This week, Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho took the first step toward legal action against the city of Sacramento over homeless issues.
In a letter dated Aug. 7, Ho gave the city notice it would be charged with a misdemeanor for every day it did not address what he called the “public nuisance” presented by the current unsheltered homeless population.
The DA gave the city 30 days to act on a list of 18 requests. Among other asks, he requested city leaders implement a citywide daytime camping ban, clear 16 encampments and ensure there’s shelter and camping space for 75% of unsheltered homeless people in Sacramento.
A 2022 Point-In-Time count found approximately 6,680 unsheltered homeless people in Sacramento County. The District Attorney’s office said the city has seen an increase of over 250% since 2017.
“I won’t dignify [the letter] with a response,” Mayor Darrell Steinberg told CapRadio after holding a press conference lambasting the letter Tuesday morning. During the press event Steinberg said the city is already working on many of the issues identified by the DA and following all the demands would cripple the city financially.
He directly addressed Ho from the City Council chambers, calling the letter a “political stunt.”
“Your public posture is at best disingenuous and at worst dangerous,” he said.
In a statement, Ho stood by his letter and said his office is giving the city an opportunity to address a “public safety crisis.” He said his office conducted a survey about 16 encampments located throughout the city and received “disturbing and appalling” responses, including reports of assault, harassment and quality of life issues.
This is not the first letter the DA has sent this summer. On June 30, Ho sent a letter to city leaders, including City Councilwoman Katie Valenzuela, asking them to clear encampments outside the downtown courthouse. According to the Sacramento Bee, that letter led the mayor to promise to clear the encampments within two weeks and move people to the city’s newly reopened Miller Park campground.
Steinberg says, on July 26, he asked the DA to work in partnership with the city, county and county superior court. He proposed the DA’s office increase its prosecution of misdemeanor crimes involving encampments and get more perpetrators into diversion programs and alternative courts.
Ho’s latest letter put the burden of prosecution back on the city, asking it to bolster its enforcement of city codes that prohibit sidewalk obstruction, storage of personal property on public property and misuse of parks, among other things.
On Tuesday, Steinberg said it's not in the city’s purview: “Mr. District Attorney, prosecuting violators, respectfully, that is your job. The city does not prosecute crimes. The city attorney has no authority to prosecute misdemeanor crimes.”
The office of Sacramento city attorney Susan Alcala Wood, says it has not received permission from the District Attorney to prosecute misdemeanors, although this could be allowed under state law.
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