Advocates for Sacramento’s unhoused community, along with one of Sacramento’s mayoral candidates, condemned County District Attorney Thien Ho on Monday for what they described as his unfair attacks on the city and its unhoused residents.
In recent months, Ho has sued city officials and threatened additional legal action, claiming Sacramento has failed to enforce its own public safety and anti-camping laws. He’s argued the lack of enforcement has led homeless camps to grow across the central city, creating a health and safety risk for the people who live, work and visit the area.
But speaking at a news conference outside Ho’s downtown office on Monday, mayoral candidate Flojaune Cofer said the DA’s legal threats and enforcement-first strategy is “cultivating an environment of punishment and cruelty.”
“We should all be working together to find short and long-term solutions,” said Cofer, “which is why Thien Ho threatening action against a safe ground site — which is actively creating an immediate and quite successful solution — is so incredibly appalling.”
In a statement, the DA’s office described Cofer’s press conference as “a political ploy.”
“Dr. Flo Cofer held a press conference in front of the Sacramento DA’s Office to criticize our efforts to address public safety and our unhoused crisis,” the statement read. “This political ploy to promote her campaign for Mayor does not warrant any further response.”
Last month, Ho threatened to sue the city for allowing homeless residents to live at Camp Resolution, a large, city-sanctioned homeless encampment on Colfax Street in North Sacramento. The DA has described the partially-paved lot as a toxic site because the soil is contaminated.
In April, Sacramento signed a first-of-its-kind lease allowing unhoused residents who had occupied the city-owned property to remain there until all have obtained permanent housing. Under the agreement, the city provided residents with trailers and the camp’s organizers agreed residents would not camp directly on the soil.
“We brought people out of the camps [along the American River] and into the trailers,” added Joyce Williams, a co-founder of Camp Resolution, speaking at Monday’s press conference.
Last week, Ho added environmental violations to his lawsuit against the city for what he said was the local government’s failure to remove unlawful encampments along the American River. The DA held a press conference on the topic after inviting the media on a tour of riverside encampments.
"The rivers run through the heart of our community and they are the true natural jewels of our community,” Ho said on the banks of Steelhead Creek last week. “But over the last seven years, the city of Sacramento has allowed that natural jewel to be soiled, sullied and polluted."
Ho said debris, harmful chemicals and human waste from homeless encampments pollute the river, putting the city in violation of state wildlife statutes.
Critics, including homeless advocates, say Ho’s claims are false. They cite a 2021 study by the Central Valley Water Board that found birds, especially Canada geese, are the largest and most consistent source of contamination in this section of the river.
Contact CapRadio news reporter Chris Nichols at [email protected]
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