Guerra’s action on sex trafficking, housing in Sacramento should earn him reelection

Eric Guerra has represented Tahoe Park, Elmhurst and College Greens on Sacramento City Council for nearly five years. In that time, he has made notable progress for District 6.

The councilmember and vice mayor worked with the council to allocate $95,000 of the fiscal year 2020 budget to services aimed at helping victims of sex trafficking escape and find housing, work training or healthcare they need. He worked with state legislators to secure $1.5 million to study how to best respond to sex trafficking in Sacramento County.

In 2018, he worked with lawmakers to pass state legislation to facilitate affordable housing development in his district on Stockton Blvd. He’s also pursuing additional creative solutions, including proposals to convert motels and build manufactured housing to shelter people and offer needed services.

Rising to the urgency of homelessness is where Guerra, like his colleagues on City Council, can improve. He should expand his understanding of the core causes of homelessness and open his mind to more immediate remedies.

One short-term solution Guerra supports is safe parking. He said he is working with District 7 Councilmember Rick Jennings to find a location for safe parking in one of their districts. That’s a laudable idea.

But Guerra said during an Editorial Board’s endorsement interview that he opposes safe ground, where a government sanctions space for homeless people to camp and potentially have service providers on site. He said cities that have established safe ground “couldn’t manage them well enough” and that he prefers solutions “where we can get people in dignified support.”

Guerra also over-emphasized the role of mental illness in homelessness, the same assertion the Editorial Board has heard from other California elected leaders and those aspiring to elected positions. The danger in overestimating the number of people whose homelessness stems from issues of mental illness is it distracts from our demonstrated lack of affordable housing.

“If I remember, the point-in-time count said that the grand majority of people who are experiencing homeless had some level of mental health or drug addiction issues that were affecting their ability to find solutions,” Guerra said.

The latest point-in-time county data for Sacramento County found 21 percent of homeless people had a severe psychiatric condition, and 9 percent said alcohol or drug abuse got in the way of their ability to maintain work or housing.

Guerra’s 24-year-old challenger, Waverly Hampton III, lacks political experience but is knowledgeable about local issues. His thoughts on homelessness center on housing, and his thinking on mental health and homelessness is less alarmist than many politicians.

“First it’s the housing for those who need it, and then it’s the treatment,” Hampton said.

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Guerra, 41, and Hampton have a few things in common. Guerra earned his undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from Sac State. Hampton is studying the same major now. Guerra grew up in poverty, in a family of mixed immigration status. Hampton said he grew up financially secure, but with a mother and stepfather who came from hardship.

Hampton is a promising young candidate with an unusually strong grasp of the issues. He should join city committees that will allow him to start playing a leading role in tackling local issues.

The Editorial Board reached out to the other two candidates for the District 6 City Council seat, Kevin Rooney and Eric Frame, but did not hear back.

Calling for action is good, and taking action while in office is harder. Guerra has accomplished meaningful progress for his district and the city in his first term. The Sacramento Bee Editorial Board endorses Guerra for reelection.

This story was originally published February 4, 2020 at 5:00 AM.