Officers arrested six people participating in a peaceful sit-in demonstration on housing and homelessness Thursday inside the lobby of a California legislative office building in downtown Sacramento, according to organizers of the protest.
The demonstration was held inside the lobby of the Capitol Swing Space building on O Street. Offices for state lawmakers and the governor are located in the building.
Members of Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment and Camp Resolution in Sacramento participated in Thursdayâs demonstration. The protesters demanded that Newsom fund affordable housing at scale, fulfill his promise of building one million affordable homes by 2030 and stop the homeless encampment sweeps âthat merely move people from corner to another while causing trauma and harm,â according to a news release from the two groups.
California Highway Patrol officers conducted the enforcement at the protest. On Friday, a spokesman for the CHPâs Protection Section did not respond to requests from The Sacramento Bee seeking to verify information about the arrests.
Jesus Figueroa Cacho, a member of ACCE and among those arrested Thursday, said the governor must take action by taxing Californiaâs big businesses and billionaires to fund affordable housing now.
âAs a long-time nursing care worker who has been unhoused, sleeping on couches or in my car for the last year, Iâm horrified that we spend a mere 1% of our state budget on affordable housing,â Figueroa Cacho said in the news release. âAffordable housing solves homelessness, not sweeps.â
The Governorâs Office on Friday declined to respond to the protesterâs demands or comment.
In a September news release, the Governorâs Office said Newsom, in partnership with the state Legislature, has invested more than $40 billion to boost affordable housing and more than $27 billion to address homelessness since he took office five years ago.
Satearah Murphy, a co-founder of Camp Resolution and among those arrested in the protest, spoke out against sweeping homeless encampments and hoped the governor heard their stories.
Camp Resolution was an encampment of about 50 homeless people living in city-issued trailers on city property in a once vacant North Sacramento lot. Residents of the camp, comprised largely of disabled seniors, were moved out of the location last month.
Sacramento city officials called Camp Resolution âa failed experiment,â mostly because of what they considered âcounterproductive interventionsâ by homeless advocates.
âSince our tight-knit community was bulldozed a month ago, none of us have been given permanent housing, and some of us live across the street from where the camp was,â Murphy said in the news release. âSweeps donât solve homelessness, they cause harm and trauma. We need real affordable housing.â
Pinky Toney, a member of ACCE who also was arrested Thursday, said the the only solution to this crisis is more affordable housing, and itâs time for Newsom to fulfill his promise of 1 million affordable homes.
Without affordable housing available, Toneyâs family was homeless for a year. Even homeless shelters wouldnât take them, Toney said, because her daughterâs allergies were considered a liability.
âI know what itâs like to be homeless. After complaining about black mold in our apartment that was making my daughter severely sick, our landlord evicted us,â Toney said in the news release. âFor an entire year, me, my husband and our two young children moved between hotels, sleeping in tents, abandoned buildings and friendsâ couches.â
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