Sacramento County's latest Point-in-Time (PIT) count shows the number of homeless individuals in unincorporated areas has increased by more than 100% over the past two years, from 560 to 1,140. This comes as the county was considering major budget cuts.
The problem led Holly Tolbert to create her own social media group chronicling the problems in an effort to help neighborhoods she says have been "impacted severely."
"We have problems with trash and litter and debris, and it doesn't seem to be getting any better," Tolbert said.
The new spike in numbers comes as Sacramento County Sheriff Jim Cooper proposed eliminating his homeless outreach team to meet county budget cuts.
"It makes a difference how it's enforced," Cooper said. "Being homeless is not a crime."
Ten deputies who have responded to approximately 4,500 calls at homeless encampments in the past year would be moved back into patrols under that proposal.
"Just imagine you have to chase down people who are homeless and count them. That in and of itself is very, very hard," said Chris Evans, who runs Sacramento County's Homeless Navigators nonprofit.
He says the PIT count is an unreliable accounting of the county's homeless problem. Still, he said he is seeing an increase in numbers.
"I think it's addiction, and I think it's more people," Evans said. "I think that one thing that's happening is some other states are toughening up how they handle some of their welfare cases and some of the money they offer."
On Wednesday night, the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors approved its budget with a 4-1 vote. County supervisors voted to save the funding for the sheriff's Homeless Outreach Team, but they did make other cuts to the sheriff's department and the county District Attorney's Office.
The county reduced cuts to the sheriff's department from a proposed $13 million down to $6.59M. Among the cuts was the sheriff's problem-oriented police team. The deputies in that team did not lose their jobs, meaning they will be reassigned to patrol.
Separately, the county also cut funding to District Attorney Thien Ho's office. Ho said his office will no longer prosecute misdemeanors as a result of the cuts.
The sheriff's office reports that, besides the visits to encampments, homeless outreach deputies also removed 770 tons of trash and recovered 775 grocery carts last year.
They referred 183 individuals for social services.
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