Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg on Wednesday announced a new team headed by the fire department will be tasked with managing the city’s response to homelessness. He said the Incident Management Team (IMT) would be modeled on how different agencies come together for emergency response during natural disasters. “If a true joint emergency response is expected for a natural disaster, how can we do any less for this man-made disaster we call homelessness,” Steinberg said during a State of the City Panel discussion. Steinberg said the new effort would replace an interdepartmental response to homelessness and be headed by Assistant Fire Chief Brian Pedro, instead of the Department of Community Response (DCR). “Fire is already most often the first responder to crises and health-related emergencies,” he said. The fire department representative would report to Assistant City Manager Mario Lara. Besides the fire department and DCR, other members of the group include representatives from the Sacramento Police Department, code enforcement, public works, the City Attorney’s Office, the Office of Emergency Management and animal care. A release from the city said the IMT would respond to 311 calls for service and address the city’s response to large encampments. It would also meet multiple times each week and track metrics on its efforts. Steinberg described the city’s 311 system as overloaded, even as response times have improved recently. He said it takes an average of 4.3 days to respond to an issue, compared to more than 33 days a year ago. But that’s “still too long” for neighbors demanding an encampment be cleaned up and people in need of help to get assistance. A Point in Time Count for 2022 found about 5,000 people in Sacramento city limits who were experiencing homelessness, about 1% of the city’s population.
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg on Wednesday announced a new team headed by the fire department will be tasked with managing the city’s response to homelessness.
He said the Incident Management Team (IMT) would be modeled on how different agencies come together for emergency response during natural disasters.
“If a true joint emergency response is expected for a natural disaster, how can we do any less for this man-made disaster we call homelessness,” Steinberg said during a State of the City Panel discussion.
Steinberg said the new effort would replace an interdepartmental response to homelessness and be headed by Assistant Fire Chief Brian Pedro, instead of the Department of Community Response (DCR).
“Fire is already most often the first responder to crises and health-related emergencies,” he said.
The fire department representative would report to Assistant City Manager Mario Lara. Besides the fire department and DCR, other members of the group include representatives from the Sacramento Police Department, code enforcement, public works, the City Attorney’s Office, the Office of Emergency Management and animal care.
A release from the city said the IMT would respond to 311 calls for service and address the city’s response to large encampments. It would also meet multiple times each week and track metrics on its efforts.
Steinberg described the city’s 311 system as overloaded, even as response times have improved recently. He said it takes an average of 4.3 days to respond to an issue, compared to more than 33 days a year ago.
But that’s “still too long” for neighbors demanding an encampment be cleaned up and people in need of help to get assistance.
A Point in Time Count for 2022 found about 5,000 people in Sacramento city limits who were experiencing homelessness, about 1% of the city’s population.
