Fighting homelessness in Sacramento

Business Daily

BBC

News, Business

4.4 • 796 Ratings

🗓️ 21 February 2022

⏱️ 18 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

California's state capital suffers from a serious shortage of housing, like much of the Golden State. Small informal encampments along riverbanks or the side of the road are a common sight.

We hear from Laura Nussbaum, a woman living in one of these camps in Sacramento. She's trying to get back into permanent housing but doesn't think she'll get any help from the city. Meanwhile, the mayor of Sacramento thinks his city should pass a law which gives everyone the legal right to housing. Darrell Steinberg tells presenter Sarah Hawkins how it would work, and why a law is needed to cut through red tape.

But not everyone is convinced; Faye Wilson Kennedy of the Sacramento Poor People's Campaign worries that the law could force people to choose from the city's very limited list of housing options without necessarily building new options. And local reporter Chris Nichols gives us the perspective of local builders, NIMBY groups, and even some YIMBY groups who positively want new developments to take shape.

(Picture: Woman living in an encampment in Sacramento; Credit: Andrew Nixon)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, I'm Sarah Hawkins.
0:03.0	Welcome to Business Daily from the BBC.
0:05.5	Today, we're talking about homelessness.
0:08.0	In many cities around the world, putting a roof over your head has never been harder.
0:12.4	The problem is especially acute in the U.S. state of California and its state capital.
0:16.9	In Sacramento alone, we have more than 11,000 people unhoused on any given day and night.
0:24.0	In California, it's more than 200,000 people.
0:27.7	The mayor wants to make housing a fundamental right for all Sacramentoans.
0:32.1	Both the public sector and the private sector would be motivated to produce a lot more of all kinds of housing if it were
0:40.8	legally required.
0:42.3	But would they?
0:43.3	That's here on Business Daily from the BBC.
0:49.5	We've become like safe.
0:51.0	We feel safe here.
0:52.3	If I was anywhere else, I wouldn't feel safe you know I feel
0:55.2	lucky to be here Laura Newspam is a Sacramento native she lives in a tent along the banks of
1:00.3	the Sacramento River in an encampment with about 60 other people she's been without a permanent home
1:06.1	for five years I lost my home a while ago for like like almost 10 years, I was a bookkeeper, a
1:12.5	tower cafe, a busy restaurant, and a righteous and I was doing good. You know, I had my own place
1:17.7	and I've gone to school. I loved it. You know, I was comfortable.
1:22.4	Laura wants to find more stable housing, but she's lost faith in the local programs that are meant to
1:27.2	help her. I'm trying to get housing, but I'm just trying in the local programs that are meant to help her.
	...

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