Why is the city of Sacramento mixing children with adults in a congregate shelter at 3615 Auburn Boulevard?!
Dear Senator Ashby,
Apparently the city of Sacramento is still currently mixing children (we were given the heads up that a 6 year old boy was there!) at this city of Sacramento shelter location- in a mixed population with single men- and this is a congregate shelter model with no requirements of sobriety etc. DCRs Nick Golling (who no longer works for the city but is back at privately run “The Gathering Inn” placer county) described in the community meeting last winter-how the populations are only separated by a curtain for sleeping quarters at night at the OEC. This building was designed to be a museum- not a shelter. The configuration is all wrong.
Since this project is in your district we want to remind you of your passionate speech about congregate shelters and how they are NOT on the list of what’s best practice for children- even with women. We know you voted to support this full time shelter project at 3615 Auburn blvd in July of 2022 (which makes absolutely no sense! But especially now- considering that children are there!) when you were on the sac city council.
We urge you, to go and tour the inside of this situation in this park- in your district- and bring local leaders and media with you -to see the condition and verify if this is a good way to do things. (Maybe even spend a night there and see if it’s safe enough or not!)
Given the safety issues detailed by adult individuals staying at this shelter- it doesn’t seem like a good model for children to be at. The county’s Safe Stay model- with individual sleeping cabins- seems more safe and appropriate- or a motel voucher or scattered shelter site. (For children in families).
Please re-watch THIS CLIP from 2019 when you were “City Councilwoman Angelique Ashby”- and you wisely spoke out on these issues about children in shelters before the city council.
The City has no experience dealing with mentally ill and/or drug addicted individuals. Yet, they want to play in this arena and are spending 100s of 1000s to make a political statement. This facility is not suitable for use as a homeless shelter for mixed populations. Renewing the use as a homeless shelter violates Measure O, which the City Council placed on the ballot so voters could weigh in. Any way you look at this, it's government at its finest: poorly thought out, reactive rather than productive, ineffective at solving the problem, no metrics for measuring success. Please come to the rescue and be the voice for women and children by being a voice of reason and common sense that you were lauded for in your work helping women and children that you spoke so eloquently about.
Sincerely,
“Save Our Suburb and RallyForKids.org”
And for our supporters/members of Senator Ashbys district: For further details please see the following news article related to the video clip above. Do things really change so much now that Senator Ashby is no longer a Councilmember? Let’s hope she still cares about kids as much as we believe she does.
"Councilmember Angelique Ashby also voted no, saying the city shouldn’t be in the business of running shelters. She pointed to problems at another shelter in North Sacramento, the winter triage shelter on Railroad Drive just north of the American River, that had a bedbug infestation.
"We don't do shelters, and we really don't do them well,” Ashby said." 2019
"Ashby also said the city is opening itself up to lawsuits by operating shelters.
"This is our shelter, the city of Sacramento shelter. So, if we do do this and a child does get hurt, guess who's responsible? Us,” she said."
Above quotes taken from:
The also Globe reported of city shelter in 2019:
"We had no chance to independently verify the reports because the city studiously barred the media from ever entering it."
Will the city still try to block the media, the County (unannounced) or other government officials from entering into their shelters and exposing the truth about how things are being run?
Let’s also not forget the missteps of the Mayor and all his blunders:
“Steinberg’s public announcement that he wanted to designate the Meadowview shelter as the city’s women and children’s shelter drew a withering response from Ashby, the only woman and mother on the council. Ashby has devoted considerable time while on the council to the special problems faced by homeless women and their children, particularly domestic violence. She excoriated Steinberg for violating Rule #1 of domestic abuse: “You can’t tell abusers where they are.” By publicly outing the site as a women’s and children’s shelter, Ashby said “it’s out for domestic violence” survivors.
Stay tuned! More updates to come soon.