California city council holds meeting to deal with homelessness
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CBS, KYMA/KECY) - Homelessness took center stage during a special meeting held at Sacramento City Hall.
Critics and supporters attended the meeting. While both sides agree that something needs to change, but how to go about it is why they're are split.
Last October, the city banned homeless camps within 500 feet of schools. The Critical Infrastructure List already includes places like utilities, public transit and government buildings.
The city council unanimously passed the addition of the downtown courthouse and District Attorney’s Office. The District Attorney opened an investigation to determine whether the city violated the law in its handling of the homelessness crisis.
Critics said they see this as a form selective enforcement.
"I would think the way it’s written right now is in clear violation of Martin v Boise because it’s so expansive because it basically says, well everything in the city is critical infrastructure and homeless people can only be in a small section of it," said Bob Erlenbusch, Executive Director for the Sacramento Regional Coalition to End Homelessness.
The Martin v. Boise ruling means cities can’t enforce anti-camping ordinances if they don’t have enough homeless shelter beds available for their homeless population. As for whether the City Manager, Howard Chan, should oversee new temporary homeless shelters, there was some opposition, but there’s a lot of support from residents and business owners.
