Sacramento’s first-world shame: What can we do to help our homeless neighbors on the streets?

Our community’s most intractable problem is also painfully its most visible.

The first-world shame that is homelessness is impossible to miss. Drive around Sacramento any time, any day and one will see any — and more likely all — of the following:

An elderly man curled up on the sidewalk, trying to sleep and seemingly dead to all that is around him.

A mom holding her child’s hand as they traverse a parking lot, hoping at least one kind soul acknowledges her plea to lower a car window and listen to what she has to say.

A mentally ill man aimlessly and methodically pacing up and down a median — and hopefully not into the oncoming traffic.

A substance-impaired person — looking just dangerous enough you wish you had stopped for gas somewhere else — hanging around outside the gas pump.

A disabled man clutching a desperate homemade cardboard plea for help while strategically positioned at the exit of the fast food drive through lane.

A group of people chatting it up — giving the appearance of old pals — while huddled near tents under the overpass.

Or a young woman carelessly — perhaps defiantly — crossing a busy street, with no regard to personal safety, shouting profanities at you or herself or the world.

How we have arrived at this moment in time is instructive. But the blame game at times seems more like a convenient means to shirk responsibility than an introspective search for solutions.

The county can blame the city for not doing more — or better — and vice versa. Local government can blame state government. And everyone can lay blame at the feet of the federal government. In truth, all almost certainly bear some responsibility for how we landed here, and all play a critical role in how we move forward.

So, too, do the nonprofits, the advocates, the religious institutions, the substance abuse counselors and the mental health professionals. So, too, do many of those who live the scenarios above — many of whom are in their position through no fault of their own, but also others who have simply not availed themselves of resources, or remain unemployed either because they lack skills, education or inclination.

Whatever your worldview or your politics — whoever you choose most to blame — there is room for greater understanding and a seemingly sincere shared desire to solve the problem, or at least make Sacramento a better place to live for all of us.

The situation is too dire to ignore. We at The Sacramento Bee understand this, too,

A Sacramento Bee investigative project

Over the next months and likely well into next year, The Bee will publish “Homelessness: Our urgent human crisis” — an ambitious newsroom-wide reporting effort. As part of this series of stories, we will investigate and assess previous efforts and programs. We will take a hard look at the money being spent. And we will do out best to uncover and illuminate what has worked elsewhere.

Among our first stories the report today by Ariane Lange and Renée C. Byer on Sacramento County discontinuing Project Roomkey. The move will close two shelters and could toss about 200 residents onto the street with no real plan to house them.

There is much more to come. Along the way we will ask tough questions that might also be on your mind:



Why is it that people who are approved for affordable housing can wait not weeks or months, but years on Section 8 waiting lists? How is it that California can spend unprecedented amounts of money on the problem and it only becomes worse? How is it that people who clearly are not able to fend for themselves can be left by society in such vulnerable positions? And why is it that so often the focus of lawmakers is to “move” the problem elsewhere, but so infrequently offer any real alternative to where people can live safely?

We will ask these questions — and so many more. Also, we will do so with care, compassion and honesty, by sharing with you the lives of those who are most affected by this crisis.

10,000 people, and many reasons why

We are now approaching 10,000 homeless people in our county and its cities, assuming we already have not surpassed that number. The most recent total from January was 9,728, according to the federally-mandated point in time count. This number has surged from 5,570 in January 2019, and 3,665 in January 2017.

But that same report also concluded that 20,000 people in the county and its cities are expected to experience homelessness at some point this year.

To accommodate that need, there are roughly 2,300 shelter beds opened by the city and county — all of which are typically full. Volunteers in January counted 1,600 tents — five times higher than the number they counted in 2019.

Those numbers represent life on the streets. There is also death.

At least 11 homeless people have died from hypothermia in Sacramento since 2021.

We understand that those who live on the streets are not a monolithic population, that there are no one-size-fits-all solutions when dealing with such complicated issues as mental illness, substance abuse and a cost of living that can overwhelm even the hardest working and best intentioned.

We also are not naive. A series of stories will not magically solve this problem — no matter how many or how revelatory or how powerful. There is no grand expectation that The Sacramento Bee’s reporting will put a roof over everyone’s head, or ensure a safe place for the mentally ill or needed treatment for those ravaged by substance abuse, or change mindsets of those who either have given up or perhaps never really tried.

Still, it’s a mistake — and a dereliction of our duty to our community — for us to not try. Because when dutiful journalists living in your community raise awareness, hold those responsible accountable and reveal triumphs, progress is possible. Together, we can improve the quality of some lives.

This is an invitation not only to follow along and take in our coverage over the months ahead, but also to hold us accountable for the role we need to play — to offer feedback and tips, and most importantly, to engage with us. We have a created the form below that will allow you to do just that.

Our commitment is that we will do our very best. Our community’s most intractable, most consequential and heartbreakingly most visible problem deserves no less.