The city of Sacramento swept a Midtown homeless encampment on Thursday, roughly a week after it cleared tents about eight blocks away.
Some of the people who lived on the edge of Grant Park had moved there after last week’s sweep, according to unhoused residents and a worker at a business nearby. At least 10 people called the encampment home.
Outreach workers with the Department of Community Response offered to transport people to the sanctioned camping site at Miller Park, where they could bring two bins of personal items. Allen Bell said he considered going to the safe ground, but said the rules and curfew hours are too limiting.
“I don’t like being caged in like that,” Bell said. “I’ve done enough time … and being in there is like doing time.”
Before he started living on the edge of Grant Park a little less than a year ago, Bell said he lived in Miller Park outside of the city's safe ground area. But the city didn’t allow him to stay. On Thursday morning, after losing his tent and clothes he couldn’t carry, Bell said he doesn’t know where he will go next.
As of Thursday afternoon, six people had accepted transportation to Miller Park, city spokesperson Katharine Weir-Ebster said. Three of those people later changed their minds and didn't go.
The sanctioned camping site has 60 tents and 17 trailers, providing space for 150 people. About 60 people are currently living at the site, Weir-Ebster said.
Daniel Faulkenberry was walking his dog at Grant Park the day before the sweep. He lives in the neighborhood and said he hasn’t had any issues with the encampment. People living there mind their own business, he added.
“I think we would all like to live in a world where our neighborhood is clean and when we don't have homeless encampments, but I'm not willing to live in that world if it means somebody else is being pushed out and forgotten,” Faulkenberry said. “I'd rather them be there in a place that's relatively safe and comfortable for them than just constantly pushed around and forgotten about and shunned by our society.”
But the encampment has caused complaints at ABC Plumbing across the street. Office manager Rehanna Cavazos said the business has dealt with trash, fighting and yelling from the tents.
“When they start getting violent with each other, we close the gate for our safety,” Cavazos said.
The encampment grew after the city sweep on 28th and C streets, Cavazos said, adding she sent requests to 311 for the city to clear it.
Sacramento launched a new online form for encampment complaints last month. The city is required to inspect them and respond within 20 days as a provision of Measure O, the Emergency Shelter and Enforcement Act of 2022.
In the last three days, Weir-Ebster said police haven’t made any arrests or issued citations at the Grant Park encampment. The city doesn’t currently have any other sweeps scheduled.
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