Sacramento homeless encampment concerns stir community involvement, city questions
SACRAMENTO -- A homeless encampment in Sacramento, at the center of near-weekly visits from the city's Incident Management Team, was cleared last week, but concerns related to safety and illegal activity have not gone away, according to the manager of an apartment complex nearby.
On West Stockton Boulevard, near Highway 99 and Cosumnes Boulevard, a homeless encampment has been at the center of concerns for the last two years. In the last eight months, the concerns have grown among businesses and residents in the area.
A CBS13 viewer contacted our station for answers to who is responsible for the area where the encampment sits.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the City of Sacramento told CBS13 that they are aware of the challenges in this area, which sits across multiple juridictions. The statement said:
"The City's Incident Management Team responding to homelessness has been deployed in the area nearly every week for the past year, responding to more than 500 calls for service that have resulted in intensive outreach, engagement and enforcement work as well as cleanup activities.
What makes this area especially challenging is that it contains multiple large open spaces that fall under a patchwork of jurisdictions, including private property and public property managed by various governmental agencies such as the City of Sacramento, the County of Sacramento, the City of Elk Grove and Caltrans."
CBS13 took this information and contacted the jurisdictions named by the City of Sacramento.
Caltrans confirmed there are no homeless encampments currently on state property and diverted the inquiry to the City of Elk Grove.
A spokesperson for the City of Elk Grove told CBS13 that after confirming with code enforcement and police, the encampment was not located in their jurisdiction.
CBS13 then contacted Sacramento County and received a statement that services have been provided in the area to the encampment on West Stockton Boulevard. The statement said:
"...County Homeless Engagement and Response Team has been to the location a number of times – Which is a multidisciplinary team to address behavioral health needs, which includes additional supports. These teams are inclusive of a peer specialist, which is a person with lived experience that can help build trust with potential clients and help them navigate the potentially difficult y of the systems of care."
The encampment was determined to be within the City of Sacramento's jurisdiction, even though the location was close to others. This confusion was felt by Danielle Nash, the community manager at The Landing at College Square apartment complex.
"We've had a lot of issues with the homeless activity. You can't just say, 'Oh, it's this person or this person,' and there's no resolution," Nash said.
Nash explained that for the last two years, she has held two jobs: her day job as a manager at the 270-unit complex and an encampment problem-solver who is forced to respond to theft, property damage, and verbal and physical attacks of the apartment employees.
"I have kind of stepped into the role of leading the charge to make sure that our encampments are not around. It's not just affecting me, but businesses," said Nash.
The encampment on West Stockton Boulevard has been cleared before, Nash said, but it doesn't appear that clearing the area is a real solution as many of the people who live unhoused move to other parts of the area nearby and rebuild the encampment.
After CBS13's inquiries, the encampment across from The Landing at College Square was cleared, but Nash said the problems have continued.
Nash gathered the owners of the area together for a town hall, tracking them down to meet and discuss possible solutions for what has become chaos that stems from the homeless encampment. They invited city leaders and residents to share about their real impacts and why action by the City of Sacramento was necessary sooner than later.
"There's a disconnect that's happening somewhere," said Nash, referring to the back-and-forth she's received from Sacramento's 311 and other city leaders.
Nash said there is another town hall for residents set for the end of the month. She's invited city leaders to attend and speak to residents directly about their concerns.
