By Kristin Lam, Chris Nichols and Helen Barrington
This week, Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg took a different approach to his traditional State of the City address. Instead of a formal speech behind a lectern, he convened three panels on different topics, on different days, at different venues in the city.
Ahead of the first panel, the city released a study on the local music economy, which set the stage for the discussion on Monday night about challenges for music in the city.
On Wednesday afternoon, representatives of a number of agencies that interface with unhoused people spoke about the mayor’s proposal for a new approach to responding to people experiencing homelessness, an “Incident Management Team."
Finally, on Friday, the mayor’s panel talked about a potential 2024 ballot measure to increase the sales tax to fund initiatives to increase affordable housing, public transportation and safer streets.
Here's a closer look at each of the three discussions and what comes next on the mayor's proposals. All still require approval.
Music study recommendations uplifted
At his first panel, Steinberg proposed seven changes to city regulations for live music performances. He based his recommendations on the newly released study on the local music economy, which found the city needs more performance venues to give local artists opportunities.
Study participants expressed concerns over the city’s requirements, arguing the process makes it difficult to open new venues.
“We have to admit that we find ourselves always playing catch up as different city departments, artists and event producers work through a system that badly needs an update,” Steinberg said at the event, held at a vacant building downtown.
Steinberg’s recommendations include centralizing the entertainment license process within a single department, reducing the costs of one-time special event permits and making it easier to apply for pop-up events in vacant spaces.
Representatives from two business organizations, the Downtown Sacramento Partnership and the National Independent Venue Association, strongly supported the recommendations during the panel discussion. But Tina Lee-Vogt, the city’s nighttime economy manager, said it’s important to find a balance between safety and streamlining the process for entertainment licenses.
“We definitely want to make it easier for people to be able to do business, but we don’t want to cut corners,” Lee-Vogt said.
Megan Van Voorhis, the city’s director of convention and cultural services, added that a variety of city departments — from police to fire to economic development — are ready to talk about revising the current process.
Steinberg said he plans for the city’s law and legislation committee to discuss the proposals in October.
A new homelessness response proposal
On Wednesday, Steinberg’s second panel of the week focused on a new plan to address Sacramento’s vexing homelessness crisis. The mayor announced at the event the city has established a new emergency homelessness response team that will be led by its fire department.
Called the “Incident Management Team,” or IMT, it is modeled on an approach the city already takes during natural disasters. The team will be tasked with directing a coordinated response to address the city’s largest encampments, according to a city news release.
“If a true joint emergency response is expected for a natural disaster, we must do no less for this man-made disaster we call homelessness,” Steinberg said at the event, held at the WellSpace health center on Stockton Boulevard.
Steinberg said the IMT’s overall goal will be to clean up the city’s streets and provide the shelter and services people need.
Officials said the team will meet multiple times each week to develop strategies for and manage encampment outreach, clean up and enforcement. It will also track and report on metrics such as services offered and the results of those efforts.
Right now, it takes city officials more than four days, on average, to respond to complaints about homeless camps on public property. Steinberg said that’s far too long.
He added the fire department is the best agency to lead a more rapid, coordinated response.
“Fire is already most often the first responder to crises and health-related emergencies,” Steinberg explained. “They have the skill, the expertise and the community support to lead this effort.”
Fire Chief Chris Castamagna said his department supports the new approach.
“We talked about it and we said ‘Yes, this is appropriate. We can do this,’” Castamagna said during the event’s panel discussion.
It won’t be the fire department alone. The new cross-agency team will include representatives from the city attorney’s and city manager’s offices, code enforcement, the police and fire departments, the department of community response and animal care.
Bob Erlenbusch, executive director of the Sacramento Regional Coalition to End Homelessness, said it’s important to have all the city’s departments engaged in responding to homelessness. But he cautioned that without expanding Sacramento’s shelter and housing supply, it might not “make a difference that the fire department is leading this effort.”
Funding for affordable housing, transit, safer streets, climate mitigation
The final panel in the three-part series looked at affordable housing, transportation and other infrastructure topics. The event took place at ARY Place Apartments, named for the late developer Ali Youssefi. The 158-unit building was the final affordable housing project designed by Youssefi before his death in 2018.
Steinberg used the event to propose a half-cent sales tax increase. He says if approved by voters in 2024 it would generate $8 to $9 billion over 40 years for the city and county to spend on three key areas: affordable housing, public transportation and safer streets.
He said the money raised would create three pots of money:
- $3 billion for a housing trust fund
- $3 billion for public transit
- An up to $3 billion fund for safe streets, with a focus on pedestrians, biking and alternative transportation options, as well as repairs to roads in traditionally underserved neighborhoods in the city.
Gabby Trejo, who was part of a panel to talk about one of these critical concerns, housing, is the executive director of Sacramento Area Congregations Together. She said that at the beginning of this year, her organization spoke with over 600 residents of the city and county of Sacramento, and that an “overwhelming majority” indicated they had trouble paying their rent.
“Over 30% of their income goes to paying for their rent or mortgage,” she said. “We encountered one particular individual who was $19 short for his rent and that’s what ended him, homeless with his family.”
Trejo’s organization was central to helping to find housing for 36 refugees who were sent, without notification, by the state of Texas to Sacramento earlier this year.
Newly-installed Sacramento State President Luke Wood connected housing to life outcomes. He said that across both the California Community College and California State University systems, many students struggle with housing insecurity.
“A student who experiences housing insecurity, is very likely to experience food insecurity of varying levels, transportation concerns and employment barriers,” he said.
Wood said student housing is a primary focus for the university for the next several years, but will require financial resources to accomplish. He says research shows living on campus leads to a roughly 10% increase in four-year graduation rates.
