The homeless population has another ally in Sacramento with the creation of Sacramento Copwatc in August of his year. Josh Cadji the young founder began the program with the abused homeless population in Sacramento in mind. Its no secret the homeless have been dragged through the dirty trenches of dislocation, harassment, and constantly uprooted through political fancy under the guise of altruism, but it’s the gumshoes that has Cadji concerned. Cadji, “Sacramento has a sizable homeless population, and homeless people are most vulnerable to rights abuse and physical violence on behalf of cops, so they need people out there who can watch the police.” The abused homeless demographic was t

Thursday morning, journalist Lisa Ling, members of the City Council and the homeless and formerly-homeless community joined Mayor Kevin Johnson in launching the "Sacramento Steps Forward" initiative. A crowd of several hundred waved blue initiative flags and cheered as Johnson announced his goal "to end homelessness and focus on permanent housing." He applauded permanent housing shelters such as Mercy Housing, Turning Point and Martin Luther King Jr. Village, 3900 47th Avenue, where the launch was held. Johnson said the goal of Sacramento Steps Forward is to provide 2,400 "decent and affordable" permanent housing units over the next three years. That would nearly quadruple the amount of

Thursday afternoon, about 50 seniors, homeless and other community members participated in the Sacramento Housing Alliance Affordable Housing Bus Tour. The tour surveyed 10 different housing options and stopped to provide in-depth tours of three housing complexes. Guided by Shamus Roller, director of the SHA, Ken Cross, CEO of Sacramento Habitat for Humanity and Paul Ainger, Mercy Housing project developer, the four-hour tour began and ended at the SHA office in Midtown. "It's important to know what affordable housing means," Ainger said. According to the federal government, housing is considered "affordable" when a person renting or buying it spends no more than 30 percent of his or her

Tuesday morning, Mayor Kevin Johnson was joined by a handful of Safe Ground supporters for a weekly press conference inside City Hall. After reiterating his goal to end homelessness in Sacramento, he invited Sister Libby Fernandez and Greg Bunker, the respective executive directors of Loaves and Fishes and Francis house, as well as a homeless man named Thomas Jackson Ashmore III, to speak. Johnson spoke about his meeting over the weekend with campers at the recently vacated 1220 C St. campground owned by Mark Merin. At the camp site, Merin had also been involved in a property dispute over the land with the neighboring Pedro and Gracilla Hernandez residence. Johnson mentioned that a compr

Emergency overflow shelters shut down their accommodations to the homeless in Sacramento, including Cal Expo so the homeless took a stand Wednesday morning. Hundreds gathered in front of Loaves & Fishes on the corner of North 12th and Ahern Street for a march to bring awareness to the recent closings of shelters and the criminalization of poverty and homelessness. Event organizers expected around 200 attendees, but at one point during the march, there were counts of close to 1,000 people walking to 420 Richards Blvd., a vacant parcel next to the new police station. Many of those participating in the rally who rely on shelters for a place to sleep at night said they are afraid of legal c

Since the existence of tent city gained national attention on the Oprah Winfrey Show, a firestorm of controversy has ensued. A lot has been said in the last few weeks about the ‘homeless problem’ in Sacramento. Government officials have scrambled to free up shelter beds and come up with enough funding flush into alternative housing programs. But, the issue of homelessness does not appear to be going away anytime soon and throwing money at it may not be the answer. “You can put government money on the table,” say Mark Chaclan, former Loaves and Fishes volunteer, “but there are still going to be people that have to resort to tent city.” Chaclan visited tent city twice last week to join fell

Looking for a way to give back that involves music? Look no further than Fifth String Music Store this Friday, December 12th at 7 p.m.. The music store will be hosting a benefit concert to raise money and supplies for Loaves and Fishes. This will be the 6th annual concert that the store has put on to benefit Loaves and Fishes. Ross Hammond, a local musician, came up with the idea after he started working as an instructor for Fifth String. Hammond had spent previous years volunteering for Loaves and Fishes during the holidays and wanted to do more for the organization. Last year the concert raised $1200 in donations. All of the artists performing have some connection to the Fifth String s