Region Business
Homelessness is the issue of our time . How the business community is leading to find solutions !
Homelessness is the issue of our time and Sacramento is the epicenter of this national crisis . While San Francisco had dominated national headlines as the emblem of California homelessness , this year we saw a 67 % increase in the number of people living on the streets over the past three years . Sacramento now has a larger homeless population than San Francisco — over 9,200 people . In fact , not only have we surpassed San Francisco , but we are told that our exponential growth in the number of homeless has outpaced every city in the Western United States .
Unfortunately , the impacts of this crisis are severe and only getting worse . It ’ s a sad story that we all see every day . Encampments have spread into our neighborhoods and places of business . Public safety and public health challenges have become more common while quality of life is threatened . Our streets aren ’ t clean enough , our neighborhoods don ’ t feel safe , Sacramento ’ s great momentum is at risk . The status quo is unacceptable for our community , for our families , for our businesses , and for those who need help .
Frustrated with the lack of meaningful progress on this crisis , we came together earlier this year to lead the Safe and Clean Streets Campaign and launched a signature-gathering effort to qualify our comprehensive homelessness plan for Sacramento . That plan is now on the November ballot with modifications by the City Manager and City Council as Measure O .
Measure O would immediately require the City of Sacramento to build emergency shelter sites and locations — places for people to go rather than living on our streets and sidewalks — and enforce the laws that we need in place to protect public safety . Homelessness is a human rights and quality of life disaster for our city . Solving it is the unequivocal No . 1 priority of our leaders . Measure O would guarantee that to be the case .
Though an important first step , shelter sites are only part of the equation . Equally essential is providing social services , mental health treatment , and addiction recovery support . Shelter sites established under Measure O would create the ideal environment for the County of Sacramento to deliver these essential services more efficiently and effectively .
In the simplest of terms , the City provides the shelter space and the County provides the services . Unfortunately , the alignment of the services between the City and County has been an ongoing challenge due to the lack of a partnership agreement between the parties . With this in mind , the Sacramento City Council amended Measure O in August to require a City and County Partnership Agreement be in place prior to the measure being implemented . While not what voters were promised back in April , this change gives us an opportunity to lean into this crisis and finally complete the critical tool that we ’ ve all been waiting for .
What would be in the City and County Partnership Agreement ? Nearly everything that we would have wanted had we run a ballot measure in the County in 2024 , like we had planned !
This includes tackling important issues such as coordinated access , coordinated enforcement , shared communication , and how to meet the growing need with social and mental services . The providential situation gives us a chance to accomplish every major aspect of our first-phase goals on homelessness on Nov . 8 — two years early . Make no mistake , there will be more work to do , but we will finally be positioned for success and results .
Since our measure was being made contingent upon a City and County Partnership Agreement , a 4x2x2 Committee was established to review the draft agreement . The 4x2x2 Committee is comprised of four
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