SACRAMENTO, Calif — Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg is prepared to vote at a special City Council meeting Tuesday to increase the priority of encampment clearings—something fellow councilmembers called for weeks ago.
Not only is Steinberg prepared to give greater enforcement powers to Sacramento City Manager Howard Chan, he is also recommending to rescind a 2022 resolution that gave direction not to jail people for unlawful encampment misdemeanors.
The 2022 resolution also contained a section limiting the amount of fines and penalties against people found to have unlawful encampments.
Before District Attorney Thien Ho said he would investigate the city's current encampment enforcement activities, three council members submitted a proposal request regarding homelessness response dated June 27.
The proposal submitted by Councilmembers Rick Jennings, Lisa Kaplan and Karina Talamantes requested city officials add unlawful encampments to its highest priority of code and vehicle enforcement.
"By adopting staff protocols, the city is taking direction and hopes the county will join in partnership in mirroring our actions," stated the June 27 letter.
City officials at the upcoming council meeting will also consider updating the Citywide Homeless Response Protocol to reflect the new prioritization of encampment clearings. Proposed updated prioritization levels include:
- High priority includes encampments blocking access to essential locations, posing a public health risk or violating any other provision of the Sacramento City Code or California Vehicle Code.
- Moderate priority includes encampments showing signs of being threats to public health or safety, accumulating excessive trash, items. drug paraphernalia or infestations .
- Low priority includes small encampments not posing obvious or immediate risks to the public, or are blocking any spaces nor essential locations.
Under the proposal, Chan would also have authority to use any and all appropriate city funding to enforce code violations on homeless encampments.
"The Purpose of this update is to ensure that response strategy to encampments is focused on gaining compliance with City Code and the California Vehicle Code," city officials said.
