Sacramento Council Focuses on Behavioral Health for Homeless Residents; Fire Department Logged 19,000 Calls
SACRAMENTO — Sacramento is a city in Sacramento County, California. The Sacramento City Council held a hearing focused on behavioral health interventions for people experiencing homelessness. Mayor Kevin McCarty said the city will make a major push on the issue, calling it likely to be the top legislative push for the California Big City Mayors coalition next year. The city will also consider changes to its 911 system to allow more alternative responses to crisis calls, such as social workers rather than uniformed police officers.
At the center of the hearing were the struggles of a Sacramento couple to help their daughter, who is homeless, find treatment for schizophrenia and drug use, the focus of a recent local news series. In the last year, the Sacramento Fire Department responded to more than 19,000 calls involving homeless individuals, including 8,700 calls where individuals were experiencing a mental health crisis and were transported to a hospital or mental health facility. Recent data also found that just 79 people triggered 5,100 calls for service at a cost of $12.5 million to the city.
Councilmember Eric Guerra pointed to the gap between the 10,836 people brought to emergency rooms on '5150 holds' in the last year — temporary involuntary detention for people deemed a danger to themselves or others — and the roughly one hundred conservatorships approved by courts in fiscal 2025-26. 'I think a clear direction is needed immediately to work now, and not wait on state law to change,' Guerra said. While medical and behavioral health services are largely handled by the county, the homelessness crisis is drawing the city deeper into that realm.
Source: Abridged, reporting on the City Council hearing
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：Sacramento 河上的 Tower Bridge。图片来源：Michael Grindstaff，Wikimedia Commons，Public domain。Photo: Tower Bridge, Sacramento. Image: Michael Grindstaff, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
