SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A self-governing homeless encampment in North Sacramento could close after a Sacramento County judge Friday afternoon denied a request to stop the City of Sacramento from closing it.
“We are disappointed by the court's decision,” said Anthony Prince, Sacramento Homeless Union Attorney. “We have no choice but to go forward.”
Prince says they are not done, they plan to file an amended complaint.
“We are up against the Supreme Court decision. We are up against an executive order from the Governor, and we are obviously up against certain interests here in Sacramento that are determined to suppress the homeless,” said Prince.
This comes after Safe Ground Sacramento, the organization leasing the property, said it is ending its agreement on Saturday, August 10th due to lack of water and electricity, liability insurance issues and more.
The Sacramento Homeless Union sued the City of Sacramento to keep the site open until all residents are moved to permanent housing.
“At this point, honestly, I am not even bothered by it. No matter what we do, (it) is never good enough,” said Satearah Murphy, Camp Resolution Resident.
Murphy and Alaytreya Gregory are just some of the nearly 50 people living at Camp Resolution.
“This camp resolution is everything to me, but the way that they are doing this, they treat their dogs better. That is how I feel, and that is the honest truth,” said Gregory.
“All of us have no choice but to be hopeful, but we also have no choice but to stand up and figure out what we do next and how we organize next because we still got to fight for us,” said Murphy.
Attorney Prince says nobody is going anywhere.
The City of Sacramento says they have tried on multiple attempts to reach the guests and offer them into the City’s Motel Program.
In a statement saying in part:
“Lost in all the noise and grandstanding is the ultimate well-being of the people staying at the camp. Earlier this summer, the city offered to move the camp to a new location that did not have any environmental concerns — an offer that was rebuffed by Prince. And despite having every obstacle thrown at it by those purporting to have the campers’ best interests at heart, the City for months has provided every individual at Camp Resolution with shelter opportunities, including spots at the Roseville Road campus, the Outreach and Engagement Center and, in fact, in July made multiple attempts to reach guests with offers of durable housing in the City’s motel program.”
To read the full statement, click here.
As the lease expires this weekend, the agreement gives 15 additional days for the area to be cleared before the city takes control of the land.
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