Without a water delivery system, Sacramento’s unhoused face a dangerous summer | Opinion
Just as one of the worst heat waves in recorded history was beginning, Sacramento County decided to stop delivering water to homeless encampments. A source of federal funds had run dry. Keeping the homeless alive simply wasn’t a county priority.
That is an unfair hand to deal to the unhoused Sacramentans who had been relying on this water supply to survive.
Water for any human being is not an option. It is a requirement to exist. This is a black eye to county supervisors who say they do a good job managing homelessness and don’t get credit for it. And now that the county has failed to meet this most basic of needs, the city should be prepared to step in and do the county’s job for them. Neither thirst nor the sun are going away.
It’s quite ironic that the county stopped delivering water just about when the U.S. Supreme Court gave the county and local jurisdictions throughout the West more power to criminalize homelessness. At least in jail, the county provides water.
Delivering water to unhoused is a no-brainer
In Sacramento right now, accessing water for a homeless person requires a search. Tim Swanson, spokesperson for the city, says that there are over 160 locations that provide free drinking water, most of which are parks and community centers.
It is hopeful thinking if the city considers these water sources remotely adequate for the homeless. They are living in poverty, with little to no access to transportation, therefore relying on walking to get to places.
A 58-year-old Sacramento man recently died in his trailer park due to a heat stroke on a 106-degree day. The man who died lived in poverty, not having enough money for air conditioning.
The government is at its very best when it can be a safety net for those who have come across hard times. Yet, the city is not meeting this basic need.
Opinion
This past weekend I was walking in my neighborhood and I saw a group of men laying out on Sutter’s Landing Park. They had taken off their shirts to help cool themselves but even that was not helping them in the 100-plus weather. So I thought of the simplest thing that I could do. I and went to a nearby gas station and bought each of them a liter of water. It cost me only $6 dollars to do that.
They said thank you. And I went on my way. I didn’t do it to gain some special award, or to even write this. I did it because people can die if they are exposed to high levels of heat.
Delivering a necessity like water is not an optional public response to homelessness. It is an imperative, especially in what is shaping up to be a record hot July.
Unhoused people depend on a safety net
Mayor Darrell Steinberg likes to take credit for a recent announcement that the county’s unsheltered homeless population dropped 41 percent this January compared to 2022. It’s progress. But reducing the population further by denying them water would be going in the wrong direction. Thousands are still living unhoused.
The problem of homelessness is a result of a capitalist system that requires money to be the measuring stick of success in our society, leaving behind those who can’t pay ever-higher rents. Our modern response to that system should be to use government for providing support for our less fortunate.
We have got to stop looking at the homeless as a blight that must be removed. Helping to improve the quality of life for citizens is a major component of both local and county government.
The City Council recently approved a $1.6 billion budget that avoids a catastrophe like employee layoffs. Unless the city can convince the county to resume water deliveries to homeless in the city, to deny them water is just plain ignorant.
The city relies on nonprofits to provide most homeless services. We do not need to toss the basic duty of helping people on the financial backs of other organizations.
If the city doesn’t want to just give a necessity like water to people who need it most, then we’ve completely missed the point on what the government is supposed to do.
During the scorching heat wave that has engulfed Sacramento, there is a realization that we all endure this heat together. So let’s act like it.
