Sacramento County’s decision to halt water deliveries to homeless encampments in late June has created a crisis for hundreds of people living without shelter during one of the region’s most scorching summers. The county ended deliveries to 40 encampments just as temperatures soared past 100 degrees, leaving vulnerable residents scrambling for one of life’s most basic necessities.
According to ABC10, Sacramento County said water deliveries were always going to end because they were funded by American Rescue Plan dollars that no longer exist. The funds were part of a contract with SANE to distribute drinking water to encampments during the COVID-19 public health crisis over the last four years.
Timing Raises Concerns
Advocate Crystal Sanchez from the Homeless Union told ABC10 they received a letter on June 26 that water was stopping to 40 encampments on June 30. The timing during a historic heat wave has left many questioning whether the county could have planned better for the transition. “This is a public health crisis. People need water. People are going to die on these streets,” Sanchez said.
The water crisis exemplifies the broader challenges facing Sacramento’s homeless population, particularly at Camp Resolution—the city’s experimental self-governed homeless encampment located at 2225 Colfax Street. As reported by CalMatters, Camp Resolution was started in 2022 by Sharon and Joyce Jones, a married couple in their 50s who found themselves homeless for the first time late in life.
Camp Resolution’s Complex Challenges
The camp’s water woes are complicated by its location on contaminated soil. According to CBS Sacramento, the site was used as a vehicle maintenance yard for decades, and petroleum from underground gas tanks seeped into the soil. The state Water Quality Control Board granted a temporary variance allowing residents in vehicles to remain at the site but forbidding tent camping on the ground…