The homelessness crisis in Sacramento has arrived at the level of legal action.
Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho filed a lawsuit against the city this week for what he called its role in “creating and perpetuating a public safety crisis” by not enforcing its homelessness laws.
City officials called Ho’s lawsuit “a distraction” from the work needed to ease the homelessness crisis in the region. They added that they plan to defend themselves in court.
In recent years, California has been significantly impacted by homelessness, with a third of the nation's homeless population residing in the state. Sacramento County stands out among other California counties, experiencing a 67% increase in the population from 2019 to 2022.
CapRadio’s Vicki Gonzalez spoke with Ho, who explained why he brought the lawsuit and what he hopes to achieve.
This interview has been edited for length, clarity and flow.
Interview highlights
On when Ho started thinking about taking legal action
Approximately three years ago, we started to see a significant rise in our homeless and unhoused population. In fact, over a seven-year period, it increased by 250%. It became a pressing issue for our community.
And when I'm out in the community and I oversaw our community prosecution team, the top issue that we were facing was our unhoused crisis. For those that live on the streets and those that live in homes, it's not compassionate for anybody or safe for anybody. The situation became a pressing issue for our community.
On the working relationship between the city and the county
We've always worked with the city. We continue to work with the city over the years. The issue is there is a difference in philosophy regarding the enforcement of the law.
When you look at the last year, the city attorney sent me an email in which they admitted that over the last year there's not been a single citation in prosecution for any of the unhoused ordinances, such as the sidewalk obstructions, such as the unlawful storage.
The city claims that they have been able to obtain voluntary compliance. To that, I would say if anybody believes that there has been voluntary compliance, walk down C Street, walk down Alhambra [Boulevard], walk down Commerce [Circle] and Bannon [Island] and Auburn [Boulevard] in the middle of the night, barefoot, alone — and come back and tell me if there has been voluntary compliance. That's really the fundamental difference there.
On how to approach enforcement with a lack of currently available shelter space
I'm a believer that we need to have more affordable housing and more shelter, more treatment beds. How do we, in the short term, encourage and help people get into treatment and services?
It's similar to what I'm advocating for on a greater scale, the Haven for Hope model, which is people who commit multiple nonviolent offenses. Instead of going to jail, they can go to treatment. If they complete treatment, they never do a single day in jail. We don't want to criminalize homelessness. We want to deal with the underlying issues of mental health and drug addiction.
On whether criminalization could negatively impact a person searching for housing
We need to break that cycle of addiction and get them into treatment. It’s not criminalizing individuals, we’re giving them opportunity and encouragement. At the end of the day, we all want to get to the same place to get people off the streets, the treatment, the health they need, the transitional housing, all of that.
I’m a believer in affordable housing, but we need to come together because whatever it is that we’re doing here is not working at all. We are regressing, and that is not fair to the people in the streets.
On what the lawsuit might accomplish if successful
I've asked for several things. First of all, the lawsuit. Nobody's asking for money. We want what we call injunctive relief, which is that the court mandates that the city do certain things. No. 1, consistent enforcement that is fair and across the board, balanced and compassionate. Number two, we need to add additional safe ground sites that are professionally run.
The other thing is we need real-time access to shelter and bed availability available to everyone, including law enforcement.
On Ho’s response to community organizations that say this is the wrong step
I've never questioned anybody's capacity for compassion or anyone's intention. I may disagree with a particular approach. We all want to get to the same place to get people off the streets, the treatment, the health they need, the transitional housing, all of that.
I have great respect for our nonprofits and our community-based organizations. They do amazing work. I'm a big supporter of them. I just believe that to get to that space, we need to comply with the law, these proposals, and let's get to the right place.
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