Six individuals were taken into custody on Thursday during a peaceful sit-in protest on housing and homelessness. The arrests occurred inside the lobby of a legislative office building in downtown Sacramento, California.
The Capitol Swing Space building on O Street hosted the demonstration, which took place inside its lobby. This building houses offices for state lawmakers and the governor.
Members of the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment and Camp Resolution actively took part in a demonstration held in Sacramento on Thursday. The protesters voiced their demands, urging Governor Newsom to allocate funds for affordable housing on a large scale. They emphasized the importance of fulfilling his promise to construct one million affordable homes by 2030. Additionally, the demonstrators called for an end to the practice of displacing homeless encampments, which they argued only relocates individuals from one corner to another, causing further trauma and harm. A news release from both organizations highlighted these key concerns.
Jesus Figueroa Cacho, who is a member of ACCE and was one of the individuals arrested on Thursday, emphasized the need for the governor to take immediate action. According to Cacho, this action should involve implementing taxes on large corporations and billionaires in California in order to generate funds for affordable housing.
Figueroa Cacho, an experienced nursing care worker who has recently been without a home, expressed deep concern over the meager 1% allocation of our state budget towards affordable housing. In a news release, Figueroa Cacho emphasized that affordable housing is the key solution to homelessness, rather than the current practice of sweeping individuals off the streets. Despite personally experiencing homelessness and relying on couches or even their car for shelter over the past year, Figueroa Cacho remains appalled by the insufficient investment in affordable housing.
The Governor’s Office chose not to respond to the demands of the protesters or provide any comment.
In September, the Governor’s Office announced that Newsom, in collaboration with the state Legislature, has allocated over $40 billion to enhance affordable housing and over $27 billion to tackle homelessness during his five-year tenure.
According to Officer John Ortega, a spokesperson for the CHP’s Protection Section, the demonstration on Thursday commenced on the west side of the Capitol building in downtown Sacramento. From there, the protesters marched to the Swing Space building nearby and carried on with their demonstration inside the premises.
Around 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, the CHP officers gave an order to the protesters to disperse or face possible detention or arrest, as the building had closed for regular business hours, according to Ortega.
According to the California Highway Patrol (CHP), six individuals were arrested for failing to comply with a dispersal order. They were suspected of engaging in unlawful assembly, disregarding lawful warnings to disperse, failing to disperse during a public disturbance, and being present on state property when it was closed to the public.
According to Ortega, the individuals who were apprehended did not offer any physical resistance and were subsequently taken into custody and processed at the Sacramento County Jail.
According to Sacramento city officials, Camp Resolution has been deemed a “failed experiment” due to what they perceive as counterproductive interventions by homeless advocates.
Murphy expressed his frustration with the current situation, stating that the community has not been provided with permanent housing since the camp was demolished a month ago. He pointed out that some individuals are still living in close proximity to the former campsite. Murphy emphasized that conducting sweeps does not address the issue of homelessness; instead, it only inflicts harm and trauma. He stressed the urgent need for accessible and affordable housing as a viable solution.
Pinky Toney, another ACCE member who got arrested on Thursday, firmly believes that the ultimate remedy to this crisis lies in increasing the availability of affordable housing. According to Toney, it is high time for Newsom to deliver on his commitment of constructing 1 million affordable homes.
Toney’s family experienced a year of homelessness due to the lack of affordable housing. Remarkably, even homeless shelters refused to accommodate them because Toney’s daughter’s allergies were deemed a liability.
“I have experienced firsthand the hardships of homelessness. My family and I were forced to leave our apartment after we reported the presence of black mold, which was causing severe illness in my daughter,” Toney shared in a news release. “For a whole year, my husband, our two young children, and I had to navigate through various temporary accommodations, including hotels, tents, abandoned buildings, and relying on the kindness of friends who offered us a place to stay.”
