If you have not seen this week's Sacramento News & Review, it has lots of coverage of homelessness in Sacramento.
Example: Fight to Rest: The battle for solutions to homelessness continues at City Hall.
The front page of the website includes:
This week, homeless protesters begin their third month of occupation as leaders search for answers.
FYI, here's a response from an activist I know when I suggested SSF might have a positive effect:
That group, as its main mission, apparently, continues to "record" the homeless, and "point" them to resources (which most every homeless person I've met already knows about, including that there's never enough vouchers, and when there are openings in some shelters, there are so many rules many can't go).
That group, and others like them, sounds very bureaucratic. And from the homeless I've asked, almost useless. (The group has touted its people out with Ipads to record, etc. etc.).
The protests at City Hall organized by less than 2 dozen homeless and supporters maintain daily feedings, for the past month, and have sparked dozens and dozens of news stories. The City refused to acknowledge them for weeks (hoping, as they always do, that they'll "go away," but was finally forced to hold a news conference where they announced, predictably, they were spending "millions." And then started rousting and arresting the homeless. Still, they remain.
You know, you can build tiny homes for about $5,000-$10,000 each? How far would $1 million
go? $10 million? And that would be solution, other than criminalizing the homeless. The truth is, and we all know it, is that officials just want the homeless to go away. But they have not.
Right now, it's illegal to have a sleeping bag, blankets or tarps or any camping "paraphernalia"on public or private land. That's right. But I'll bet we could camp out in [the] backyard and have no problems.
The problem is the homeless are not going away, and they are spreading - from downtown to Arden Arcade to Carmichael, to the rest of the county.
There are answers - look to Oregon to Nashville to Salt Lake City. Costs would be less and the problem could be mitigated to a large degree. Because of the city hall protest city leaders now claim they are traveling to WA and OR to look at solutions. Not because of Steps Forward, Safeground or anyone else. Because of the protest...I don't know why, but in this country - from civil rights to women's suffrage to whatever - it's street protests, not common sense and certainly not "government," that makes change come.
But as a policy issue, our candidates need to come out strong on the issue, and not just talk about it, as KJ has done, or throw taxpayer money after the problem, but resolve to do the humane thing - take care of all our people, and in the end, save taxpayer dollars.
Example: Fight to Rest: The battle for solutions to homelessness continues at City Hall.
The front page of the website includes:
1.
Debunking five myths about Sacramento’s latest homelessness debate
Our shelters do not have enough beds for everyone, and other necessary facts.
Our shelters do not have enough beds for everyone, and other necessary facts.
2.
Rest and unrest: How homelessness becomes a crime in Sacramento
What do protesters really mean when they talk about ‘criminalization of homelessness’?
3.
Fight to rest: The battle for solutions to homelessness continues at City Hall
What do protesters really mean when they talk about ‘criminalization of homelessness’?
This week, homeless protesters begin their third month of occupation as leaders search for answers.
FYI, here's a response from an activist I know when I suggested SSF might have a positive effect:
That group, as its main mission, apparently, continues to "record" the homeless, and "point" them to resources (which most every homeless person I've met already knows about, including that there's never enough vouchers, and when there are openings in some shelters, there are so many rules many can't go).
That group, and others like them, sounds very bureaucratic. And from the homeless I've asked, almost useless. (The group has touted its people out with Ipads to record, etc. etc.).
The protests at City Hall organized by less than 2 dozen homeless and supporters maintain daily feedings, for the past month, and have sparked dozens and dozens of news stories. The City refused to acknowledge them for weeks (hoping, as they always do, that they'll "go away," but was finally forced to hold a news conference where they announced, predictably, they were spending "millions." And then started rousting and arresting the homeless. Still, they remain.
You know, you can build tiny homes for about $5,000-$10,000 each? How far would $1 million
go? $10 million? And that would be solution, other than criminalizing the homeless. The truth is, and we all know it, is that officials just want the homeless to go away. But they have not.
Right now, it's illegal to have a sleeping bag, blankets or tarps or any camping "paraphernalia"on public or private land. That's right. But I'll bet we could camp out in [the] backyard and have no problems.
The problem is the homeless are not going away, and they are spreading - from downtown to Arden Arcade to Carmichael, to the rest of the county.
There are answers - look to Oregon to Nashville to Salt Lake City. Costs would be less and the problem could be mitigated to a large degree. Because of the city hall protest city leaders now claim they are traveling to WA and OR to look at solutions. Not because of Steps Forward, Safeground or anyone else. Because of the protest...I don't know why, but in this country - from civil rights to women's suffrage to whatever - it's street protests, not common sense and certainly not "government," that makes change come.
But as a policy issue, our candidates need to come out strong on the issue, and not just talk about it, as KJ has done, or throw taxpayer money after the problem, but resolve to do the humane thing - take care of all our people, and in the end, save taxpayer dollars.
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