Sacramento prosecutor sues California’s capital city over failure to clean up homeless encampments
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A Sacramento prosecutor is suing California’s capital city over failure to clean up homeless encampments.
Sacramento District Attorney Thien Ho says his office asked the city to enforce laws around sidewalk obstruction and to create additional professionally operated camping sites.
He announced the suit Tuesday during a news conference in Sacramento.
Ho said the city is seeing a “collapse into chaos” and an “erosion of every day life.”
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Sacramento County had nearly 9,300 homeless people in 2022, based on data from the annual Point in Time count. That was up 67% from 2019. Roughly three-quarters of the county’s homeless population is unsheltered.
Homeless tent encampments have grown visibly in cities across the U.S. but especially in California, which is home to nearly one-third of unhoused people in the country.
The prosecutor had threated in August to file charges against city officials if they didn’t implement changes within 30 days.
At the time, Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg said Ho was politicizing the issue instead of being a partner with the city.
Steinberg didn’t immediately respond to request for comment through a spokesperson.
Ho, elected in 2022 after vowing on the campaign trail to address the city’s homelessness crisis, said he’s asked the city to share real-time data about available shelter beds with law enforcement.
The dispute between the district attorney and the city was further complicated by a lawsuit filed by a homeless advocacy group that resulted in an order from a federal judge temporarily banning the city from clearing homeless encampments during extreme heat. That order is now lifted but the group wants to see it extended.
The attorney of the homeless coalition also filed a complaint with the state bar this month, saying Ho abused his power by pushing the city to clear encampments when the order was in place.
Ho’s news conference included testimony from residents who say the city is not providing resources to deal with homelessness.
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