Two Sacramento council members propose citywide daytime homeless camping ban

New information has become available since this story was first published. This story has been updated.

Two Sacramento City Council members are proposing a controversial citywide daytime ban on homeless encampments.

Councilmen Eric Guerra and Rick Jennings submitted a proposal earlier this fall for the council’s Law and Legislation Committee to consider. The city posted an agenda Thursday on its website which included the item for discussion at its Tuesday meeting. The discussion on Friday was delayed until Jan. 16.

Under the proposal, people would be banned from camping citywide during daytime hours and would be given access to storage for their belongings.

“The rationale is to provide relief to residents, businesses, and visitors of the city from the impacts of homeless encampments,” the proposal stated. “There is an equal call to provide services to the unhoused (using the city/county partnership) and enforcing meaningful, comprehensive and consistent homeless camp management to enhance and protect our community’s quality of life.”

The three-page proposal lacks details about cost, enforcement and hours implemented. It does not mention the creation of new shelter beds. The city has roughly 1,100 shelter beds and spaces, all of which are typically full, leaving thousands still on the streets.

Guerra and Jennings did not immediately respond to phone calls and text messages seeking comment for this story.

On Tuesday, the four-person Law and Legislation Committee will likely advance the ban to the full council for a vote.

Guerra and Jennings are both on the committee, as well as Councilwoman Lisa Kaplan, who said she wants it to be discussed at full council. Councilwoman Katie Valenzuela, the chair of the committee, is concerned with the proposal, she said.

“Addressing people camping on the streets is a huge priority for all us,” Valenzuela said. “I think having storage makes sense, but the time and resources we would need to enforce a daytime camping ban would be better spent investing in finding a place for them to go.”

If the full council approves the ban, it could be struck down in court. A county circuit court judge in Oregon this month halted Portland from enforcing its daytime camping ban, four days before it was set to go into effect. That city’s ordinance was set to prohibit camping on public property between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. and to restrict where people can rest during all other hours. It also was set to ban people from using gas heaters or selling bikes on public property at night. After three violations, people would be fined up to $100 or could spend up to 30 days in jail.

If Sacramento were to adopt a similar ban, it would likely be met with a lawsuit similar to the one against the City of Portland.

“We would almost certainly challenge it in court,” said Anthony Prince, an attorney for the Sacramento Homeless Union, which has sued the city several times. “This would not end homelessness, that’s for sure. It can’t and it won’t.”

The two council members, working with the city attorney’s office and city manager’s office, have been using San Diego as a “framework” for their proposal, the document stated. The document did not provide details of what San Diego ordinance it was referring to.

Sacramento District Attorney Thien Ho, has filed a civil lawsuit against the city over homeless camps, in August wrote a letter to city officials telling them to start banning camping citywide daily, from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., among other suggestions. The fight between Ho and city leaders has continued to escalate since then.

Guerra and Jennings’ proposal is dated Sept. 21, just weeks after Ho’s Aug. 7 letter suggesting the ban. The council members’ proposal did not become public until the city posted the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting to its website on Thursday.

Asked for a comment about the daytime camping ban proposal, Mayor Darrell Steinberg, through his Chief of Staff Mary Lynne Vellinga said:

“Three months ago we launched a new incident command approach to reducing homelessness, led by our fire department. As a result, the number of encampments has visibly declined. Our city manager says he will soon announce a new safe camping site that is a key piece of our two-pronged approach, which includes enforcing our ordinances and providing a place for people to go. We need to stay the course.”

The ban is scheduled to be discussed by the committee on Jan. 16.