Homeless camp downtown Sacramento next to Steinberg sign. (Photo: Katy Grimes for California Globe)
Sacramento’s Homeless Street Vagrants Live Under Separate Set of Laws
SacPD has a lot of support in the city… just not at the City Council
By Katy Grimes, August 20, 2021 1:14 pm
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg recently announced that he wants to open homeless shelters, tiny homes and tent encampments in 20 residential neighborhoods and locations around the city. Because eradicating the drug-addicted homeless from areas where families live, children play, youth athletes play, and neighbors walk, run, exercise and recreate is not on the table – and never has been.
Mayor Steinberg has also spent millions of dollars on hotel and motel renovations and apartments. Who knew his job was spending taxpayer money to make the meth-addicted homeless comfortable in tiny homes, recovered motel rooms and apartments? If only diagnosis and treatment was prioritized ahead of housing.
Remember, the Mayor’s project to provide tiny apartments in a renovated old downtown Sacramento hotel cost more than $445,000 per unit for about 250 square feet of living space, as the Globe reported. This project only benefitted the union contractors.
Residents of the City of Sacramento are up in arms about Steinberg’s plan. He has ignored every common sense option for dealing with the homeless, allowing the street vagrant population of meth heads, heroin addicts and the mentally ill to explode.
Sacramento’s homeless street vagrants also appear to live under a separate set of laws. They are everywhere now – living out in the open on sidewalks in front of homes, living on every freeway offramp, openly living in city parks, under freeways, along frontage roads, behind golf courses, in parking lots, and every open crevice one can imagine. But not in Mayor Steinberg’s neighborhood.
And many of them are violent. Crime is spiking in Sacramento, but not in Mayor Steinberg’s neighborhood. And his list of 20 residential neighborhoods and locations around the city does not include his.
In my older Sacramento neighborhood, our city councilwoman Katie Valenzuela “volunteered” several private properties and privately owned businesses as locations to house the homeless in tents. That didn’t go over well and she was forced to withdraw the recommendations.
The 160 acre park I live near is the largest regional park in the city. And the homeless live in it – in cars, under trees and bushes, along the 9-hole golf course, near the duck ponds, and by the baseball diamonds and soccer fields. This park is home to the Sacramento Zoo, Fairytale Town, Funderland Amusement Park, pony rides and the golf course.
My German Shepherd Hans and I were walking in Wm. Land Park Thursday, as we do every morning and noticed two homeless persons’ cars parked parallel along one street. We saw a large Pit Bull mix running loose ahead of us, but did not see its owner. We tried to dodge the loose dog a couple of times by criss-crossing the grass. As we neared the SUVs, the loose dog ran up behind us and aggressively jumped Hans. I pulled Hans in but the dog kept coming at us, circling.
I yelled and an obese women sitting near one of the black SUVs in a chair said something. I assumed it was her dog and I yelled at her to call it off. She finally did as I tried to hustle Hans away. I told her to leash the dog and she said “he’s nice.” I yelled at her again to tie the dog up and she just kept saying that he’s a nice dog. A couple walking by saw the whole thing and just stopped and stared at the huge woman, offering no help.
I and many other neighbors have seen both of the black SUVs in the park, often parked in other locations in the park, usually near the kiddie playground and basketball courts.
Hans is fine. I am fine other than bruises, scrapes and achy muscles. But this is a frequent occurrence in the park with homeless vagrants who own dogs.
I called the non-emergency Sacramento Police Department line. The police dispatcher referred me to animal control. Animal Control said they would first refer the call to the Park Rangers.
I heard back from a SacPD representative who said the police recognize this is frustrating and not ideal to have this type of thing happen while you’re walking your dog in your neighborhood.
He referred me to the city’s Department of Community Response (DCR). “As you may be aware, we are not taking the lead on homeless related concerns, unless there is a crime involved,” SacPD said.
He also referred me to the SacPD Captain who oversees the IMPACT Team; a supervisor with Park Rangers since this incident happened at the park; Sacramento’s Chief Animal Control Officer, since there was a loose dog involved; and he said the SacPD Captain was notified.
I responded thanking SacPD and all of those named in his email. And I explained the following:
“Many people don’t report issues like this – a dog attack involving the homeless – because in the face of all of the other violent crimes taking place in the City, a dog attack may seem trivial, but is not. And this isn’t my first stray homeless-owned dog attack. These are quality of life issues, and safety issues, which are not getting adequate attention from the Mayor and City Council. And it’s these issues that are leading to the decline in quality of life in this city.
My husband and our Australian Shepherd were also recently attacked by a loose Pit Bull. Our dog ran all the way home from the Land Park golf course with the pit bull attached to his neck. We were so freaked out, we forgot to file a report.
It is my understanding that DCR is not fully operational and that there is a significant wait time for calls for service. If so, what other alternatives are there for my safety and that of my dog while walking in my neighborhood and park?
I am also aware transients aren’t allowed to live in the park, and specifically not overnight. Yet everyone knows there are regulars sleeping in the park (some dangerous and some not, some crazy, some high on heroin and meth), in cars, in tents, and out in the open under bushes and trees, and even on picnic tables.
I am not trying to unload on you. I have unloaded on the Mayor and City Council, because most of us feel that the elected city representatives are prioritizing taxpayer-provided funding for the criminal homeless vagrants over the police, over the safety and security of city residents and taxpayers, the children and the elderly, and small and large business owners. The city is using taxpayer funds to provide tiny homes, renovated motel rooms and apartments for crackheads, and heroin and meth addicts, who need to be triaged and receive treatment – not tiny homes they will undoubtedly turn into tiny meth dens. Thanks for all that you do. You have a lot of support in the city… just not at the City Council.”
This is why elections matter.
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Katy,
I am very sorry to hear of your traumatizing experience. I am glad that you and Hans did not suffer horrible injuries. As you described your experience, it has many similarities to what is described on NextDoor in my city here in the SF Bay Area time and time again. We are left to fend for ourselves, with very little care or concern from our city leaders. If I were to share that story at our local council meeting, I would be regarded as the uncaring, uncompassionate one. A resident once described a crazy homeless person who came onto his property and pulled down his pants, expose himself to his young granddaughter. The mayor’s reaction was ambivalence, she reminded the audience that we who have had our quality of life disrupted need to be more compassionate toward those that have no regard for civil society.
You are correct, elections have consequences and apathy also has consequences. We have a broken government in this state, when will the majority of people awaken to this, does each and every resident have to have a bad experience, be a victim of crime?
As you have written in the past we have a Homeless Industrial Complex. The current “solutions” keep feeding that beast. And that beast is very hungry.
Your Mayor as well as mine are very happy to take government funding to be a part of that system. That system keeps failing us and the people on the streets in need of help.
Let’s begin to make change and recall Gavin Newsom. It may not be the sole solution but it is a start.
It’s easy to point fingers; not so easy to come up with a workable plan for dealing with the homeless problem caused by unaffordable rents!
The solutions to unaffordable rents is easy Kosmo – local government must stop with their add-on regulations and costs via permits and fees to building permits. Why does it cost $100,000 an apartment unit in Indiana or Kentucky and $450,000 a unit in Sacramento to build or renovate? Government fees, permits and add on costs paid for by developers, and eventually purchasers and renters.
Today’s homeless street people are not the one-paycheck-away-from-homelessness families. Truly financially desperate people have programs available, which they usually find.
Today’s homeless street vagrants are mentally ill, drug addicts and drug pushers who will do anything to score the money needed to purchase drugs. They don’t want permanent housing – they want to be left on the streets to continue the drug-addict lifestyle. Drugs are their mistress and will supersede anything that interferes with the addict lifestyle.
This is why I always advocate professional triage, diagnosis and treatment for the homeless to get them off the streets. Allowing them to live on the streets in squalor is the most cruel decision by supposedly well-meaning do-gooders.
Programs? What programs? This is the same tired talking point that has been thrown around for years. Is there a severe addiction problem, undoubtably. I understand the frustration you must feel, living in one of the wealthier areas of the city. Your tone is all but dripping in disgust at the audacity of the poor invading your picturesque pristine neighborhood. But this “article” doesn’t really add to the solution, and frankly comes off sounding like an apathetic, entitled, Karen with more of a personal agenda, and less a reasonable person, who has been personally effected, but can stick to the facts and make a point. Your emotions are clouding any chance at conveying information or inspiring change. You sound like you’re writing a bad restaurant review on Yelp, instead of penning an article for publication. I hope you and your dog are ok, and I suggest you carry pepper spray when you walk. Because if we’re going to rely on public outrage like this, to create any kind of political pressure, we’ll all be living in skid row before long.
Public outrage is exactly what should occur, outrage by the tens of thousands.
So if you were attacked by a dog what would you normally do? Then if this dog were owned by the homeless, would you do something different? Why? If this happened to you every day, would you do the same?
I agree something needs to be done with the homeless situation okay yes it’s sad thing for anybody to be homeless, but on the other hand what my grandchildren are subject to and us just trying to walk down the street many times I have seen the homeless twatting and relieving themselves on the sidewalks where we walk, my grandson h3 years old tried to play on the jungle gym two blocks from where we live the only place for him to play but we had to turn around and leave because a homeless man was sitting there injecting himself with drugs with a needle I had to explain to my 3-year-old grandson that we have to leave the park and cannot play,. I live in downtown Sacramento numerous times walking my dogs open streets homeless or masturbating standing up against walls having sex with other individuals garbage everywhere around I do my part and even picking up trash even their trash to help but it’s ridiculous how nobody is doing anything about this , the city is allowing all this to happen and they’re not doing anything about it not picking up trash the mattresses on the sidewalk so if I’m walking my dogs I have to walk into the street to go around campers it’s out of hand. What got me angry was when they were having sex on that mattress early in the morning when I took my pets outside to use the restroom a couple homeless couple out there is having sex I call the authorities to come take this away make them go somewhere else the officer on the phone wanted to argue about it scene do they at least have a blanket over them can you see them they’re not exposed they’re not hurting anybody I could not believe my ears it angered me so bad the officer knew this they actually came out an hour later and made them remove themselves anyways my point is I can’t go on living in these conditions because these they’re all around me I am living in their conditions I’m so fed up
So Sacramento’s Democrat Mayor Darrell Steinberg wants to open homeless shelters, tiny homes and tent encampments in 20 residential neighborhoods and locations around the city? One of those locations needs to be next to his expensive home in the Pocket Area of Sacramento? Elections matter, but stolen elections by Democrats matter more?
First of all, Katy Grimes, I’m glad to know that you and Hans were not seriously injured as a result of what sounds like a truly terrifying experience. Second, I assume that the “Department of Community Response” are the so-called social worker police surrogates that show up to talk to these homeless/vagrants who let their pit bull attack dogs run loose on innocent people who are out for a walk and then everything is fine? Right.
This is insanity. More insanity from city leadership that is not just AWOL, but looks to be purposely setting up a situation where such incidents (and worse, I’m sure) routinely happen and the victims of it are unacceptably left with no option but to sue in civil court and never be quite sure if it will happen again. And again.
Excuse me but it seems to me the police should have at least come to the scene to nose around and ask some questions, if nothing else, of the inhabitants of the black SUVs, about their attack dog and to see what they can find out about their likely illicit activities; e.g. drug dealing and etc. The police should have been accompanied by Animal Control officers at the scene of this incident, because they are authorized to take the unleashed aggressive dog and hold it and test it and not return it to its “owner” if they make that determination. If the dog is for some reason not removed (because it is acting so “nice” when they meet), then at the very least Police and Animal Control have the information they need if the pit bull attacks someone else and does serious injury. How do we know that the pit bull doesn’t have rabies, for instance? We don’t.
Sorry, but social workers from the DCR just don’t cut it, even for what is now regarded by authorities as a “quality of life/potential civil suit” incident like this one.
And you said it: This is why elections matter. With a reasonable Mayor and Sacramento City leadership, this incident —- and so many others —- simply didn’t happen. All that happened instead was a pleasant walk in the park in the fresh air with your dog, instead of a pit bull attack dog horror show brought to you by irresponsible homeless/vagrants doing God-knows-what, who shouldn’t be LIVING there in the first place.
I hate to say say it Katy, but you really need to get out of Sacramento
Larry, what eloquence. You must have taken debate in the third grade.
Actually Larry it’s the homeless and the mayor that needs to get out of Sacramento. We never had these issues 15 years ago but thanks to all the spineless politicians we do and they are ruining our city. They think the solution is just throw money at a problem when it goes far deeper. The law is the law and until we actually start enforcing it rather than reward those that break it the problems will continue to exacerbate. I’d start with getting rid of Steinberg
@Rachel,
Great comment.
It really is that simple, the truth usually is.
Larry, so you have no problem getting attacked by a dog owned by the homeless every day? You believe nothing should be done because they are homeless? You believe the homeless can do whatever they want?
I live in Carmichael – and can’t even walk up to the grocery store anymore because unsavory people made a little camp in some untended vegetation alongside the road, that the county never bothered cutting back. It’s a fire hazard, for one thing, it runs right up to a sound wall of several, residential back yards – I complained several times over the last three years, and nothing was done about it -including the time it caught fire. (The person who lived behind that sound wall ran their house down the slope to stop it)
I tried crossing to the other side of the street of a ‘quiet’ neighborhood, but their dogs have been roaming around on that side, and they take to strolling around that area too, for something to do – or looking for people to accost and/or beg money/food for.
I don’t leave my apartment complex anymore without various means of protection, and I’m not talking guns. Lately, I can’t even leave my apartment to check the mail without carrying a large stick or something – because these homeless people roaming around, have been coming into the complex and lounging under the tree, and some were even sitting on the steps leading up to our unit. Deputies can’t do jack sh*t about it, unless an actual assault is happening – at which point -it’s going to be me going to jail for defending myself against a meth head – because it’s now a crime to defend yourself. The one good thing about living in the county –and not the city – are a few deputies who pretty much say, “Well .. as long as you don’t get caught defending yourself …”
Sacramento politicians are $!^#&! useless.
I never leave home without my thumb on the trigger of a pepper spray canister.
CARRY
A
GUN!!!
Don’t you get it yet?
BEWARE: TROLLS AHEAD!
Your description of unhoused PEOPLE is so full of derision, judgement and its honestly just disgusting. Its dripping off the page. WHy was it necessary to reiterate several times that the lady was big? WHy was that even relevant? These are humans you are refering to as meth heads, and peoples family members. These are people recently homeless due to the housing crisis. And Im sorry seeing others suffering upsets you so much but they cant disappear. You sound liike you have more reason to be bothered by them sleeping in cars than them.
I hope this stays in your face and in your precious neighborhood until every one who is attempting to be housed has a fair opportunity to be. Get uncomfortable. And get over yourself a bit too.
Karen.
The description of the dog owner was used for two reasons: 1) the police required it; and 2) because she was not physically capable of chasing down her dog or helping to restrain him.
As for the “unhoused,” very few are victims of the housing crisis. Police statistics show in the city of Sacramento, most are drug addicts and committing crimes to support the habit.
Being homeless is not a crime. But most of their behaviors are. You’ll notice that I advocate for triage and treatment rather than allowing them to live on the streets in squalor.
Put as many drug-addicted vagrants as you possibly can fit into your living space. Your neighbors will love you. In many ways enablers like you are more disgusting and irresponsible that the drug addicts you defend.
Attention “I don’t like Karens”: Your tired blah blah blah boilerplate is useless, uninformed virtue-signaling. What makes you think that your defense of this behavior is helping the “homeless?” It isn’t! And you know it. It certainly isn’t helping people who are afraid to leave their homes because criminals and drug addicts are taking over their neighborhoods. So guess what, no one is helped, no one wins. Again, you know that, don’t you? So go back to your gated neighborhood, the one I know you live in, the one you’re able to afford from the huge salary of your “homeless advocate” non-profit job that wouldn’t exist unless people were living on the streets the way they are now, most in misery and despair because you don’t want a solution to this craziness.
@I Dont Like Karens: The majority of homeless people are substance abusers and have mental illness. Just a fact.
https://areterecovery.com/treatment/drug-abuse-homeless/
Most of the people living on the streets fall into this category as they do not want to live by any rules or think they are entitled to “independence” to impose their destructive behavior upon society.
People who are homeless seeking to better their situation can seek support at homeless shelters. But often reject it. https://www.brc.org/why-would-homeless-person-not-want-go-shelter
I have no right to live wherever I want to. I have no right to disrupt my neighbor’s lives. I have no right diminish my neighbor’s property and injure them or their pets physically or emotionally. I think people who think like you are the most destructive to a civilized society. You offer no solutions to “just get over it”; “get uncomfortable”. I don’t know of one family that did not have to deal with a family member suffering from some form of substance abuse or illness that has a one way street to homelessness. All have experienced the raw pain of this journey but you smugly think others are untouched; not empathic. My family included. The answer to homelessness cannot be found in unconstrained street living. I “get uncomfortable” with this cruelty to all involved. The change begins with the devolved or damaged individual deciding to make the most fundamental changes in their life to pursue something, anything constructive to positively change their life.
@I don’t like Karens,
Funny, you sound like a typical “Karen”, on a rant with no facts, down playing reality because it makes you feel good.
You are conflating two issues. Those working and priced out of housing are given opportunities and assistance through various programs. For the last 18 months, the unemployed have been given rental assistance and rent moratoriums!
Katy is referring to the segment of the unhoused who are chronically homeless due to untreated mental illness and substance abuse.
May I remind you this state has spent BILLIIONS to house the chronically “unhoused” who, are passed out on the streets of California, whether it be Venice Beach, Downtown LA, San Diego, Oakland, San Jose and San Francisco,
Housing first programs are costly with minimal results. The current policies are failing us all!
I do not know where you live that you somehow escaped the current realities most of us are living with.
Here is just one news report to help open your eyes. It is a heartwarming story on the “effectiveness” of housing drug addicts and poor souls who need rehabilitation and mental wellness assistance first.
https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2020/11/12/sf-shelter-in-place-hotels-increase-911-calls-crime/
Yes addicts are human but that doesn’t mean they should get a pass on being decent, contributing members of society. And it certainly doesn’t mean they deserve to be housed and cared for for free. Im sick to death of the homeless problem and those that enable, encourage, and condone it. No one should be allowed to live in filth, excrement, and trash. And no one should be forced to live around those who do. Sorry if that sounds like derision to you. I see it as common decency.
Your article is horribly written and riddled with judgement towards the homeless. God forbid you end up in this situation one day and you are categorized as being either “a methhead, or heroin addict”
Not a professional article and you typically victimized yourself as opposed to Highlighting the actual victims. You should be fired.
Police statistics show in the city of Sacramento most of the homeless are drug addicts and committing crimes to support the habit.
Being homeless is not a crime. But most of their behaviors are. You’ll notice that I advocate for triage and treatment rather than allowing them to live on the streets in squalor.
I am not a victim, but was attacked by the dog owned by a homeless person. Therefore I am judging the dog owner who could not and would not control her dog. There is a difference between “judging” and “judgment.” I’ve chronicled the homeless epidemic in Sacramento for many years now, and the lack of will by the Mayor and City Council to properly address this, despite the many programs used in many cities that work to change the lives of these people.
Anne, I will be more blunt than Katie in my response. Don’t be a pathetic enabler. Katie stated facts and you can’t handle them. Katie Grimes is a hard working individual who contributes to society. Moreover, she is advocating for solutions. She isn’t breaking laws, addicted to drugs or making her neighborhood or city uninhabitable. How many law breaking, drug addicted vagrants do you allow to squat on your property?
Anne, would you mind telling us what your stake is in this continuing nightmare which will only get worse and worse and worse if it is not addressed effectively?
@Anne– IF the author of this article, Katy Grimes, ever became “unhoused” and addicted to drugs as you say in your post, she would be the first journalist to report it as the truth. Just like in this article, just the facts! She would own it and report the truth! No hidden agendas at the CA GLOBE!
Anne I lived in SF until 6 months ago and finally had enough of the panhandlers and homeless begging for money every 5 minutes , peeing and shutting on sidewalks wherever they want, needles scattered everywhere , sleeping in every doorstep and verbally and sometimes physically abusing you wherever you walked. They have absolutely ruined what was once a great and beautiful city and now it looks like Sacramento is headed in the same direction. It’s extremely ignorant of you to throw your 2 cents in the mix when it seems like you offer no concrete solutions to fix these issues . It is amazing to me that the majority of cities that face these issues to the extent they do are usually Democratically controlled cities.
As advised by my neighbor who has maced a few aggressive dogs with a positive outcome I now carry a spray can of mace with me wherever I go so if an unruly dog or person threatens me I’ll spray first and ask questions later
ACTUAL VICTIMS?? Are you serious? The homeless aren’t victims. No one forces them to live on the streets. The fact is the vast majority are addicted, whether you like to admit it or not. That is self inflicted. Its a choice. And it should not be rewarded. It should be ILLEGAL and PUNISHABLE.
My god what a waste of minutes of my life reading this crap smh you are out of touch with the Reality of the problem do you know I’ve seen people that hold down 2 jobs living in motels and families living in there car that work but can’t get into a place not because they can’t pay the rent but because they don’t have 3 or 4 times the rent or all the other fees and other stuff these landlords are taking advantage and yes we should house the homeless who are you to say all of them are meth heads or crazy having a safe warm place to sleep should not be a luxury yes get them treatment but it shouldn’t be either or smh
Marisha, I don’t live in Sacramento, but the county I live in is overrun with drug addicted vagrants. It’s obvious they are addicts (probably 80%+) because when they are arrested they have illegal drugs, drug paraphernalia, stole goods and frequently guns in their possession. The majority of them are released. Some of them are released and re-arrested within 24 hours for the same crimes. A number of them have rap sheets with more than 30 arrests in less than 4 years. Why don’t you solve the “reality” of the situation by housing some of these victims in your residence?
Marisha: Please send these people you’ve seen to an organization such as the Union Rescue Mission who will help them in their plight no matter WHAT it is. If they lost their job and were evicted they can be helped. If they are escaping from an abusive husband or boyfriend they can be helped. If they are meth addicts or alcoholics they can be helped. If they have no job skills they can be helped. They (and their children, if they have any) will be cleaned up, housed, fed, made comfortable and secure in the Mission. They will have to follow rules such as no drugs and alcohol or weapons and they will have to put in some effort if they want to overcome their street life and get back on their feet but they WILL BE HELPED if they are willing to do those things.
Marisha–people with your mindset are the ones that caused landlords to require large deposits! They aren’t the ones taking advantage of the situation, it’s the squatters. Pay your rent, if you can’t afford it, move somewhere you can afford! I was 17, homeless, and pregnant, I worked hard to get where I am! Why can’t you?
Katy, I completely agree with you except on one issue, that the homeless are not in the pocket area, the Mayor’s neighborhood. Like you say they are in every crevice. I live in the Pocket a few miles from the Mayor and they approach us at night out of nowhere, go through our garbage cans on pick up day, camp in our parks, near our stores, roadways and riverwalks, live in their cars and tents, loitering in front of our business asking for handouts. The Pocket has its homeless issues as well, it is not an island set apart from the rest of the city. Maybe the Mayor lives in his own world, idk. But this issue affects the taxpayers in the Pocket as well and nothing is being done effectively to manage it. I believe the Mayor has mismanaged this issue as well as many others with poor leadership. I listen to the words that come from his mouth, i see his actions toward homelessness, crime and spending, and know I have no confidence in him or his staff.
I am sorry to hear this Bill. Whenever I am in the Pocket I see so few. But I am sure they descend on the area at night. I did not mean to indicate residents of the Pocket were immune from the homeless epidemic, just that the Mayor seems to be.
Katie, you seem to have simultaneously attracted a small flash mob of detractors, no doubt because of your effectiveness. They really don’t have any salient arguments. I wonder who’s behind them?
Fed Up: I’m pretty sure your question was rhetorical, but I just want to point out anyway for other readers who may not know that there is a lot of money in the continuation of the Homeless Industrial Complex. (Search it on this website – the author is Edward Ring.) Those who are participants in it and thus those who benefit (politicians, most — not all — “non-profit” homeless advocate organizations, developers, city and county bureaucrats, and the like) are NOT interested in solutions that would help homeless drug addicted, alcoholic, and mentally ill (about 80%, as another commenter said), or those who want to live outdoors who are not interested in doing otherwise or following any rules.
Los Angeles’ Union Rescue Mission, to name one effective “good-guy” non-profit organization, has helped many many many people, transforming the lives of most, including the worst drug-addicted and alcoholic and despairing, but they have rules that must be followed upon entering the Mission, and most on the street are not interested in following any rules, even if it ultimately benefits them. They are also a religiously-based organization and receive no public money, relying entirely on private donations. Katy Grimes has written many times about similar organizations that are located in the Sacramento area.
Showandtell, I know Ed Ring from trade associations, and yes, my question was somewhat rhetorical. The incestuous relationship between elected bodies and the Bum Industrial Complex in my county is well known.
“Elected”: “Oh no! The homeless problem is out of hand. Let’s pour money into the Complex. They’ll fix it.”
“Complex”: Oh no! The problem is much worse than we thought. We need more funds to fix it”.” Etc., etc.
I am a Social Worker of over 25 years and have worked in multiple agencies within the county, schools, hospitals and private foster care that works with the homeless and over that 25 years I have seen this issue get worse and worse. Prop 47, no bail laws, allowing homeless to “camp” on sidewalks and in public areas with absolutely no consequences is not helping and neither is this ridiculous “housing first “ program nor the even more insane “needle exchange” program! As a Social Worker I can no longer get the homeless off the streets, out of their environments and away from the other drug addicts! Some of my most successful cases were those where they had been incarcerated for low level crimes because they were clean and sober and could think straighter after getting off the streets and into a secure environment. Now they are never clean and sober because of Democrats Prop 47 and these ridiculous feel good programs that do nothing. Before Prop 47 I could get them off the streets and into services like drug court, or inpatient rehab with wrap around services but that push is gone now so they are just left on the streets where the huge welfare complex takes the money the state and cities are throwing at it and uses it for their pockets and not for the homeless as shown by a recent study of the issue in San Fran. We need to build more inpatient rehabs, get rid of Prop 47, expand drug courts, and reinstate bail laws. We Social Workers and Probation officers working in this mess can do very little with this population and very few want to give up their SSI money, which they can now use however they want as there are no restrictions as many not conserved because of the lengthy process and lack of psychologists and psychiatrists. That money is mainly used for drugs and alcohol as they get free food, healthcare and clothing from services in the communities and from the state. As a hospital Social Worker I was tasked with trying to get them into rehab after their hospital stay for medical issues related to their chronic drug use and mental health issues and most of them said “no” to rehab services and wanted to go back out on the streets where they could do what they wanted when they wanted despite the endless cycling in and out of the hospitals. These individuals take up bed space in our already overwhelmed health care system which is why we have chronic bed shortages in CA. Our two psych nurses tried to also convince them to go to rehab and worked closely with them to get their meds straightened out but after they were discharged all that hard work was for nothing as they do not follow through. This problem is only getting worse and in my opinion as someone who has actually worked in it it is not “humane” to leave these people on the streets and we need to get them off first and sometimes that means giving them no options which is what we had before Prop 47. People in this state were lied to by the Democrats who were behind that horrible piece of legislation that benefited their contractor buddies, their friends who administer these programs that do not work! Those of us on the ground did not get any more resources that really help solve the issue as it is now about “choice” and they do not make good “choices” while high on drugs or dealing with their mental health issues which are connected. Welfare is big money in this state which is why Democrats and some Republicans continue to support these horrible policies. The only thing these policies do is keep people dependent and do not solve the issues and we all suffer. I use to be a Democrat, for decades, as most Social Workers are brainwashed to be but I walked away after working in their failed social welfare policies for decades. Wake up people, or go work in it and see for yourself how the welfare machine in CA really works!
@Kris,
Thank you for your invaluable first hand account.
It is not only inhumane but criminal on the behalf of the politicians that repeat the lies in order to benefit their cronies inside the Homeless Industrial Complex.
It is a broken merry go round.
Thank you for your service to the community you serve.
steinberg does not want to fix the problem that generates such revenue for the non-profits and government agencies in the form of grants.