*Update* See the disrespectful response to Aimee’s concerns from the Mayor’s office at end of letter.

This sends the message loud and clear to our community that the city doesn’t care about any concerns we have raised!

Please see letter of concern from a community member with valuable experience, insight and suggestions.

SOS is publishing here with her permission. 

To Whom It May Concern:

My name is Aimee Williams and I am a resident in the Arden-Arcade community. I have 20 years of experience in the social services field, working specifically with homeless foster youth and the chronically mentally-ill. During these years I developed deep insights and understandings of these populations, the hardships they face, and the byproducts of their difficult life experiences. The opinions I'll share below are not emotionally-driven feelings, they are based on extensive experience.

The current plan for the 24 hour homeless shelter on Auburn blvd is wildly irresponsible. Locating it directly next door to the Children's Receiving Home places vulnerable children in an even more dangerous and precarious situation. I vehemently oppose this plan. HOWEVER, I am of the belief that with the proper steps taken you can ease some of the very legitimate fears that have been expressed by the community, and with the proper planning, we can continue to provide for and protect the children while also addressing the homeless problem.

Here are my proposals to create a truly beneficial shelter:

1. MAKE IT A WOMEN AND CHILDREN’S SHELTER ONLY. Having families next door to children eliminates a significant amount of the risk that comes with opening a shelter for individuals (i.e. sex offenders, people with substance use disorders, people with criminal records, etc, etc.) Be ethical in your decision making: The CHILDREN SHOULD COME FIRST. Foster youth often end up homeless (data shows that upwards of 40-50% of Foster Youth will end up homeless at some point in their lives). If we don’t provide the adequate support in their formative years they are likely to become part of the homeless population themselves. Let’s at a minimum commit to providing them an environment that doesn’t further expose them to issues that the city and state have failed to remedy.

2. ONLY accept clients who are referred after a full screening that happens off site. ONLY allow clients to be transported to the shelter by city employees. Do not allow “walk-ins”.

3. Conduct background checks to ensure no sex offenders get in. Please check Megan’s Law for stats on now many transient sex offenders are in a 2 mile radius. You will be shocked at the numbers.

4. Drug tests should be administered. Test dirty? Don’t admit them. Give them the option of going to rehab. Do not give them the option to stay at the shelter while mulling it over. Getting them off the streets is not enough. If you truly want to help, they need treatment.

5. Provide clients with linkages to any and all services available (ESPECIALLY mental health services).

6. Do not allow clients to camp outside the facility OR in neighboring communities. Everyone is envisioning a Loaves and Fishes situation where the shelter extends into a 1 mile radius (It’s obvious you understand how that drives business away which is clearly a huge motivating factor for getting people off the streets). In a 24 hour period, I saw a man camped directly across the street from the Children’s Home who was injecting drugs into himself—I also witnessed two people suffering from psychosis that were half naked. One of the women was touching herself while dropping her pants and underwear. These people are absolutely deserving of compassion and help. At the same time, the children being brought to the shelter should not have those images as their introduction to a place they are told is a “safe zone” for them.

7. Law enforcement should be required to provide a higher level of patrol in the surrounding neighborhoods.

This plan is not helping decrease the stigma that plagues the unhoused. You are not helping solve any long term problem. You will be voted out as soon as possible should this fail. And it will if you don’t have a plan that is created with a combination of compassion, logic and accountability. The primary focus should always be children.

Should you continue to move forward without implementing a safe plan, we will go to the media to expose the city’s lack of planning, foresight, and responsible consideration for the children. We will highlight MEGAN’S LAW and the hundreds of transient sex offenders who live within two miles of the Children’s Shelter. For these reasons, we will publicly recommend that it become a women/children/ family shelter. I have had success in the past working with the media to expose irresponsible decisions that severely and negatively affect our community.
Public service is my life. Giving people the opportunities and the tools to thrive is a passion that will never disappear. Therefore I plead with you to impose strict, thoughtful, and non-negotiable rules and policies when considering the implementation of this shelter.
I have immense compassion for the homeless. and significant understanding of the complexities, frustrations, and detriment that is associated with it. I’m also a logical person, who understands the necessity of intelligent and comprehensive long term planning that will be required for an effort such as the planned homeless shelter. The social support is absolutely necessary for both the homeless population and the vulnerable children, but a viable solution that will serve both has not been presented thus far, and I look forward to the opportunity for further dialogue to help in the process of creating one.

Thank you for your consideration, Aimee Williams

City of Sacramento’s response:

From: Engage@CityofSacramento.org
Date: Tue, Jul 5, 2022 at 1:19 PM
Subject: Auburn Outreach and Engagement Center [ ref:_00D1U1ACkj._5001UxUyEk:ref ]

Hello Aimee,

This is Tristan Robbins an intern with Mayor Steinberg's Office, I just wanted to let you know that I've flagged your concerns for the new Auburn Outreach and Engagement Center. 

Thank you for sharing your concerns with the Mayor Darrell Steinberg’s Office. While we appreciate your engagement and will relay your concerns, we also want to emphasize the importance of the services that future Outreach and Engagement Center on Auburn Boulevard will provide.

Through a contract with the HOPE Cooperative, the center will be able to serve up to 50 people at a time. The facility is on 14 acres of land and provides plenty of space for clients to meet with caseworkers, rest, and eat. It is crucial that any city owned property that meets the eligibility criteria be used for assisting unsheltered residents. The situation is too dire to wait any longer to act.

We hear loud and clear about your concerns with the proposed site’s proximity to the Children’s Receiving Home of Sacramento. Rest assured that the City and our partners will take the appropriate measures to ensure the safety of the youth in the Children’s Receiving Home, as well as the safety of the surrounding businesses and neighborhoods.

The perimeter of the facility will be fenced off, with a strict no camping policy in place. Clients will be carefully monitored, and the facility will have security on site 24/7. Clients will be vetted beforehand and may only be brought in by the Department of Community Response, or one of our trusted community partners. The City is also working with the Children’s Receiving Home to have security protocols in place, particularly if a youth wanders onto the premises.

In alignment with the City’s Homeless Comprehensive Siting Plan, the center will be subject to a good neighbor policy. A good neighbor policy requires extensive community outreach, and subsequently the creation of a memorandum of understanding between the City and the community that outlines expectations and guidelines for the shelter. You can learn more about good neighbor policies here.

We understand your apprehension, but with limited resources, the City must do what it can to meet the moment.

You can learn more about the plan for the Auburn Boulevard Outreach and Engagement Center on the Mayor’s Blog.

Please let us know if you have any additional questions or concerns.

Respectfully,

Tristan Lane Robbins
Civic Engagement Intern
Office of Mayor Darrell Steinberg
City of Sacramento 
New City Hall- 915 I Street, 5th Floor
Sacramento, Ca 95814
Direct: (916) 808-5300
TRobbins@cityofSacramento.org