A new lawsuit from a Democratic district attorney against the city of Sacramento shows a growing frustration of Democrats with the state’s homelessness issue.
District Attorney Thien Ho of Sacramento County filed the lawsuit against California’s capital, alleging that the city’s policies had caused the homeless population to endure “Third World” squalor while housed residents were made to endure threats of violence and a hazardous environment. The suit came two months after Ho threatened city officials if changes weren’t made, the Sacramento Bee reported.
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The 36-page lawsuit bemoans the city’s “descent into decay and this utter chaos.”
“The unhoused deserve to feel and be safe,” the court filing reads. “Among the chronically homeless, those who have been unhoused for over a year, 9 out of 10 women have been victims of sexual assault… During the recent heat wave in the summer of 2023, unhoused people were seen walking on the sizzling sidewalk barefoot. During the cold winter months of 2022, unhoused people were seen wrapped in blankets standing in the pouring rain.
The lawsuit focuses equally on the squalid conditions endured by the homeless and the troubles housed residents face.
“It’s not compassionate to let someone die in the sweltering summer sun or freeze to death in the cold winter night. It’s not compassionate to allow unsafe conditions to fester so badly that a 14-year-old boy cannot ride his bike to school or a group of little girls can’t play soccer on a field littered with needles,” the lawsuit reads. “It’s not compassionate when someone in a wheelchair cannot use a sidewalk blocked by tents or a small business is forced to close forever due to repeated broken windows and vandalism.”
The lawsuit noted that homelessness has grown by over 250% over the past seven years.
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Though the suit didn’t name any city officials as defendants, several of them were quick to denounce it as a politically motivated move put forward by a fresh, opportunistic prosecutor and local business interests.
“The frustration that members of our community feel is absolutely justified,” Democratic Mayor Darrell Steinberg said in a statement minutes after the lawsuit was announced. “The council has endorsed and is pressing for strong enforcement of our codes and the law. But the D.A.’s lawsuit will not clear a single sidewalk nor get a single person off the streets. We are working day and night to enforce our laws and provide relief to our community while avoiding the futile trap of just moving people endlessly from one block to the next. Frankly, we have no time for the District Attorney’s performative distraction from the hard work we all need to do together to solve this complex social problem plaguing urban centers throughout the state and nation.”
