Did the homeless population decline in downtown Sacramento? A survey indicates ‘yes,’ but many are skeptical.

Each month, a Sacramento business group sends its workers to count the number of people living homeless on downtown's streets, from the waterfront to Midtown. In February, they finished the survey and were quite surprised: 

The number of unhoused people had dropped dramatically, by 40%.

Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg addresses reporters Friday, August 14, 2020.Andrew Nixon / CapRadio

The Downtown Sacramento Partnership, which conducts the count, says it's hopeful the trend continues. City officials and homeless advocates feel the same. And many media outlets reported on the positive news.

But there's a flip-side: The Partnership's leaders also caution not to read too much into the results, saying the figures might show a fleeting reduction that has more to do with harsh winter weather than anything else.

In the end, it illustrates the ongoing challenges and uncertainty when it comes to Sacramento's homelessness crisis.

“There’s still more work to be done,” Mayor Darrell Steinberg told CapRadio, after touting the results in a city press release last week. “But it does give hope that what we are doing here in the city, and what we have been doing, and what we are beginning to do in partnership with the county actually is a foundation for even more significant progress.” 

The Downtown Partnership survey found the number of people sleeping outdoors in downtown dropped from 200 people last September to 120 in February. Officials say that period coincided with ramped up efforts to help unhoused residents downtown, including the pairing of city employees with outreach workers from the business group. 

A screenshot of the Downtown Sacramento Partnership's report which suggests there was a reduction in the amount of unhoused people living downtown.Downtown Sacramento Partnership

Together, the teams provided services to 500 people experiencing homelessness, including shelter for 43, according to the city. Nick Golling, the city’s homeless services manager, credited those teams “as at least part of the reason for the reduction,” but also cited the weather and increase in events downtown. 

Michael Ault, executive director of the Downtown Sacramento Partnership, said the survey findings are promising but added it’s premature to think downtown has experienced a permanent 40% reduction of homelessness. He explained the survey was conducted on a cold and rainy early February morning when some unhoused residents had likely taken shelter.

“We’re hopeful this is a trend that continues,” Ault said, noting he is seeing the economy improve downtown with more workers coming back to offices, conventions coming back and Sacramento Kings games drawing large crowds. “All this combined is creating potentially a really good story. But the headline shouldn’t simply just be ‘downtown homelessness down 40%.’ There’s a lot more layers to that onion.”

Advocates for unhoused residents say police may have also moved people off the streets downtown. “Law enforcement moves people around all the time,” said Bob Erlenbusch, executive director of the Sacramento Regional Coalition to End Homelessness.

Erlenbusch says he does not question the survey results, but agreed with Ault that there are several factors at play. 

Ault says the downtown partnership conducts homeless population counts at the start of each month, tracking the number of people sleeping outdoors on streets and sidewalks and in alleyways and parks. It takes place between the Old Sacramento waterfront and 16th Street, and from the Railyards to N Street. 

Of course, homelessness is not limited to Sacramento’s downtown. Hundreds of encampments line the American River Parkway, while others are present in neighborhoods from North Sacramento to Midtown to South Sacramento. And even more line commercial and freeway corridors throughout the region. 

A comprehensive survey released last June found a record 9,300 unhoused residents in Sacramento County, up 67% from 2019.

While it’s not the region’s only place with unhoused people, business leaders say downtown plays a key economic role. Samantha Corbin, who runs a government affairs firm near the state Capitol, says downtown’s health and safety is key to drawing tourists, future business investment and convincing young professionals to remain in the region.

Corbin says she hopes the drop in homelessness indicated by the survey continues, but agrees it might have been a temporary phenomenon. She notes unhoused residents typically migrate from downtown to the River District to be closer to shelters and other services during the winter.

“When it’s warmer, where do those people go? Do they end up in Cesar Chavez [Plaza] again? I’m worried the numbers will spike,” Corbin said.

Amanda Blackwood, executive director of the Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, echoed those concerns. 

“We celebrate that we are seeing improvement but now is not the time for elected officials to slap themselves on the back and celebrate a job well done,” Blackwood wrote in an email. “The fact is our City and County are far from being the shining example of what we are capable of.

Meanwhile, for some downtown workers like Hector Roach, the suggestion that downtown saw any reduction in homelessness doesn’t match the desperate conditions they see on the street every day.

“No, that’s a lie. It has not declined,” Roach said while walking west of City Hall, where 10 tents lined the building’s northern perimeter on Monday.

Roach, who said he works in the government sector, added that he regularly observes people lying on the ground or urinating in public. 

“What needs to be done? Control. The mayor, the city needs to get control of it,” Roach said. “Definitely more shelter [and] housing for them.”

The region’s efforts to address homelessness go beyond downtown. 

Over the next year, the city and county expect to open more than 600 tiny homes for unhoused residents at sanctioned camps in Cal Expo, North Sacramento and South Sacramento. The total includes 350 promised last month by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

In addition, local agencies are increasingly focused on bringing homelessness services directly to the region’s largest encampments. That effort will be made possible, in part, through a legally-binding pact signed by the city and county last December called the Homeless Services Partnership Agreement. 

The deal calls for funding up to 600 new homeless shelter beds and for creating 10 city-county outreach teams to visit encampments. Those teams for the first time include mental health professionals who can diagnose people on-the-spot and refer them for mental health or addiction treatment. Steinberg said four teams are now operating, though they are focused mostly on camps south of downtown along the W/X corridor.

Contact CapRadio reporter Chris Nichols at [email protected]