The Sacramento homeless ballot measure gets us closer to housing everyone. Here’s how

For three years, I have been the solo voice saying that effectively reducing homelessness requires a fundamental change in law — namely, a legal requirement on all levels of government to get more unsheltered people off our streets.

Sacramento is poised to become the first city in the country to voluntarily hold itself to that legal standard. Similar requirements in Southern California have been the result of citizen lawsuits, not voluntary legislative action.

The council voted in a special meeting Wednesday night to put such a proposal on the November ballot. If passed by Sacramento voters, it will be the first significant step toward making shelter, housing and treatment a new legal right.

The city will bind itself legally to housing or sheltering 60% of the thousands of people living outdoors within the city limits during the most recent Point-In-Time Count of the homeless population.

The city is also obligating itself not to move people from street encampments unless and until it can offer them a safe and dignified alternative. If people don’t accept help, they will need to move.

The initiative is a compromise with members of the business community who have been pushing for faster city action. This group had proposed a measure that was appropriately aggressive but could have bankrupted city government.

The process of getting here from the right-to-housing ordinance I introduced last year has been messy. It’s often said that if you like laws and sausages, you should never watch either one being made. But that’s government and politics, especially when passions are high and so much is at stake.

My right-to-housing proposal and the so-called Conway initiative are remarkably similar. Both allow cleaning up tent encampments only when the city actually builds the capacity to shelter, house and treat many more people on our streets.

How we got here is less important than where we are headed. The principled compromise we voted on this week maintains the integrity of both original proposals while giving the city an aggressive but more reasonable timeline to create more shelter and housing for people.

This compromise is not perfect. Its success depends on more resources from the state and federal governments. But I embrace it without reservation or amendments.

Failing to change the law toward compelling government to act is not acceptable. Comparing the imperfections of this compromise to our current state of affairs is no comparison at all.

Despite a comprehensive shelter siting plan, over $100 million in new resources and over 14,000 people who have gotten off the streets countywide over the last five years, the problem has grown worse. Progress on standing up new housing solutions is too slow and too easily stymied by bureaucratic hurdles and neighborhood opposition.

This initiative will turn the law on its head and compel stronger and more timely action.

There is no other major public challenge I know of for which everything government does is voluntary. It’s not optional to provide a free public education for our kids. Building schools is a requirement. Why should providing the most basic elements of living a safe and dignified life — housing, shelter and mental health treatment — be a mere government option? It must be required.

There is obviously one big piece missing: We will be successful only if Sacramento County does the same thing we are doing. The city does not provide mental health and substance abuse services. Shelter, and even housing, are not enough for many people. It’s the powerful combination of housing and treatment that will help the people in the most desperate need.

If the city joins with the county and the county passes a similar measure, we will set a community standard that will reverberate throughout the state and country.

When something really matters, we require it. Let’s require ourselves now and in the years ahead to get thousands of people off our streets, help them have a better life and, at the same time, achieve a cleaner and safer Sacramento.

This story was originally published April 9, 2022 at 5:00 AM.