Several arrested in protest over housing, homelessness at offices of California Gov. Newsom

Officers arrested six people participating in a peaceful sit-in demonstration on housing and homelessness Thursday inside the lobby of a California legislative office building in downtown Sacramento.

The demonstration was held inside the lobby of the Capitol Swing Space building on O Street. Offices for state lawmakers and the governor are located in the building.

Members of Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment and Camp Resolution in Sacramento participated in Thursday’s demonstration. The protesters demanded that Newsom fund affordable housing at scale, fulfill his promise of building one million affordable homes by 2030 and stop the homeless encampment sweeps “that merely move people from corner to another while causing trauma and harm,” according to a news release from the two groups.

Jesus Figueroa Cacho, a member of ACCE and among those arrested Thursday, said the governor must take action by taxing California’s big businesses and billionaires to fund affordable housing now.

“As a long-time nursing care worker who has been unhoused, sleeping on couches or in my car for the last year, I’m horrified that we spend a mere 1% of our state budget on affordable housing,” Figueroa Cacho said in the news release. “Affordable housing solves homelessness, not sweeps.”

The Governor’s Office on Friday declined to respond to the protester’s demands or comment.

In a September news release, the Governor’s Office said Newsom , in partnership with the state Legislature, has invested more than $40 billion to boost affordable housing and more than $27 billion to address homelessness since he took office five years ago.

Officer John Ortega, a spokesman for the CHP’s Protection Section , said Thursday’s demonstration began on the west side of the Capitol building in downtown Sacramento. The protesters then marched to the nearby Swing Space building and continued the demonstration inside the building.

About 6:30 p.m. Thursday, after the building closed for normal business hours, CHP officers ordered the protesters to disperse or they would be detained or arrested, Ortega said.

Six people failed to comply with the dispersal order and were arrested on suspicion of unlawful assembly, remaining present at an unlawful assembly after being lawfully warned to disperse, failing to disperse at a public disturbance and being present in or upon state property when closed to public, according to the CHP.

Ortega said the people arrested did not physically resist, and they were later booked at the Sacramento County Jail.

Satearah Murphy, a co-founder of Camp Resolution and among those arrested in the protest, spoke out against sweeping homeless encampments and hoped the governor heard their stories.

Camp Resolution was an encampment of about 50 homeless people living in city-issued trailers on city property in a once vacant North Sacramento lot. Residents of the camp, comprised largely of disabled seniors, were moved out of the location last month.

Sacramento city officials called Camp Resolution “a failed experiment,” mostly because of what they considered “counterproductive interventions” by homeless advocates.

“Since our tight-knit community was bulldozed a month ago, none of us have been given permanent housing, and some of us live across the street from where the camp was,” Murphy said in the news release. “Sweeps don’t solve homelessness, they cause harm and trauma. We need real affordable housing.”

Pinky Toney, a member of ACCE who also was arrested Thursday, said the the only solution to this crisis is more affordable housing, and it’s time for Newsom to fulfill his promise of 1 million affordable homes.

Without affordable housing available, Toney’s family was homeless for a year. Even homeless shelters wouldn’t take them, Toney said, because her daughter’s allergies were considered a liability.

“I know what it’s like to be homeless. After complaining about black mold in our apartment that was making my daughter severely sick, our landlord evicted us,” Toney said in the news release. “For an entire year, me, my husband and our two young children moved between hotels, sleeping in tents, abandoned buildings and friends’ couches.”

Get Product Recall Updates