The City of Elk Grove is hosting a community forum tonight to address the homeless issue in Elk Grove and how the recently passed Measure E sales tax revenue can be used to address the problems. The community is encouraged to participate in the discussion.

The city posted the following information regarding tonight’s meeting:

Homelessness is on the rise in Elk Grove as it is in most communities in California. With the recent passage of Measure E, the City and Cosumnes CSD are looking to enhance existing programs and explore new strategies to address homelessness. Join the community conversation tonight, Monday, February 27, at 6 p.m. at District56 (8230 Civic Center Drive).
Join staff from the City’s Housing and Public Services team, Elk Grove Police Department and Cosumnes CSD Fire Department to discuss and explore potential homelessness solutions that could be supported by Measure E funds.
Apply to join the Measure E Citizen’s Oversight Committee. 

Opinion

The state has spent billions of dollars on homeless issues. The City and County of Sacramento have spent millions. Has the situation improved? The number of homeless continues to increase. Sacramento surpassed San Francisco for the number of homeless people.

Elk Grove has somewhere around 100-150 homeless individuals in the city. What are some possible solutions? Provide more services? Provide shelter? If you provide shelter does that increase the odds that more homeless come to the city? As in “if you build it they will come”?

This is definitely a regional issue that needs to be addressed by the whole county, not just a hodgepodge of plans by various entities. It is clear that more services need to be offered and shelter needs to be part of the solution. It will be hard to be successful offering services in the field without having people in some type of living area where they can receive the help that is needed. We also know that some will refuse help, but that doesn’t mean we stop trying to help the ones that want it.

It will be interesting to see what the plan for the city of Elk Grove will be. Throwing money at this problem has not worked.