Camp Resolution sweep is "day of shame" for Sacramento, homeless union attorney says
SACRAMENTO — Monday was move-out day for Camp Resolution. The City of Sacramento cleared out the homeless encampment that had been sanctioned by the city for the last two years through a lease, until this month.
The major operation included police officers, firefighters and social workers. Tow trucks hauled away vehicles, equipment piled stuff into dumpsters, and dogs were crated and carried away.
Matthew Cekano helped move his girlfriend out of Camp Resolution to a different encampment spot. Not to a shelter.
"We're going to go across the river to my camp spot where I've been for the last four years," Cekano said.
Anthony Prince is the Sacramento Homeless Union attorney, tying this encampment sweep to Governor Gavin Newsom's executive order earlier this month and a Supreme Court ruling this summer giving cities more leeway to clear encampments.
"This is a day of shame for the city of Sacramento," Prince said. "A day of shame. Shame on the Supreme Court. Shame on the governor. Shame on Sacramento."
I asked Mayor Darrell Steinberg if either played a role in this sweep.
"The answer is no," Steinberg said.
Steinberg called the city's move to clear Camp Resolution an obligation to offer residents a safer and more dignified bed.
"I believe the city and all cities have the moral obligation to provide people on our streets a bed," Steinberg said.
The Camp Resolution land has been leased from the city by a nonprofit called Project Safeground which issued a termination letter citing barriers to making Camp Resolution viable, including no water or electricity.
"Now what we're saying is that under the Constitution of the United States and the state Constitution, the government cannot put people in a position where they're worse off than they find the people," Prince said.
Prince has filed a lawsuit to allow the encampment to stay. A judge has yet to make a ruling in the case.
The city said that so far, 10 of 60 Camp Resolution residents have agreed to stay in a shelter and one was reunited with family.