Sacramento council members at odds with mayor over new homeless proposal

Mathew Miranda, The Sacramento Bee on Jul 1, 2025

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — An effort to reinvent the region’s approach to homelessness and housing has divided the Sacramento City Council, with multiple members in support and the mayor pushing back.

The disagreement stems from legislation unveiled last week by California state Sen. Angelique Ashby. Under her Senate Bill 802, a new agency for housing and homelessness management would be created in Sacramento County. This new system would effectively replace the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency, which has distributed federal money to the county and city of Sacramento since 1982.

The bill has received staunch opposition since its announcement including from the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors and mayors of neighboring cities. These elected officials have raised concerns spanning from transparency to loss of local control.

But in Sacramento, the majority of the council is generally supportive of the legislation. They argue the current system has several issues and further regional collaboration is needed.

Among those publicly backing the bill are Council members Caity Maple, Karina Talamantes, Rick Jennings and Lisa Kaplan. Councilmember Roger Dickinson declined to take a formal position, but said a new collaborative approach would be a “step in the right direction.”

“It’s bold,” said Maple, who stood alongside Ashby at last Wednesday’s announcement. “I can understand it certainly ruffled feathers because it proposes something that’s very different from what we’re currently doing, but I think it’s the right thing to do.”

“With all jurisdictions working together, we can better address these complicated issues,” added Jennings in a written statement Monday.

Council members Eric Guerra and Mai Vang did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Councilmember Phil Pluckebaum, who also declined to take a formal position, wondered if the legislation would create more accountability.

The sole member of the council who has vocalized opposition is Mayor Kevin McCarty, who declined multiple requests for interviews.

On Monday, through a spokesperson, he provided a joint letter in opposition of SB 802 along with the mayors of Elk Grove, Rancho Cordova, Citrus Heights, Folsom and the chair of the Board of Supervisors.

The letter said the elected leaders have significant concerns about the bill, citing that it would transfer funding and power away from local governments “without clear assurances that those resources will be used equitably, effectively or in a timely manner.”

“This would effectively disrupt and negatively impact local programs putting at risk the significant progress our region has made in addressing homelessness,” said the letter addressed to Ashby.

McCarty’s pushback comes despite him pushing for a similar countywide joint powers authority to oversee homelessness while in the Assembly. In 2023, he co-authored a bill to create the entity following a recommendation from a Sacramento Grand Jury report.

To develop its recommendation, the grand jury reviewed a homeless joint powers authority in Solano County and others in Southern California. In each case, it found that homelessness had either decreased or grown more slowly than in Sacramento County.

“It’s the biggest issue we’re facing and we need joint cooperation,” McCarty told The Sacramento Bee at the time.

McCarty’s bill faced opposition from the county of Sacramento and the cities of Citrus Heights and Elk Grove, according to a Senate analysis from July 2024. The legislation was eventually moved to the inactive file.

Maple did not want to speculate on McCarty’s position, but called Ashby’s bill “stronger.”

Under McCarty’s proposed legislation, Maple said, jurisdictions could decide whether to join the joint powers authority. Ashby’s bill would mandate the collaboration and form a board of three Sacramento supervisors, three Sacramento City Council appointees, two Elk Grove City Council appointees and one appointee each from the city councils of Folsom, Rancho Cordova and Citrus Heights.

McCarty’s bill also focused solely on homelessness and did not replace the SHRA, while Ashby’s measure would create a new agency for that and housing.

“This bill actually accomplishes those things and goes as far as I think it needs to go,” Maple said.

Ashby’s bill is expected to be heard on July 16 at an Assembly Housing and Community Development committee meeting.

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