Sacramento DA sues city for failure to clean up homeless encampments
Thien Ho, district attorney for Sacramento County, joins 'America's Newsroom' to discuss California's homeless crisis and his efforts to make a change.
Sacramento County's Democratic district attorney is demanding answers and enforcement of the law as homeless encampments continue to overwhelm the liberal-run city.
District Attorney Thien Ho announced Tuesday that his office had filed a civil lawsuit alleging the city violated California civic code – specifically that it "allowed, created and enabled a public safety crisis" regarding the homeless.
"This is a local crisis made worse by local decisions," Ho told "America's Newsroom" Thursday.
"We're going to get a judge, we're going to get a jury, and we're going to require the city to do what it's supposed to do, enforce the law, keep our streets clean and safe. And that's what we're going to do."
Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho announced a lawsuit against the city over the homelessness crisis. (Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho )
The unsheltered population in Sacramento is up 71% since 2019, co-anchor Bill Hemmer reported. Daily incidents include physical and verbal assault, public sex acts, open fires, nudity, urinating and defecating on walkways, the complaint claims; all of which, Ho says, threaten the safety of jurors, victims and witnesses during ongoing trials, as homeless people engage in "erratic and violent behavior."
"In the last 7 years, Sacramento’s unhoused population has exploded by over 250%," the lawsuit says. "There are more homeless people in Sacramento than San Francisco. Our community is at a breaking point. We have an unhoused population living in conditions typical of Third World countries. And we have the rest of the community stuck between compassion and chaos."
"How did we get here? We are stuck in this never-ending Groundhog’s Day loop where nothing gets better and nothing improves," Ho added at Tuesday's press conference. "Enough is enough."
Ho is also calling for an audit in Sacramento to see how funding from the state of California has been used by Democrat leaders.
"The governor's given plenty of resources to the local authorities and those resources have been squandered," Ho said. "Where did all that money go locally?"
The lawsuit says both Judge Michael Bowman and District Attorney Ho wrote letters to the city of Sacramento in late June sounding the alarm to how the growing homeless encampment and tents within a three-block radius of the courthouse encroach on the community’s access to justice.
In response, Mayor Darrell Steinberg assured he was working with the city manager to open up the "Miller Park Safe Camping" within two weeks, yet the situation has continued to deteriorate, the lawsuit says.
Additionally, the complaint claims the Sacramento Police Department is not issuing citations for unlawful camping storage, sidewalk obstruction or any other code violations to laws already on the books regarding homeless encampment, meaning the city’s enforcement is "non-existent."
"As a top prosecutor, I'm calling them out on that and will make sure they enforce the law," Ho said.
In response to the lawsuit Tuesday, City Attorney Susana Alcala Wood said in a statement, "It sadly appears the DA would rather point fingers and cast blame than partner to achieve meaningful solutions for our community," according to The Associated Press.
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FOX News' Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.
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