Homelessness and Housing

Sacramento has an epic affordable housing and homelessness crisis.  ACT has worked to gain cooperation between the City and County of Sacramento to develop a comprehensive plan to end homelessness.  We also understand the intersection between homelessness and mental health and work to expand mental health resources.  We are working to increase housing stability and access in impacted communities, including housing for formerly incarcerated residents and youth.  We are working on inclusionary zoning and ways to assure that affordable housing is distributed through the region.  We are raising affordable housing and homelessness as critical issues in the 2020 local elections.

ACT’s Homelessness & Housing Local Organizing Committee (LOC) Letter to the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors Regarding the FY 2020-2021 Budget:

Dear Chair Serna and Members of the Board of Supervisors: 

Sacramento Area Congregations Together (SacACT) provides these comments on the FY 2020/21 budget that was released on August 28, 2020. 

We appreciate the brief opportunity we had to discuss the general direction of the budget with staff, and we reiterate our concern that the budget MUST address public health and homelessness in a robust way. We understand the county struggles with loss of revenue and increased costs due to the pandemic, but it is essential that decisions about whether to augment or cut programs depart from the “status quo” orientation we see in the proposed budget. Click here to read the full letter.

ACT’s COMMUNITY CALL TO ACTION:

The economy has not begun to recover—families are in crisis and with the eviction moratorium ending, hundreds are at risk of falling off the cliff into homelessness. Over 65% of the applicants to our COVID Emergency Fund have not been able to pay rent since April!

Tell your County Supervisor to support those in our community who have been hardest hurt by the pandemic.

Sample Public Comment:

My name is ____ and I'm a community member with Sacramento ACT. We object to key portions of the budget proposed by County staff and ask the Supervisors to commit to four critical things:

1. Provide at least $5 million in rent relief to match what the City of Sacramento has already committed to its low income residents;

2. Increase funding for homeless services beyond the level included in the proposed budget;

3. Start the process to develop a coordinated regional plan to end homelessness;

4. Commit to an inclusive, transparent, community-led process to develop a budget for next year that truly reflects our community’s needs and values.

How to Submit Your Comment:

The Board is scheduled to approve the County’s $6.2 billion budget during hearings starting on Wednesday, September 9, starting at 5PM and continuing on Thursday, September 10 at 9:30AM.

Email comments can be submitted to the Clerk of the Board at BoardClerk@saccounty.net or online: sccob.saccounty.net/. Submit by Wednesday before 5PM.

Email comments can also be submitted or called in by phone to each County Supervisor. Specific supervisor information in the images and you can find your Supervisor here: https://www.saccounty.net/SupervisorLookUp/Pages/default.aspx