A group of homeless parents have sued the City of Sacramento alleging a change to a city motel shelter program last month caused a mass eviction of their families, including 44 children.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in federal court by the Sacramento Homeless Union, alleges that on June 1, using new authorization under a redesigned city program, motel staff told families they had to vacate the room temporarily for cleaning, then locked them out, placing all their belongings outside. The 44 children, ages four months to 17 years, are in 18 households. All but two are in households with single mothers. Many of the children have special needs, including autism and other disabilities.
The suit asks a judge to order the city and its contractors to place the plaintiffs, many of whom are now living in vehicles, back into the city-funded motel rooms. Without the air conditioning, security and electricity of the motel rooms, the plaintiffs are in danger, the suit alleges. Since being evicted from the motel program, the suit says, one mother’s sons were held at gunpoint, a 78-year-old veteran has been unable to charge his breathing machine, and another mother collapsed of heat exhaustion, dropped her four-month-old baby, and was robbed as she lay unconscious.
In addition to the city, the suit names Brian Pedro, director of the city’s Department of Community Response, the nonprofit Step up on Second Street, which provides case management at the motels, and the owners of four Sacramento motels as defendants. It alleges violations of California tenant protection laws, as well as federal violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Violence Against Women Act, and violations of the Fourth and Fifth amendments of the Constitution regarding seizure of property…