Following Senator Ashby's abrupt pause in her bill to "solve" homelessness and low-income housing her way (Senate Bill 802), there was a press conference on the steps of the state Capitol that made it look like local civic leaders were all of one mind, committed to to sing Kumbaya for the region's homelessness and low-income housing problems. Senator Ashby's bill overlooks us in the unincorporated area and she wants (really, really wants) her bill to be reconsidered come January. She is smart and powerful and she knows what's best for you.

The charade appears to be continuing. The Bee has published an article (Emma Hall, "Sacramento County to meet with the region's cities to address causes of homelessness, Sacramento Bee, July 31, 2025) reporting that the Board of Supervisors will meet with elected officials of all seven incorporated cities in the county along with non-profit homeless sercice providers on October 28th and monthly thereafter. The article stated that the date of the meeting was announced at the Kumbaya event on the Capitol steps and quoted Supervisors Rodriguez, Hume and Serna, none of whom represent us. We're not sure why The Bee waited until today to publish that article, but it did pique our interest.

Why are we, residents of the lowly, unincorporated UnCity, interested? Because: 1) homelessness, being abundant here, matters to us and 2) we think the 600,000+ residents of the UnCity deserve to be heard. The UnCity has more residents than ANY city in the county, be they residents of the big City of Sacramento (525,000 residents) or the tiny City of Isleton (900 residents).  Voiceless Arden Arcade alone (97,000 residents, even more if you include our homeless residents) has more people than the City of Foilsom (92,600 residents).

Our own Supervisor - sensitive to our needs as he may be, and certainly in comparison with his predecessor - has over 290,000 constituents, which means our residents are around 1/3 of his peeps. He has to balance our needs and concerns with those of way more people than us. Yet he is the only Supervisor we got to elect. Much as we might like or dislike the other 4  elected officials on the Board of Supervisors, we cannot elect them or recall them from office. So what do you think will happen when the BOS and the elected officials from all those cities meet and confer on homelessness and low-income housing? That's right! Our opinions will not matter. Ultimately, "solutions" to homelessness and lack of affordable housing in our county will be devised without our participation. And we will have to live with it because, you know, the County Supervisors "spoke for us".

Homelessness is indeed a pressing problem. We're not happy that there are people who cannot afford a place to live. Nor are we happy with litter and debris all over the place, or with sanitation problems that follow when people don't have a bathroom to use. We're also not pleased to see drugs sold and used in public places, or that there are used needles strewn about. Similarly, we know the rents are too high - in fact we REALLY know that because of the preponderance of rental housing in our community. So, sure, our civic leaders ought to do something about it. But when they do so, shouldn't those of us who live here be included in the discussions? Or are you OK with being cut out? Do you think unincorporated communities should have at least SOME input regarding public policy about homelessness and housing? Do you want to have the same rights and privileges that are granted to residents of incorporated municipalities? Or would you prefer to let others determine how much public money to spend dealing with homelessness and providing for low-income housing and where to spend it? Perhaps you want a say, a seat at the table (maybe even have your own table). It's all about local control, isn't it? That's something we don't have. We must rely on the benevolence of our Board of Supervisors, 4/5 of the members of which do not live here. Is that fair? Is that appropriate?