Where are Camp Resolution’s homeless to go? Sacramento to break a lease promise | Opinion

Tom Philp
·5 min read

When a divided Sacramento City Council assigned City Manager Howard Chan with the establishment of new “safe ground” homeless-managed encampments last August, there were two legally sanctioned homeless camps in the city at the time. Soon, there may only be one.

The city announced recently that it intends to close the Camp Resolution encampment in North Sacramento by mid-May. Breaking its lease for the city-owned site amounts to breaking a promise.

The city had contractually obligated itself to keep Camp Resolution open through automatic lease extensions until the residents in its 33 promised trailers (fewer materialized) had all found permanent housing.

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When city officials signed this lease in May of 2023, they knew that to honor this lease condition, they would likely need to obtain an extended waiver from the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board to keep the camp open. The water board, concerned about vapor contamination at the former vehicle maintenance site, agreed to the temporary waiver on the condition that no residents live on the ground in tents.

But the city didn’t even try to get a longer waiver. Asked why, city spokesman Tim Swanson referred to a Nov. 14 letter from Sacramento District Attorney Thien Ho demanding the closure of Camp Resolution. In the letter, Ho said, “It is dangerous and deplorable to house the unsheltered on a toxic dumpsite where people are exposed to cancer-causing chemicals. To do so is not only inhumane but raises questions regarding criminal liability.”

Camp Resolution co-founder Sharon Jones feeds chickens at the North Sacramento homeless encampment last week. Jones said she wanted chickens for a long time and they wake her up every morning. “They are really smart,” Jones said. Renée C. Byer/rbyer@sacbee.com
Camp Resolution co-founder Sharon Jones feeds chickens at the North Sacramento homeless encampment last week. Jones said she wanted chickens for a long time and they wake her up every morning. “They are really smart,” Jones said. Renée C. Byer/rbyer@sacbee.com

At this time, said Swanson, “The city cannot comment further on Camp Resolution because of the threat of prosecution made by the Sacramento County District Attorney in his Nov. 14, 2023, letter.”

Camp Resolution is far from perfect. It does not have electricity or water for the trailers. But for its residents who have become a tight-knit community, Camp Resolution is a far safer environment than living on the streets. It is the most affordable Safe Ground site sanctioned by the city — the city pays nothing to a Sacramento non-profit organization to keep it running.

Joyce Williams washes dishes daily by heating plastic water containers in a pot on her propane gas stove at Camp Resolution last week. There is no water or electricity inside the city-provided trailers. The camp inhabitants use generators for fans to keep them cool and for lighting when the sun goes down. Renée C. Byer/rbyer@sacbee.com
Joyce Williams washes dishes daily by heating plastic water containers in a pot on her propane gas stove at Camp Resolution last week. There is no water or electricity inside the city-provided trailers. The camp inhabitants use generators for fans to keep them cool and for lighting when the sun goes down. Renée C. Byer/rbyer@sacbee.com

Sharon Jones, who has been homeless for more than five years and who is also a “co-founder” of the Camp, said back in December she felt that Ho was using Camp Resolution and its residents “as a political pawn.”

“Why is he messing with us?” Jones asked. “He should be prosecuting criminals.”

The city seems more afraid of the district attorney than of breaking its lease commitment to Camp Resolution residents.

Mark Merin, the Sacramento attorney whose Safe Ground organization signed the Camp Resolution lease with the city, said its residents have a “pretty good argument” to challenge the city’s eviction in court.

Joyce Williams drinks her coffee, with a cup and saucer the way her grandmother taught her, at Camp Resolution. It was the third cup of the day for Jones, who said she is constantly drained by emotional stress. That morning she and other encampment residents spoke at a state Senate committee hearing against SB 1011, which would criminalize homeless encampments. The bill was voted down. Renée C. Byer/rbyer@sacbee.com

Chan announced the opening of a new site on Roseville Road site in January. The trailer encampment for 240 people on city at the North Sacramento site was viewed as a sign of progress in city efforts to get homeless people off the streets.

A previous encampment at Miller Park had just closed at the end of 2023 while Resolution remain opened. With Camp Resolution closing, that leaves the Roseville Road site as the city’s only Safe Ground site in the city. Sacramento County is in the process of setting up a “Safe Stay” tiny home site on Stockton Boulevard.

But reducing the number of city-managed Safe Ground sites was hardly the expectation when a divided city council gave Chan the authority last August.

“This is an emergency,” Mayor Darrell Steinberg said at the time. “Treat it like an emergency.”

The council gave Chan this authority because these elected officials had not been able to make the tough decisions on where to establish new Safe Ground sites, particularly in their own districts. Delegating the responsibility to Chan, the highest-paid city manager in California, has not enhanced the lack of political will in Sacramento to identify managed homeless camp sites within city limits.

Joyce Williams smiles as she explains lask week that she and her wife Sharon Jones made pin holes in plastic water bottles to create a drip system in their vegetable garden at Camp Resolution. Water and electricity are not available at the self-governing encampment, but this is one of their improvised solutions for sustainable farming. Renée C. Byer/rbyer@sacbee.com

With the city and the state facing fiscal crises, their respective financial emergencies are eclipsing the homeless emergency. Where are Camp Resolution’s residents supposed to live in safety?

All this is happening against an ominous national backdrop. The Supreme Court this morning is scheduled to hear a case that could overturn a previous ruling that restricts cities like Sacramento from moving homeless residents from public property absent available shelter.

Allowing local governments to sanction and even arrest homeless people because of their unhoused condition could ignite fierce local debates. Sacramento’s decision to sever its Camp Resolution commitment only exacerbates a homeless crisis driven by a lack of shelter for people who need it.

The buck stops in Sacramento with a Sacramento City council that seems more concerned with homeless politics and residents who oppose shelters. Chan, meanwhile, is listening to the district attorney over the wishes of Camp Resolution’s vulnerable residents.

An earlier version of the column incorrectly stated that Sacramento City Manager Howard Chan announced the opening of Camp Resolution this January. The new Roseville Road site with trailers and tiny homes was announced in January.