.
The local government is a safety net for our most vulnerable, but it is also a body that needs to function correctly and it can’t while also functioning as shelter.
McCarty is not a king making decision that only he sees fit. In order to change the policy, the council will need to approve the amendment. So if they do vote in favor of the change, it’s not only McCarty who believes that City Hall shouldn’t be place for the unhoused to stay.
This will send a collective message that City Hall, just like public parks and other government buildings have a broader public function and it’s not housing the homeless.
An approach Sacramento needs
McCarty provides the city with something that has been missing from its homeless approach: a vision.
This vision has already seen an increase in apartments for people experiencing homelessness under his leadership, which will hopefully continue. There are currently 1,375 beds and tiny homes controlled by the city and they will add 400 this year. That is a good step forward for the unhoused community and the city as a whole.
McCarty’s vision isn’t without flaws. The more pressure that he puts on removing homeless people from camp sites will increase the expectation to have somewhere to put them. He better be ready for the challenge.
There has to be a goal laid out for the estimated 3,000 unsheltered homeless people living in our city. McCarty hopes that the next increment of progress is to move the elderly on the streets into tiny homes as a less expensive option than some existing shelter settings.
Voters will judge him on this issue more than ever. He didn’t take office to defend the status quo. McCarty is making clear he will make changes that will not be universally popular. That’s the leadership we need on this issue.
