Sacramento leaders, can’t you just get along and address homelessness? | Opinion
When State Sen. Angelique Ashby of Sacramento unveiled her plan to centralize the governance of homelessness in the county, it was not the result of endless negotiations with all of the impacted governments and non-profit organizations.
For many, it appears to have been a complete surprise.
Ashby’s Senate Bill 802 is one of the most perplexing political maneuvers in Sacramento for quite some time. A veteran elected official, Ashby surely knows that a “district bill” like this one requires the district to be mostly, if not fully, behind it. Yet she is now running into formidable opposition after catching some of the area’s political elite off-guard.
In less than a week, Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty, Sacramento County Supervisor chairman Phil Serna and just about every other mayor in the area has come out dead set against SB 802. Their representatives in the legislature are likely to follow.
“Discussions around shared governance and any associated decisions should be made transparently, with input from all stakeholders, and with adequate time to assess the long-term implications,” wrote McCarty, Serna and the mayors of Folsom, Rancho Cordova, Citrus Heights and Elk Grove wrote to Ashby on Monday.
Ashby’s move to create a single super-authority for homelessness came out of the blue. There was no months-long transparent process that preceded it. There was no public opportunity for stakeholders to provide their input. Instead, there was a press conference.
“We have no time to waste,” the senator said Monday. “It is long past time for our region to come together on this most persistent and critical issue.”
Ashby is essentially trying to mandate collaboration through state legislation, a political version of a shotgun marriage.
SB 802 elevates La Shelle Dozier, the current head of the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency (which now manages affordable housing and other efforts for Sacramento and the county), into a county homeless czar overseeing a new Sacramento Area Housing and Homeless Agency. State and federal funds that now go to the county and cities would go straight to this new agency. The governing board would be run by 11 supervisors and city council members.
But real government collaboration cannot be mandated from the halls of the Capitol. Inside Sacramento County governance, the real problem is that a spirit of collaboration is in dangerously short supply.
At the heart of the problem is the long-insular culture of the county supervisors, which has rubbed off on their staff. They alone (save for newcomer Rosario Rodriguez, who won the District 4 seat last year from retiring supervisor Sue Frost) seem to think they’re doing a great job managing homelessness. That illusion would fall apart if they sat at a table with their municipal peers.
But Ashby and McCarty are also part of the problem. By all appearances, they struggle to work with one another. This threatens the effectiveness of both of them. The fight over SB 802 is the latest example.
“There are too many competing interests working at odds with one another,” Ashby said. “The State of California has provided over $400 million to the region for homeless services. Moving forward the state faces deficit spending. There will be fewer resources available.”
McCarty sees it differently. “This is a power grab for SHRA,” the mayor said Tuesday. “Two-thirds of the bill is atrocious, which makes it overall a bad bill.”
As a member of the California Assembly, McCarty was equally unsuccessful at legislation last year to create a “Sacramento County Partnership on Homelessness” among participating local governments. The county didn’t like his idea either, and it died due to a lack of support. It didn’t get through the Senate far enough for Ashby to cast a vote.
A true breakthrough on collaboration in Sacramento County would be excruciatingly hard work for Ashby, McCarty, Serna, or any leader who dares to try. It would take endless meetings, public and private, in search of common ground.
Yet too often our leaders struggle to get along, hurting us all, and that should come as no surprise. Tensions can get even worse when a local legislator makes a move like what Ashby just did. Collaboration begins when our leaders start picking up the phone.
This story was originally published July 2, 2025 at 5:00 AM.