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Sacramento County Homelessness Articles



Image caption: Clifford Smith sits at a house he was leading for City Net in September 2023. Smith was previously a house leader for Sacramento Self-Help Housing, which collapsed and went bankrupt last year.
After Sacramento Self-Help Housing—What Happens Now

The 2023 collapse of Sacramento Self-Help Housing has led to a large hole in local services. But it also shows problems go well beyond the former nonprofit.

Image caption: The O Lot Safe Sleeping site at Balboa Park in San Diego on March 22, 2024.
Is San Diego Homeless Camp Ban ‘Successful’?

A new bill would make it illegal for homeless residents to camp in certain places, such as near schools, throughout California. Its authors say such a ban has had great success in San Diego. But a closer look at that …

Image caption: Kimbley Browning and her son Ronnie photographed at Camp Resolution in 2023.
The Beginning of the End for Sacramento Self-Help Housing

As problems accelerated for Sacramento Self-Help Housing, human impacts deepened, with people the organization once helped facing the prospect of homelessness.

Folsom Times logo LOCAL NEWS
Folsom Council Won’t Move Forward on Homeless Resource Site Near Historic District

Mayor cites topic as a bad idea after “taking the heat” from capacity crowd at city hall

Folsom Times logo LOCAL NEWS
Folsom Council to Review Possible Homeless Services Site at Former Railyard Tuesday

The Folsom City Council will hold its final public meeting of the month on Tuesday. Among the items on the agenda will be the review an analysis of possibilities and impacts of providing a homeless services facility at the former …

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Growth and Problems for Sacramento Self-Help Housing

As the numbers of people experiencing homelessness in the Sacramento area grew, the once-nimble SSHH expanded its services. Problems quickly followed.

Sacramento News and Review logo LOCAL NEWS
Protecting Pets in Sacramento’s Unhoused Community

By Keyshawn Davis Seven months ago, Joseph Rival drove to California from Oregon with his mother, who’d recently had a stroke, because she wanted to...

Sacramento News and Review logo LOCAL NEWS
Coordinated Access System creates one ‘front door’ for Sacramentans in need of shelter

By Marie-Elena Schembri In 2023, the city of Sacramento ranked in the top three U.S. cities for percentage of unsheltered homeless individuals and families and...

Sacramento News and Review logo LOCAL NEWS
Beauty in the eyes of the community: Nonprofit focuses on making unhoused people ‘feel inherently beautiful’

Beauty 2 The Streetz visits Sacramento to provides local homeless with beauty supplies, essentials By Katerina Graziosi Dusk falls as Shirley Raines sits at the...

Image caption: Mark Oden was among the thousands of chronically homeless people helped by Sacramento Self-Help Housing prior to the organization’s failure.
The Collapse of Sacramento Self-Help Housing

A once-groundbreaking nonprofit working with chronically homeless people in California’s capital closed and filed for bankruptcy in 2023.

Sacramento News and Review logo LOCAL NEWS
In California’s housing crisis, a senior fights to keep his place in the world

Facing eviction after 30 years, Mike Balog says moving out would mean losing his community, part of his identity and having nowhere else to go....

Image caption: Under a new law, homeless people in San Mateo County can be criminally charged for refusing to move to a shelter.
Should Homelessness be a Crime? New San Mateo County Law Allows Charges

In San Mateo County, a new law allows police to charge homeless people with criminal offenses if they don’t accept shelter. SCOTUS will soon weigh in with a potential landmark decision in an Oregon case.

Sacramento News and Review logo LOCAL NEWS
Community organizer Hazel Watson on the power of relationship-building as a pathway to stronger communities

By Hannah Ross Hazel Watson has over seven years of experience networking and advocating on important issues within the Sacramento community from housing and homelessness...

Image caption: As residents continue to exit California, the state’s political power at the national level is at risk.
California Exodus, Housing and the State's Political Future

The California housing crisis is not only weakening the state politically at the national level, it could shift the political balance in Washington, D.C., as Republican-led states add population while California’s exodus continues.

Sacramento News and Review logo LOCAL NEWS
Counting Sacramento’s homeless: Volunteers set out across region for biennial Point-In-Time Count

By Chris Nichols and Keyshawn Davis Heather Coffman says she left her home nearly two decades ago to escape the domestic violence that shattered her...

Image caption: Only one city in California guarantees tenants access to a lawyer when they face eviction.
For Tenants Facing Eviction, Lawyer Makes All the Difference

San Francisco provides all tenants facing eviction access to an attorney. Across the Bay, in Contra Costa County, it’s a different story. Two tenants’ stories show the difference a lawyer can make.

Image caption: “The era of saying no to housing is coming to an end,” says state Sen. Scott Wiener, author of two new housing laws.
Building Affordable Housing Gets Easier Under 2024 California Laws

California lawmakers made an effort in 2023 to remove red tape around new affordable houses, but obstacles such as high interest rates, sluggish local approval processes and a shortage of skilled construction workers remain.

Sacramento News and Review logo LOCAL NEWS
City program protects renters from evictions — with families of color facing the greatest risk

By Keyshawn Davis Samuel McCurin and his son were evicted from their South Sacramento apartment in August. With the loss of his apartment, he also...

Image caption: The state has $576 million to dole out to affordable housing developers. They say they need $3.5 billion.
End-of-Year Affordable Housing Funding Blast Comes Up Short

The state has hundreds of millions to spend on affordable housing. Developers say they need billions.

Featured

The California mental health crisis is tied to both homelessness and rising crime.
California’s Mental Health Crisis: How We Got Here
Gov. Newsom has a new plan to help get mentally ill Californians into treatment.
The cycle of crime and homelessness is escalating, but it doesn't have to be that way.
Homelessness and Crime in California: Even More Complex Than You Think
What causes the cycle of homelessness and crime, and how to stop it.
Kerry Wood, CEO of the Sacramento Region Community Foundation, says the organization researches areas of need to help donors direct their contributions.
What Is a Community Foundation?
By channeling funds to a number of nonprofits working on various issues in a given region, community foundations help solve big problems throughout California.
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