After having spent so much time this semester discussing homelesness as a general issue or examining its presence in Redlands, particularly at the policy level, I became curious to see how the issue plays out in my hometown, Sacramento. I have notices the increasing number of homeless in Sacramento the past few years, particularly those camped along the river, but knew little else about how the city approaches the issue.

During my research, I found that the mayor, Steinberg, has proposed to increase the amount of funding directed towards the issue. Others, however, oppose this plan, either because they feel the funding should be directed elsewhere, they believe the measures proposed will be too expensive, or because they feel that Steinberg’s plans will be ineffective. For example, some, like  “Councilman Larry Carr, think that Sacramento’s homeless effort needs to be smaller in scale because of Sacramento’s lack of permanent housing where homeless people can be moved… also believes that Steinberg’s plan to erect homeless shelters in every council district in town will invariably place homeless shelters in poor neighborhoods while affluent neighborhoods are spared.”

I understand the reluctance that some feel, and the criticisms they profess. At the same time, these critics don’t seem to have an answer of how they thing the homelessness crisis should be addressed.  Even if a perfect plan cannot be presented, simply ignoring the problem will not help. As one article put it: “The cost of doing something about homelessness is insane. The cost of doing nothing about homelessness is even more insane. Because doing nothing means spending millions just to clean up the mess, move people along, move them in and out of jail, emergency rooms, river beds, doorways, alleys.”

https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article228320264.html