(00:00) California Trust Litigation Attorney Michael Hackard
(00:11) Homeless crisis
(00:17) City leadership has ignored and enabled homeless problem
(00:39) County DA Thien Ho lawsuit against City of Sacramento
(00:52) Failure to enforce laws has resulted in decay, chaos and collapse
(01:05) 250% rise in homeless in Sacramento over seven years
(01:14) Victim accounts of crimes around homeless encampments
(01:29) Situation began to worsen in 2020
(01:46) Sacramento's future is on the line
If you live in Sacramento, you’ve probably noticed how the homeless problem has spun out of control over the past few years. It’s no exaggeration - we’re facing a full-blown public safety and public health crisis.
The city’s leadership hasn’t just ignored the problem; they’ve enabled it. They themselves are comfortably insulated from the crime wave, but law-abiding Sacramento residents - people with families, homes and jobs - are left to face the terrible consequences.
No one in a position of authority has stood up and spoken out for the victims until now. That is why we welcome Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho’s lawsuit against the City of Sacramento for its refusal to confront a serious danger to our city’s residents, especially the elderly and children.
District Attorney Ho spells it out: the City of Sacramento’s failure to enforce the law has resulted in a “spiraling descent into decay” and “utter collapse into chaos.” There are now more homeless in Sacramento than in San Francisco, with a 250% rise over the past seven years. 100 victims from various areas of town were interviewed, and all had similar accounts: prolific drug sales and use; prostitution; robbery; unsanitary conditions around neighborhoods and businesses; assaults and death threats; fires; and abuse of animals.
And nearly all victims report that the situation worsened dramatically in early 2020, when lockdowns and then lawlessness seemingly swept across our city and many others in America. So where will be the breaking point? We hope that District Attorney Ho will succeed in holding the City of Sacramento to account, so that authorities will “consistently enforce the law” and “keep our city clean and safe.” Our town’s future is on the line.