Safe Ground Homeless March-Sacramento-part 1

Sacramento lacks affordable housing and places to rent often require high deposits and credit checks. There are not enough shelters, and “anti-camping” ordinance is used to harass the houseless, despite the fact that they have no where to sleep. This law allows the police to arrest and fine people who are sleeping in the streets and to seize their personal belongings (blankets, personal documents, camping gear) making their survival even harder. A leaflet distributed by SHOC at the demonstration reads “the powers that be have ordained that rich and poor alike are forbidden to sleep under a bridge. The problem is that only poor need a bridge to sleep under on a rainy night”.
The march started on 12th street and ended at Caesar Chaves Park. Homeless people spoke about the condition they face every day, the difficulties of overcoming social barriers and their demand for a safe ground. At the end of the event the names of homeless people who died last year in Sacramento were read. This coincided with National Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day, a day dedicated to raise awareness of the homeless people who die every year.