Homeless people cleared by city of Sacramento ahead of Leonardo DiCaprio movie shoot

The city of Sacramento Thursday cleared six homeless tents from Cesar Chavez Plaza ahead of filming for a major movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

City spokesman Tim Swanson said the city posts the “attention to vacate” notices on all tents at the downtown park whenever a permitted event is about to take place, not just the movie.

There are not many other Cesar Chavez Plaza events in the winter, when low temperatures and rain make relocating harder for unhoused individuals.

The city placed bright green stickers on six tents Wednesday during a rainstorm. The storm marked the tail of a major atmospheric river that wreaked havoc on the unhoused community and trapped a 73-year-old in her North Sacramento tent under a felled tree.

The city’s “notice to vacate” flyers gave the homeless 24 hours to pack up and leave the park. All of the occupants were offered spots at the city’s new Roseville Road shelter, and two have so far gone, Swanson said.

Anji Baker said city crews did not offer him and his partner a shelter space when they came to stick the flyer on his cart.

Baker and his partner had relocated to Cesar Chavez Plaza after they had been cleared earlier this week from a spot under the overhang at City Hall.

On Thursday morning, he lay in his tent and shivered under a space blanket.

“It’s terrible,” said Baker, 61. “We have nowhere to go. All our clothes and shoes are wet. We have no food.”

The city has roughly 1,300 shelter beds, but all are typically full, with a waiting list of over 1,200. They did not know where they were going to go, but they knew they were going to be cold doing it amid temperatures in the 40s.

“We’ve gotta put everything in the cart,” said Baker, who was born in Sacramento and became homeless four years ago. “It’s gonna be heavy.”

Crystal Sanchez, president of the Sacramento Homeless Union, criticized the city for uprooting the unhoused from the downtown park to make way for the film crew.

“It is asinine in the midst of an atmospheric storm, against federal laws and protections unhoused people are being moved and placed in greater danger for Hollywood to roll footage in Sacramento,” Sanchez said. “The city permit should have not been issued without appropriately placing individuals in shelter as the city is well aware of the homeless crisis in the area.”

The notices say that filming will not take place at the plaza Sunday, which is the day a large homeless meal takes place every week.

The notices cite a city code section regarding storage of personal property on or adjacent to so-called critical infrastructure. It also cites a section that states it’s against city code to erect tents in parks without permits, but that only applies to tents that are 200 square feet — much larger than the two tents tagged.

Filming for the unnamed film will take place at several locations downtown, including simulated gunfire, car chases, crashes and helicopter work, a city blog post stated.

“We are thrilled to have these creative projects come to life in Sacramento,” Sacramento Film Commissioner Jennifer West said in the blog post. “We appreciate your cooperation and support as we showcase the beauty and vitality of Sacramento through these cinematic endeavors.”

The movie, tentatively called “BC Project,” also stars Teyana Taylor, Sean Penn and Regina Hall. It is directed by Paul Thomas Anderson.

Representatives for DiCaprio and Warner Bros. did not comment on the encampment evictions.

The Bee’s Ariane Lange contributed to this report.