Mayor Pro Tem: Sacramento needs a ‘families first’ approach to its homelessness crisis

Zero children and families should be living on our streets.

The number right now? In California, it was last reported at 25,777 families with children. Here in Sacramento, it’s 1,132 babies, kids, teens and parents.

It’s outrageous, and it makes me angry.

On the city council, I’ve been fighting for families, channeling that anger into action, working toward a “functional zero” — zero families on our streets. As the only woman on the city council for most of my career — and a former low-income single mom myself — this work is personal.

I’ve worked with my colleagues to double the funding for programs aimed at helping our unhoused families, particularly women and children. I’ve fought for critical funding to increase capacity with providers like City of Refuge and Saint John’s Women’s Shelter.

Now it’s time to take the next step by opening our city’s first converted hotel shelter exclusively for families. I will proudly host this critical need in my council district in Natomas.

California, the fifth-largest economy in the world, is a shining example to the country and the globe. Every day we prove that progressive values and policies can create an unmatched economic engine.

We need to drive to the nearest solution: Get kids, moms, dads and families into housing with necessary wrap-around services to address their individualized needs and challenges. In a state full of resources, we cannot allow children to sleep under freeway overpasses, in cars and in tents. It’s unacceptable and dangerous.

Fixing this failure should be one issue that unites us all. No child should live without a roof over their head. Right now, pregnant moms are sleeping next to roadways, inhaling toxic exhaust fumes with each breath. Our unhoused trans youth and families of color experience extreme trauma on Sacramento’s streets. This is inexcusable.

I applaud our leaders in the Capitol for programs like Project HomeKey and our mayor, Darrell Steinberg, for his career-long commitment to addressing mental health needs. Their leadership has been and will continue to be key to any success we hope to achieve. But even with those efforts, I know we all agree that what we are doing is not working fast enough, especially when it comes to women and children.

That’s why I’ve proposed a “families first” approach to the homelessness crisis in Sacramento. Our shelters must be prioritized for unhoused families with children. Our outreach efforts must put the needs of unhoused families first. Our finite funding to fight homelessness must be allocated to proven programs that get babies off our streets and into homes.

Zero is possible, but only if we demand it. I will bring forward the opportunity for my colleagues to choose this pathway, to fund a family shelter, scatter site housing, services for families and priority funding to families with children. It will be up to the collective to choose our destination. It is my sincerest hope and intent to make Sacramento the first city in California to achieve a functional zero — leaving no child unhoused on our streets.