SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sacramento city leaders announced Monday they plan on approving $35 million at this week’s council meeting to create 820 new affordable housing units.
Dan Aderholt says he’ll believe it when he sees it.
He runs the non-profit American River Homeless Crews, which enlists the volunteered help of people experiencing homelessness to clean along the American River. In return, Aderholt acts as a support for them, offering donations of food and clothing and trying to connect them with affordable housing.
“Most of my crews work. They work two to three jobs and they still can't afford rent. That's how bad rent is out here,” Aderholt explained. “And how the hell are you going to have first [month’s rent], last [month’s rent], and deposit being homeless -- into a home? I mean, how the hell is that possible?”
In his decade of running American River Homeless Crews, Aderholt said he has partnered with local churches and other advocates to help get close to 200 people off the streets.
“$600 a month. They have everything in the home they need: washer, dryer. Only thing we ask is don't be on drugs or alcohol, you know, and they live with other homeless people in the home,” Aderholt said. “I'm getting these people off the streets myself because you cannot depend on county or city to do that. We cannot, and it's sad because our government should be helping the people on the streets instead making it worse for them.”
He cited previous commitments by local leaders that didn’t pan out, to build shelters and affordable housing units.
“Here in Sacramento, they need the affordable housing - strictly affordable housing - and for our government keep their word,” he said. “They need to keep their word to the homeless and have these homes built.”
Sandra Reynolds is one such person. She volunteers with American River Homeless Crews and lives along the American River near Sacramento’s Township 9 Park.
“We've been here for almost two years,” she said. “I’m 54 years old and I really didn't think myself would be here on the river with three dogs and you can't get housing.”
She says she drove for Lyft, a job she lost during the pandemic when she had to return the car she was leasing through the company.
“It's really hard. It really is. And then you can't get housing or help unless you're a drug addict or you're an alcoholic or you’re a mental case, and I'm neither,” she said. “I went through everything: I went to all the shelters, I graduated and they promised me housing, they promised me a hotel room, even a living situation. And I got dumped because somebody else had a more serious thing. And I don't have none of those qualifications.”
She wants permanent housing and says she has tried but barriers have gotten in her way.
“I was supposed to have my apartment, like, a long time ago, but somebody took my identification and they put their name and their phone number and I didn't get a phone call,” she said. “Now we’ve fixed it and now I'm on the waiting list again, but I've been on the waiting list since year 2017. And I've had my job and everything, but now I'm literally living on the river.”
She said getting into affordable housing would mean getting her life back.
“I could actually kind of, like, be normal - or not normal, but at least get back to work and get back to where I was,” Reynolds said. “And at least I [wouldn’t be] here on the river and I won't spend another winter out here.”
She said living outdoors in the winter is cold, “and when you have three dogs and - yeah, no, it's just-- I don't want to live like that anymore…I have a car, but I can't live three dogs in a car. It just doesn't happen.”
As a single, unhoused woman, she said, her dogs are not only like family —they’re her protection, too. If she leaves them while going to work — she could lose them.
“I'm a working person. But still, I have to have a place for my dogs to go. I can't leave my dogs out here. There's no way,” Reynolds said. “I just want a safe place that I can leave my dog. I can't leave them here because it's a city, and then you're leaving too long, then you're neglecting that. So they can actually come and get your dog for being neglected.”
She wants people to know that not everyone experiencing homelessness is the same.
“Some of us people, we do care. And we do clean up the river. We keep it clean. I keep my area clean anyway and everyone around me. But it's like some people ruin it for us,” she said.
She wants affordable housing that will allow her to move in with her dogs. To those who say, ‘Well, beggars can’t be choosers,’ she has this response.
“No, I'd rather just be with my dogs until we can get a house,” she said. “I am flat broke, but – no - there has to be an alternative.”
