Sacramento County leaders to discuss potentially prohibiting homeless from certain public locations

By Orko Manna

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    SACRAMENTO COUNTY, California (KCRA) — The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors will discuss this week a potential ordinance that could impact those experiencing homelessness.

At its meeting Tuesday, the board is scheduled to talk about a framework for a proposed ordinance that would prohibit camping and encampments on certain public property locations. According to county documents, those priority areas include: “critical infrastructure” locations, overnight homeless shelters such as Safe Stay communities, and wildfire and flood risk areas during inclement weather.

As far as what falls under “critical infrastructure,” county documents define it as a place so, “vital or integral to the operation or functioning of the county, that its damage or destruction would have a debilitating impact.” KCRA 3 spoke with Don Nottoli, the chair of the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors, who said that could include levees, bridges, sewer mains and other county-operated sites.

“Regional transit locations, not just bus stops, but maybe rail access and so forth,” Nottoli said.

The Sacramento Metro Fire Department, which said it cannot comment on the proposal, told KCRA 3 several grass fires this year have been started by people experiencing homelessness.

“There could be a great threat with it, especially if they’re in fields that are not being cared for with defensible space. Those fires can grow very rapidly,” Parker Wilbourn, a fire department spokesperson, said.

The county is also looking at parts of the American River Parkway, which Nottoli said would be discussed as part of the potential ordinance. Many who spend time there said they would.

“Some are trying to stay out of trouble and just sleep somewhere, but there’s a lot of people causing trouble and hurting folks,” Sacramento resident Betty Sherwood said.

The penalties would start with a warning, and then a misdemeanor citation if someone violates the rules again within 30 days of the first infraction.

But Crystal Sanchez, President of the Sacramento Homeless Union, said enforcement is not the action. Sanchez believes the proposed ordinance would violate a rule that allows homeless individuals to camp on public property if there is no availability in area shelters.

“We’re putting the cart before the horse,” Sanchez said. “They continue to put these enforcement mechanisms before putting the housing and the wrap around services. We just don’t have anywhere for people to go.”

But Notolli said with the emergence of more Safe Stay sites across Sacramento County, now is the time to act.

“If, in fact, some of these designations are ultimately put into an ordinance, then it would allow for enforcement,” Notolli said. “There is a balance, certainly, between public health and safety, certainly the rights of those who are unhoused.”

Again, the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday is just a workshop among the supervisors to discuss what would be in an ordinance. No final decisions are being made.

If the Board decides to pursue this further, a more concrete proposal could be up for a vote in the next couple months.

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