SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Solutions to the homelessness crisis are complicated, costly and slow-going.
Advocates say they are doing the work, and they know more needs to be done. Others are fed up with the issues they see on the streets.
ABC10 followed up with a business owner who had reached out in the spring and now says an encampment near his property has returned.
“I've got to say something to somebody to try to save my business,” Mike Sacca told ABC10 in late April.
He owns Golden Corral on West Stockton Boulevard in Sacramento. At the time, he said people in a nearby encampment were leaving trash, causing vandalism and intimidating customers.
“They spray paint the building, they've broken windows,” Sacca said. “This is an ongoing daily thing for us."
After ABC10’s story aired, he said the camp was cleared.
However, people and issues have returned.
“This pipe here used to connect down to this pipe, inch and a half of copper piping, this feeds our irrigation,” Sacca said, gesturing to a water pipe he found cut this week.
Recently, he arrived at work to find the windows of his restaurant’s vehicle shattered, a $2,500 repair.
He says an RV had been trespassing on his property and police just moved it several yards away, onto the neighboring property. Tents line the fence of that property near his restaurant.
“I've tried to reach out to 311,” he told ABC10.
That’s what the city tells people to do, when reporting non-emergency homeless encampment issues.
“I've been sending in the emails and making the phone calls, but I don't get any response,” Sacca said.
The city told ABC10 they have responded to his reports.
“Since Aug. 1, the City’s Incident Management Team has responded to 59 calls for service in this area (made through 311) on 18 different days. Response efforts have included outreach to connect people experiencing homelessness with available services as well as achieving compliance with City laws and ordinances,” a city spokesperson told ABC10 in a written statement.
They say the city has removed “31 cubic yards of solid waste” from the area, though that could include the properties near, but not adjacent, to Sacca’s business. He says he wants to see the city take action on the encampments directly impacting his property.
“It isn't an overnight fix,” said Cait Paulson, mental health program coordinator with Sacramento County’s Homeless Engagement and Response Team (HEART).
HEART does mental health outreach to the unhoused population throughout Sacramento County — including within Sacramento city limits, thanks to the partnership between the city and county, established nearly two years ago to address this crisis.
Their work includes the encampment near Golden Corral.
“We visited that area 10 times between March and May of 2024, and it is an area still on the radar,” Paulson said.
Her team has 40 behavioral health beds and hopes to add more, she said. But with no timeline, some people, like Sacca, see the pace of change as too slow.
“It's not just housing, it's not just mental health, it's not just substance use; it's all of those things combined,” Paulson said. “This is one of the first efforts to where all of us are working together to address all of those different pieces. But it is a work in progress.”
The city says it responds daily to 311 calls in all eight council districts of Sacramento. So far this year, the incident management team has responded to more than 30,000 calls for service.
Read the city’s full statement here:
Since Aug. 1, the City’s Incident Management Team has responded to 59 calls for service in this area (made through 311) on 18 different days. Response efforts have included outreach to connect people experiencing homelessness with available services as well as achieving compliance with City laws and ordinances. Additionally, cleanup activities have been conducted to remove trash and hazardous materials from the area. Since Aug. 1, these efforts have led to the removal of 31 cubic yards of solid waste. Adding to the complexity of response is the fact that are many privately owned lots in this area, which requires working with individual property owners.
As you know, the IMT coordinates staff and resources from several departments, including the Department of Community Response, Code Enforcement, the Sacramento Police Department, the Sacramento Fire Department, Park Rangers, 311 and Animal Care. The IMT also partners closely with the County of Sacramento, leveraging their ability and qualifications to provide behavioral health assessments and facilitate connections to mental health and substance use services.
When the City receives a 311 report, staff review the details provided, including the type of call, the description, and any photos submitted, to determine the most appropriate team to respond. Prioritization factors include health and safety hazards, violations of City codes and state laws, as well as the number and type of calls received. This prioritization is based on both reports received through 311 and observations made by outreach workers in the field.
The City responds daily to 311 calls in all eight council districts in Sacramento, seven days a week, deploying multi-disciplinary teams to connect people experiencing homelessness with services and mitigate the impacts of encampments by enforcing Sacramento City Code and California Vehicle Code. People should continue to report any issues with encampments by calling 311 or visiting the customer service center at 311.cityofsacramento.org.
Since Jan. 1, the IMT has responded to over 30,000 calls for service, made more than 11,800 engagements with people experiencing homelessness to help connect them with services, obtained compliance with City laws over 3,300 times, and overseen the removal of approximately 7.4 million pounds of trash. For further reference, here is the City’s dashboard detailing the IMT’s work.
For information on any criminal activity, the Sacramento Police Department would be the most appropriate resource.
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