Sacramento grand jury recommends elected officials form new entity to handle homelessness

Sacramento should have an entirely new entity to figure out how to deal with the growing homeless crisis, a grand jury has found.

A joint powers authority, recommended in a report the Sacramento Grand Jury released last week after an eight-month investigation, would contain elected officials from Sacramento County, the city of Sacramento, and each of the suburban cities in the county.

“We always get some version of, ‘can’t we all just get together?’” juror Don Tucker said. “It’s the perfect example of where a JPA makes sense.”

In forming its recommendation, the grand jury closely studied an “excellent” homeless JPA in neighboring Solano County, as well as several in southern California, Tucker said.

Nevertheless, it’s unlikely elected officials will create the JPA. Doing so would require approval from the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors, Sacramento City Council, as well as elected officials of the county’s suburbs.

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“There are currently no plans to create a JPA,” said Rich Desmond, chair of the County Board of Supervisors. “There is very good coordination occurring with (homeless organization) Sacramento Steps Forward and through the county-city partnership agreement.”

Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg seemed more interested in a JPA, but also has “no immediate plan” to place an item on a council agenda to create one, said Mary Lynne Vellinga, his chief of staff.

“The Grand Jury’s call for an even stronger partnership between the city and county on homelessness is both timely and right,” Steinberg, who is not seeking re-election, said in a statement. “Our existing partnership is a good start. Let’s create the momentum for something even stronger. Ultimately, one governing body with all the cities and county gives us the best chance to make the difference that the public rightfully expects.”

Sacramento City Councilwoman Caity Maple favors a JPA and would like to see it happen soon..

“The Grand Jury report laid out a problem that many of us on the ground have seen for years — that we need an official body, responsible to the voters, with the direct mandate of addressing the homelessness crisis,” Maple said in a statement. “We must work together to learn from the mistakes and successes of others while utilizing an economy of scale to maximize the impact of our tax dollars. It’s time for a formal Joint Powers Authority on Homelessness in Sacramento.”

Maple does not have authority to add an item directly to a council agenda, but Ryan Brown, her chief of staff, said she intends to work with her colleagues in the region to explore the possibility of creating a JPA.

City and county leaders in December approved a city-county agreement, under pressure from the Measure O ballot measure, to address homelessness. It included 200 more shelter beds, which have not since been opened. Even if the new beds are opened, Sacramento will still have at least 6,000 homeless people sleeping outdoors, unable to get any of the city and county’s roughly 2,300 shelter beds, which are all typically full.

The agreement also included new multidisciplinary teams to 20 encampments per month, consisting of 10 behavioral health workers.

Grand Jury foreperson Norval Wellsfry said the city-county agreement does not go far enough.

“The agreement provides the kernel of a potential JPA,” Wellsfry said. “The city has to contract out for lots of services.”

For example, the city has contracts with organizations to provide mental health and medical care at its shelters — services it’s possible the county could be providing for free through its health department, city officials have said.

In addition, the JPA would ensure transparency, Wellsfry said. By contrast, to create the city-county agreement, elected leaders formed a special committee to hammer out the details. Despite abiding by the Brown Act, all discussions were held behind closed doors, with the public shut out.

“With a JPA the shades would be open,” Wellsfry said.

Also, jury members said, the JPA could lead to greater efficiency in terms of how money is spent on the issue. Currently, the vast majority of money goes to the county, though much of the homeless problem exists within the cities. That can at times, juror members said, can lead to wasteful duplication of efforts — or efforts that solve a problem for one community but just push it onto another.

Under a JPA, money directed for homelessness efforts as well as program-based decision making could become centralized.