SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sacramento voters will choose the city's next mayor in November. Candidates Dr. Flojaune 'Flo' Cofer and Assemblymember Kevin McCarty say homelessness will be of their top priorities, if elected.
"It wasn't done thoughtfully, and with a clear plan, for how we were going to support a self-governing community," said Cofer.
Cofer says there should've been a plan for residents.
"How we were going to make sure that it had the resources necessary, electricity and water and some of the the key components to be able to make it healthy. Most importantly, and we've heard from some of the surrounding businesses and community members, how we were going to involve them in making sure this was successful," said Cofer.
The lease allowing the camp to operate was terminated earlier this summer, along with disagreements between nonprofit Safe Ground Sacramento and the city.
"This was a fatally flawed site, kind of a toxic location where they had some lawsuits going back and forth and it wasn't a viable site," said McCarty.
McCarty believes there ultimately needs to be more places for people to go.
"We need to have locations like Roseville Road or, you know, abandoned city or state land where we can send people where they can either legally camp or be in tiny homes and get services," said McCarty.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order in July allowing cities and counties to clear homeless encampments from public areas after the Supreme Court decision in Grants Pass v. Johnson. Both candidates agree better solutions are needed.
"We can't have people camping, blocking sidewalks next to schools, in city parks, in front of businesses. We need to enforce no urban camping, but conversely, we're going to do a better job opening up safe ground places where people can't camp. Affordable places, places that are cost-effective," said McCarty. "Are we spending our dollars efficiently? Our problems are this high, our amount of money we have is only this high. We have to get roughly $25 million a year in state money."
"We cannot just continue to say, 'People, not here,' without being clear about where they can go. Shutting down Camp Resolution is just another example of us not being really clear about what are the humane places. We should be setting up all over the places that allow people to have somewhere to go and allow them to meet their basic needs and also are able to meet the needs of the surrounding communities," said Cofer. "We need to be clear on what the goal is, what their role is in it and the city cannot own this by themselves."
Many Camp Resolution residents are still looking for places to live, saying the shelter option offered to them is not an option.
Sacramento City contractors say they removed more than 92,000 pounds of items and 1,150 needles since clearing the camp.
WATCH MORE ON ABC10: Multiple people detained as lease expires at Camp Resolution in Sacramento
