Sacrament District Attorney Thien Ho, a Democrat, has filed a lawsuit against the Democrat-controlled city over its failure to deal with the ongoing homeless crisis.
In the filed lawsuit, Ho said that the city’s failure to clean up homeless encampments has led to its “collapse into chaos” that has begun to erode “everyday life.”
“We have more homeless people in Sacramento than San Francisco. The community is at a breaking point,” said Ho, as reported by the Daily Mail.
Sacrament Mayor Darrell Steinberg said that the district attorney went too far in his filing of the lawsuit, despite sympathizing with his frustrations.
“Some of us are actually working day and night to try and make the problem better. You are going about this all wrong,” Steinberg said, further arguing:
District Attorney Ho issued a letter to the city this morning that deflects responsibility, takes credit for programs the city initiated, lacks basic understanding of existing shelter management systems and funding structures, and includes a series of demands that would cripple the city financially.
Ho had previously called for the city to implement a strict ban on homeless camping on public property like city hall.
“City Hall allows camping on City Hall property at night, but they don’t allow it during the day. I ask the city to extend the same protection they give to themselves to the rest of us,” he said back in August.
Ho has also called for the city to mandate treatment for those suffering from alcohol and drug abuse.
Ho said in his lawsuit that city residents have expressed frustration over the damage that homeless encampments have inflicted on their property. Per the Mail:
Ho’s announcement included testimony from city residents. Emily Webb said people living an encampment near her home have trespassed on her property, blocked her driveway and threatened her family, but city officials have done little to clear the camp.
‘We’re losing sleep and exhausted from this stress. We are beyond frustrated and no longer feel comfortable or safe in our home.’
As Breitbart News has documented on numerous occasions, the city of San Francisco has been experiencing an overwhelming spike in crime and homelessness, which has decimated the city’s downtown area.
In July of this year, Marc Benioff, the CEO of Salesforce, claimed that downtown San Francisco will not be going back to its pre-pandemic state.
The coronavirus pandemic launched a revolution of stay-at-home work, forcing major metropolitan areas like downtown San Francisco to become havens for vacant office buildings. Per Fox Business:
The Associated Press reported that office vacancy rates in San Francisco were 24.8% in the first quarter, more than five times higher than pre-pandemic levels and well above the average rate of 18.5% for the nation’s top cities, according to CBRE, a commercial real estate services company.
For San Francisco, the three-year exile resulted in empty storefronts with large “going out of business” signs hanging from windows.
Popular shops like Uniqlo, Nordstrom Rack and Anthropologie have left, toiletries like shampoo and toothpaste are locked up at pharmacies, and places like Gucci get hit by armed robbers in broad daylight.
With a decrease in people commuting downtown, the local economy took a major hit, with businesses being forced to close due to a dwindling customer base. This forced parts of downtown San Francisco to relax its zoning rules for certain buildings to have mixed-use spaces.
Paul Roland Bois joined Breitbart News in 2021. He also directed the award-winning feature film, EXEMPLUM, which can be viewed for FREE on YouTube or Tubi. A high-quality, ad-free stream can also be purchased on Google Play or Vimeo on Demand. Follow him on Twitter @prolandfilms or Instagram @prolandfilms.