Sacramento offers lifeline to keep Camp Resolution homeless community from closing
SACRAMENTO — The City of Sacramento is offering a lifeline to a self-governing homeless camp to keep it from shutting down.
The city had previously told those living at the site that they had until May 16 to leave, with the lease agreement that was put in place to be terminated on June 1.
A letter from Assistant City Manager Mario Lara to Mark Marin, an attorney and board member of Safe Ground Sacramento, said the city is offering to hold off on terminating the lease for Camp Resolution as long as some conditions are met.
Safe Ground Sacramento has acted as a liaison between Camp Resolution and the city while arranging for the community to remain at the property.
Camp Resolution sits on city property on Colfax Street, just off of Arden Way. The site has some environmental contamination, so the city allowed people to live there in trailers, but tents have begun popping up recently.
Lara's letter states that the city is willing to hold off on terminating the lease if Safe Ground Sacramento brings the property in compliance with a Water Board variance, which allows only inhabited vehicles to be parked on the paved part of the property.
Additionally, Safe Ground Sacramento and the city must engage, beginning the week of May 6, in negotiations to plan for alternative, temporary or permanent housing for Camp Resolution occupants and the possible construction of affordable housing at the Colfax Street site.
The city said its Department of Community Response and the Sacramento County Homeless Engagement and Response Team must also be able to enroll Camp Resolution members in services that could help with that alternative housing process.