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Sacramento Homeless Organizing Committee Update

April 3, 2020 by Jonathan Leave a Comment

After a long and nervously anticipated civic response to the pandemic, Sacramento Homelessness  COVID-19 Response Team, made up of the County of Sacramento, the City of Sacramento, Sacramento Steps Forward and SHRA, announced their goal to serve 1,800 COVID-19 impacted individuals or families experiencing homelessness. They are currently in the process of adding 200 beds to existing shelter programs using CDC shelter guidance; making available 200 motel rooms with the services in the near-term, with a goal of 800 rooms; SHRA is making available 200 Housing Choice Vouchers for homeless families; and 63 trailers will be delivered to Cal Expo. Nothing has been planned or announced to provide places for all the unsheltered people that have not been tested positive for COVID-19. More was expected and more was expected sooner, but at this rate we probably won’t solve homelessness for short or long term. Law enforcement has been directed by the CDC to quit making people living unsheltered to move along, to stop the sweeps, and the City and County are being urged to get the word out and reign them in.

The most amazing work is already being done by concerned community volunteers. They did not wait. They did not ever go into isolation because they could not hide while people were on the streets deserted by the housed and newly hidden. The streets cleared out, the sidewalks emptied, of all the workers and partiers and tourists and shoppers, leaving the houseless to face the fear or anxiety by themselves, without word of what to expect, what they were supposed to do, how scared should they be, how to protect themselves. The community volunteers went out daily to share food, do fundraising drives to buy and place washing station by camps. And county health workers and other medical experts joined with the effort to visit the camps and provide training and screening.

Water and Food. Downtown Sacramento’s water faucets have been turned off for years. Bathrooms were promised for Cesar Chavez Park, order to be delivered in May. Meanwhile, not even portapotties are provided anywhere, except by a few volunteers that had started providing them before the pandemic. All these 3rd world or worse conditions are being made public and apparent during this crisis. In the future when looking back, the City of Sacramento will go down in history as failing miserably in this crisis—so inept and criminal neglect and ignoring of their most needful members of the community.

SHOC’s office has been closed and our street paper’s vendor program was also discontinued for now. We are having our weekly meetings on Zoom and our bi-weekly journalism workshop is also still going on Zoom. We formed a new Services not Sweeps Coalition with at least 23 organizations who are now organizing and coordinating work on Zoom, some are still working outside and others from home, only.

 We are going forward with opening up a vacant lot with Safe Ground Sacramento to provide a place for ten to 20 individuals living in tents that we are providing, as a start for a campaign to provide more locations for others to live in community with some hygiene facilitation and self-government. A few locations have been identified.

Our publication, Homeward Street Journal, published a special issue that is meant mostly for the unsheltered readership. That group has been tragically left out of the loop with information about the Coronavirus and how to protect themselves and others, what else is going on, Safe Ground call to action, a list of what services have identified a commitment to continue services, however dialed down.

Here’s a link to the Homeward Special Edition https://sacshoc.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/hw24-3se-3.pdf

COVID-19 information guide for unsheltered Sacramentans: https://sacshoc.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/covid-what-is-it-article.pdf

Sac Bee Article “As coronavirus spreads, no homeless have been moved into Sacramento motels. What’s the holdup?”

https://www.sacbee.com/news/coronavirus/article241715456.html

 

Filed Under: Local Government, Sacramento Homeless Organizing Committee, WRAP Members Tagged With: Sacramento Homeless Organizing Committee

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Part 12... Infractions and Due Process Rights Ant Part 12...
Infractions and Due Process Rights 
Anti-homeless laws and ordinances and their application have, in fact, created a loophole that allows for the circumvention of a homeless person’s right to due process under law. The process by which homeless people face repeated incarceration generally follows this scenario: A homeless man is sleeping on the sidewalk. A local ordinance makes it illegal to do so. The man gets a ticket and is later arrested for not paying the ticket. He spends a couple of days in jail, and is just as homeless now as he was before, only now he has a criminal record. This was the case for many of the individuals interviewed by RWHP. One man relayed the familiar scenario, “I was sleeping in a tent in a hidden spot near the freeway. They gave me a ticket for trespassing. I don’t have money to pay it. I’ve never been in jail before. I keep to myself, but now they’re going to make me a convict just for sleeping.”
SHERIFFS DEPARTMENT TALKING DOWN THE PEOPLES TOWMH SHERIFFS DEPARTMENT TALKING DOWN THE PEOPLES TOWMHOMES ENCAMPMENT https://www.instagram.com/tv/ChAT9N5jNTY/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

This morning @phillysheriff ‘s came and evicted our protest encampment to Save the UC Townhomes. When asked why they were doing it, Rochelle Bilal responded that she “felt compassion for the townhomes residents but was just doing my job”

Even if the tents are gone WE AINT GOIN NOWHERE‼️
Saturday AUGUST 27 — 9 am to 4pm Sunday AUGUST 2 Saturday AUGUST 27 — 9 am to 4pm
Sunday AUGUST 28 — 12:30pm to 4pm

Westminster Presbyterian Church
1300 N Street, Sacramento

https://wraphome.org/2022/08/02/sacramento-ca-advocates-community-summit-on-homelessness-august-27-28th/
California. (S)Care Court Hearing Tomorrow 8/3 Las California. (S)Care Court Hearing Tomorrow 8/3 Last Hearing before floor Vote
https://conta.cc/3vzRoWo
Part 11 ... California’s “anti-Okie” laws of Part 11 ...
California’s “anti-Okie” laws of the 1930s and the South’s Jim Crow laws in effect from the late 1800s to the 1950s are examples of the kinds of local laws overturned in previous generations. Yet, modern “quality of life” legislation and enforcement targeting homeless people can be found in communities across the nation.
The City Council postponed their vote on the 41.18 The City Council postponed their vote on the 41.18 expansion to August 2nd. If passed, this motion will add approximately 1,900 additional sites–a 376% increase in exclusionary zones across the city. 41.18 would then cover at least 88 sq miles (that’s 20% of the entire city).

Services Not Sweeps is urging EVERYONE to come to City Hall at 9:00am on August 2 and tell City Council that 41.18 is BAD POLICY and should be repealed.

When we fight, we win. 
But this fight isn’t over.

The community flooded City Hall inside and out on Wednesday to protest the expansion of 41.18 but the fight is not over. It’s clear that President Nury Martinez and friends weren’t prepared for our numbers and realized they were unable to rally their (few but loud) 41.18 supporters. Council delayed the vote to Tuesday August 2nd in an attempt to erode our momentum and stifle our voices. 
 
We won’t let that happen. The fight now is to keep the pressure on and show up next week!! See you next Tuesday 9am. Bring a friend.
 
WHO: You and your friends!
WHERE: City Hall, 200 N Spring St 
WHEN: Tuesday August 2nd at 9:00am
HOW: Read more details on our toolkit.
AGENDA ITEM 14 https://lacity.primegov.com/Portal/Meeting?meetingTemplateId=102513
Part 10... In fact, however, enforcement is very m Part 10...
In fact, however, enforcement is very much impacted by both skin color and appearance. Local governments cannot legally discriminate against people strictly because they do not have housing. Federal protections prohibit local and state governments from removing people from their communities due to the color of their skin or economic/employment status.
Part 9... This nationwide pattern has escaped Civi Part 9... This nationwide pattern has escaped Civil Rights protections because on their face, these programs are not clearly discriminatory. Local laws are often drafted in such a way as to appear to apply equally to all people in a community.
Part 8... While certain communities highlight diff Part 8...
While certain communities highlight different controls at different times, often depending upon the outcome of local elections and legislative and court efforts, all have one primary common goal: to remove the presence and resulting impact of people without housing from local communities. As the Mayor of Las Vegas stated when she outlawed feeding people in city parks: “If we stop feeding them, they will leave.”
Part 7... This type of ticket is not uncommon. The Part 7...
This type of ticket is not uncommon. The most common public space and activity restrictions are those aimed at camping, sitting, lying, or trespassing on either public or private land, panhandling, sleeping, blocking the sidewalk and possessing “stolen property,” such as shopping carts and milk crates—to name just a few. Furthermore, these restrictions are often implemented in conjunction with the closure of public parks and the outlawing of free food and clothing distribution.
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Part 12...
Infractions and Due Process Rights 

Anti-homeless laws and ordinances and their application have, in fact, created a loophole that allows for the circumvention of a homeless person’s right to due process under law. The process by which homeless people face repeated incarceration generally follows this scenario: A homeless man is sleeping on the sidewalk. A local ordinance makes it illegal to do so. The man gets a ticket and is later arrested for not paying the ticket. He spends a couple of days in jail, and is just as homeless now as he was before, only now he has a criminal record. This was the case for many of the individuals interviewed by RWHP. One man relayed the familiar scenario, “I was sleeping in a tent in a hidden spot near the freeway. They gave me a ticket for trespassing. I don’t have money to pay it. I’ve never been in jail before. I keep to myself, but now they’re going to make me a convict just for sleeping.”
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Part 12...
Infractions and Due Process Rights
Anti-homeless laws and ordinances and their application have, in fact, created a loophole that allows for the circumvention of a homeless person’s right to due process under law.

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SHERIFFS DEPARTMENT TALKING DOWN THE PEOPLES TOWMHOMES ENCAMPMENT
“felt compassion for the townhomes residents but was just doing my job”
Even if the tents are gone WE AINT GOIN NOWHERE‼️

Image for the Tweet beginning: SHERIFFS DEPARTMENT TALKING DOWN THE Twitter feed image.
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Press Release: Beyond the Virginia Key Bantustan, reject any tiny homes plan that excludes homeless input - WRAP

Press Release: Beyond the Virginia Key Bantustan, reject any tiny homes plan that excludes homeless input - WRAP

October 22nd Alliance to End Homelessness Press Release August 8, 2022 Beyond the Virginia Key Bantustan, reject any...

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Los Angeles Homeless Sweeps Taxpayers pay over $70 million each year for the Los Angeles Police Department and LA Sanitation to displace homeless people under the guise of street cleaning. via @YouTube

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Los Angeles Homeless Sweeps

Taxpayers pay over $70 million each year for the Los Angeles Police Department and LA Sanitation to displace homel...

youtube.com

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NEW EPISODE of Fixing Our City. Houston set out to end chronic homelessness. It cut its homeless population by more than half in a decade, according to PIT counts. This week's fix: how do San Francisco’s initiatives compare with Houston's success story?

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Houston’s homelessness strategy could be a roadmap

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