The mayor of Sacramento said the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling upholding governments’ power to impose civil penalties for outdoor camping would not change the city’s “balanced, compassionate approach” to the homeless. However, the city and county passed ordinances in 2022 that allow officers to move and fine people even if no shelter beds are available — and they have enforced the law.
The new ruling, issued Friday, overturns the 2018 decision in Martin v. Boise, which prohibited cities from criminalizing homeless people on public property unless a shelter bed is available for them.
The city of Sacramento generally interpreted Boise as meaning it could not clear camps on public lands without offering shelter beds (which are typically full). During the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control issued more guidelines banning sweeps, leading the city to pull back even further on sweeps.
In 2022, amid complaints from homeowners and business owners, the city and county passed ordinances banning encampments that block sidewalks, as well as along the entire American River Parkway. The city also has an ordinance prohibiting “unlawful storage of personal property on public property.” These ordinances have given the city leverage to open up camps on public lands even when no shelter beds are available.
In March, two homeless women showed the Sacramento Bee citations they had received from the county and city for camping on public property.
On March 13, a Sacramento police officer handed Theresa Rivera a criminal charge, similar to a traffic ticket, for storing personal property on public property and posting a sign on a sidewalk – violations of city ordinances. After receiving the ticket, Rivera, 45, who uses a wheelchair, tried to quickly pack up camp before a storm hit. She now faces a $233 fine, according to court records.
Fourteen days later, across the river in a field in Rio Linda, a deputy gave homeless Carol Dutcher a misdemeanor citation for violating a trespassing law. The address on the fine is 6325 Linda Lane, a public land owned by the county.
Dutcher tried to ride her bike to court on Wednesday for her scheduled appearance but fell and was unable to attend, she said.
It’s now possible she has a warrant out for her arrest, said Sgt. Amar Gandhi, a spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office.
“The ticket was a huge stress,” Dutcher said Friday. “I’ve never been charged with a crime in my life. It makes me fearful of law enforcement.”
Sacramento Officials Respond to Grants Pass v. Johnson
The decision in Grants Pass v. Johnson, which weighed the legality of anti-camping ordinances in the city of Grants Pass, Oregon, gives local governments the ability to outright ban homeless encampments on all public property at any time of day, said Jeff Selbin, a law professor at UC Berkeley.
“I think it’s a green light for eviction if that’s what a city decides to do,” Selbin said. “It’s an invitation to do that. Hopefully no city will do that. I’d be surprised if Sacramento adopted that as a formal policy. But I think it’s going to increase harassment, fines and suffering without addressing the underlying crisis of affordable housing and temporary shelter.”
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg, whose term ends in December, said the ruling should not affect how the city handles homeless encampments.
“Sacramento’s homeless population has fallen 41% from 2022 to 2024 thanks to our strategy to combine increased shelter, housing and services with a requirement that people not live in large encampments and ordinances that protect sidewalks, parks and other critical spaces may violate,” Steinberg said in a statement, citing a new report showing the city’s homeless population is declining.
Spokespeople for the city manager’s office and the county both said they were reviewing the Supreme Court ruling and would continue to provide homeless services.
Although City Council members Eric Guerra and Rick Jennings have previously attempted to implement a ban on daytime camping, there has been little interest in the current City Council to pass new homeless bans.
Guerra supports the new ruling because it gives the city more “tools to use for enforcement.”
“This decision is critical to allowing us to protect our public spaces, because we can make our city safer while also being compassionate to those who need it most,” Guerra, who was recently re-elected to the City Council, said in a statement. “This decision gives us a better chance to do both.”
District Attorney Thien Ho also celebrated the ruling Friday. He had publicly criticized the city in August 2023 for not issuing fines to homeless people who blocked sidewalks. Ho, who has also sued the city over the homeless camps, filed a brief asking the Supreme Court to hear the case.
“Since my office filed the lawsuit against the city seven months ago, we have seen more consistent enforcement than in the past seven years,” Ho said in a statement to The Bee. “In fact, all 16 encampments named in my lawsuit have been cleared. The mayor’s Martin v. Boise experiment can no longer be used as an excuse for inaction. We must now redouble our efforts to provide comprehensive services and compassionate enforcement, with an approach guided by empathy, respect, and a commitment to creating a healthier, safer Sacramento for all.”
Sacramento’s largest homeless services provider, Loaves & Fishes, was much less pleased with the ruling.
“The criminalization of people without housing will only create more barriers to the services so desperately needed to support their access to housing (and other) services,” the nonprofit said in a statement. “At Loaves & Fishes, we stand with our vulnerable, unhoused neighbors, and we will be here to support their survival in the wake of this ruling.”
Sacramento’s homeless population skyrocketed to about 9,300 in 2022, before declining to about 6,600 in 2024, according to federally mandated Point in Time reports that used a variety of research methods.
The city has a waiting list of about 2,400 people for its 1,300 shelter beds. The county, which has a larger budget, has about 775 shelter beds. It plans to open more than 250 new shelter beds soon at Stockton Boulevard and Watt Avenue.
Sacramento County Supervisor Rich Desmond said the decision will not prevent the county from opening new shelter beds.
“It certainly won’t impact our efforts to continue building shelter capacity for people so they have a safer alternative to the outdoors,” Desmond said.
