By Crescenzo Vellucci
The Vanguard Sacramento Bureau Chief
SACRAMENTO, CA – Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho—already reported to the State Bar and the state Attorney General for misconduct by the Sacramento Homeless Union—isn’t apparently making new friends at the city of Sacramento, which responded last week to Ho’s threat to file charges against city officials over homeless encampments.
Ho, who made the threats last month after the city was enjoined by a federal judge not to sweep homeless encampments in the city of Sacramento because of the dangers of extreme heat, received the city’s response to Ho’s demand last month that the city bolster its enforcement of homeless camps within 30 days.
The city is noting, now that the judge’s order to cease sweeps is not in force, it is working on it (the unhoused situation).
Ho said his office is “currently evaluating the merits of the City’s response to our proposals to deal with the unhoused crisis affecting the entire city. A final decision on future litigation is forthcoming but will only be made after a thorough analysis of the facts, the law, and a review of the City’s efforts, or lack thereof, to effectuate meaningful change,” according to comments in the Sacramento Bee.
The six-page letter from the city attorney appeared to take Ho’s statements head on, maintaining, “The City is well represented by its legal office and efforts to undermine its effectiveness by making spurious comments to the media only serve to throw blame around rather than actually partner with my office to solve the issues our community demands of us.”
The city added, “The only true approach to resolving the concerns of your office, my office, and the citizens of Sacramento lies in a collaborative approach starting with the District Attorney and the City Attorney communicating in a cooperative manner.”
The long, long letter by City Attorney Susan Alcala Wood to the DA laying out the city’s efforts to resolve the homeless situation, informed Ho: “I think now that I have made you more aware of our long history of collaboration stretching as far back as 2001, and…you in fact do have jurisdiction to prosecute Sacramento City code violations—including unlawful camping violations—in the downtown core.”
Ho has made it no secret he wants 16 homeless camps swept, although Alcala Wood pressed him, noting in her letter that “more information is needed…before a response is possible… you have not yet provided it despite our requests and so no specific response about such encampments can be provided.”
The city’s letter repeatedly reminded the DA that “as you know, the city of Sacramento was prohibited from clearing or moving any encampments in the City by (U.S. District Judge Troy L. Nunley’s) order dated August 3, 2023, for a majority of your 30-day time period.”
Alcala Wood added that when the city learned of the homeless union’s efforts to obtain a restraining order barring the clearing of camps, “my office reached out to your office approximately 4 times for assistance,” but “Ho’s office ‘declined to get involved.’”
She took a shot at Ho’s demand that the city create protocols for outreach, camp management and cleanup and the use of police and non-law enforcement to enforce state law and city codes.
“Given your recent focus on homelessness, I am candidly surprised that you are unaware that the City has a formal policy on outreach, camp management/cleanup, and enforcement of state law and City Code violations through its Citywide Protocols,” she wrote.
She also noted Ho’s aggressive public stance in the dispute, something that led Mayor Darrell Steinberg last month to accuse the DA of politicizing the issue.
Alcala Wood thanked Ho for meeting recently with staff, adding, as an aside, “As you know, I have been reaching out to meet with you since June, but your schedule was apparently unrelenting.”
The city explained—in response to Ho’s statements that the city is not enforcing laws against the unhoused—that one-third of the 20,000 arrests by the Sacramento Police Dept last year were of those identifying as homeless, which make up only one percent of the city population.
“These statistics also indicate that SPD is taking enforcement action against PEHs [Persons Experiencing Homelessness] committing crimes (which crimes constitute over one-third of the crimes that occurred within the City),” Alcala Wood said, countering Ho’s public statements.
The DA has refused to agree to a plan noted by the city to treat the unhoused fairly if they are arrested, and the city letter did state the city was “pleased” Ho suggested “innovative programs like your office’s CORE program that provides offenders with 10 citations the option to be enrolled in drug or mental health treatment in lieu of significant jail time.”
But then the city attorney added, “Why do you see the need to reinvent the wheel with a separate City CORE program? I submit that it would be far more efficient for your office and my office to share the existing CORE program so that we can place offenders in the program today.”
The letter reminded DA Ho, “[w]hen the District Attorney is prosecuting City Code violations pursuant to said consent, the District Attorney’s Office shall be guided by the City’s policies, guidelines, and criteria related to criminal prosecutions.”
“I know you would agree with me that an offender prosecuted by my office for the same City Code violation in East Sacramento should receive the same standard offer your community prosecutor makes to an offender similarly situated and cited in the downtown core. Doing otherwise is unfair and treats offenders differently depending on the geographic area of the County where the crime occurs or on the prosecuting agency,” said Alcala Wood.
The city attorney added, “Accordingly, I respectfully request that you reconsider your position on sharing standard offers with our office so that we honor the commitments in the MOU that seek ‘to assure equal justice is achieved regardless of which prosecuting agency is handling the violations.’
“Given your recent focus on homelessness, I am candidly surprised that you are unaware that the City has a formal policy on outreach, camp management/cleanup, and enforcement of state law and City Code violations through its Citywide Protocols,” the city letter noted in an apparent effort to educate the DA about the city’s efforts to confront the unhoused population.
Ho was reminded in the city attorney letter that “the City of Sacramento must implement the same ordinance citywide; Provide safe and secure locations for those who are unsheltered to store their life necessities during the day and retrieve them in the evening to bring to their temporary campsite.”
