Sacramento County looking to ban camping near government buildings, critical infrastructure
SACRAMENTO — Sacramento County is proposing an anti-camping ordinance that would prohibit camping in several unincorporated areas, including near infrastructure, the American River Parkway and government buildings.
The ordinance will go before the board of supervisors in just a few days. In the meantime, local homeless advocacy groups are fighting back.
"There's no place to go," said Bob Erlenbusch, the executive director of the Sacramento Regional Coalition to End Homelessness.
He added, "There's cries for some parts of the community to move homeless people off the American River Parkway, but the question is to where? We're really concerned the county will define anything the county has as critical infrastructure which means homeless people can hardly be anywhere."
According to Erlenbusch, there are approximately 1/1,100 people experiencing homelessness yearly. And he said Sacramento's shelters are full.
"The county and the city should focus their efforts on more emergency shelters, more tiny home villages and more affordable housing," he said.
Michael Lopez said he'd been homeless for nearly two decades, and for much of that time, he was forced to live outdoors.
"I would definitely be inside the shelter if they were available," he said. "There's a lot of vacant buildings we could be housing homeless people all over the place."
The ordinance would require the county to create enough new shelters to house a percentage of the unsheltered population as well as provide resources to them.