Our Purpose
Through original filings, evidence, and investigative content, we aim to show how SHRA failed its duty to provide fair and accessible housing, especially for disabled voucher holders. Our goal is not just to tell our story, but to expose a system that routinely denies people the housing protections they are entitled to under law.
This is about what happened. And what must change.
Systemic Failures: Why Housing Keeps Failing Sacramento
Sacramento’s response to homelessness and housing insecurity has been shaped by a culture of doing the absolute minimum — and then cutting back even further. Services are designed to look like action while providing no long-term solutions.
Services Instead of Housing
Too many of Sacramento’s publicly funded “solutions” focus on offering case management, temporary shelter beds, or one-time rental assistance — while ignoring the reality that permanent, supportive housing is the only real exit from chronic homelessness. These programs are underfunded, fragmented, and inaccessible to those most in need.
Abandoning the Lanterman Act
Under California’s Lanterman Act, individuals with qualifying developmental disabilities are legally entitled to lifelong services, including housing stability. In practice, permanent supportive housing has been abandoned as a policy priority. Coordination between SHRA, Regional Centers, and behavioral health systems is almost nonexistent.
Foster Youth Forgotten
Roughly 50% of former foster youth are homeless or incarcerated by age 25. Many never accessed programs meant to support them, or they aged out of eligibility without stable housing. They are later treated as “uncooperative” or “noncompliant” when they fail to navigate an adult housing system they were never prepared for.
The Hidden Crisis: Informal Cohabitation
Thousands of Sacramentans are housing-insecure but not counted in official homelessness statistics because they are temporarily living with friends or family. These arrangements delay but do not resolve homelessness — and they are ignored in planning and funding.
The real crisis is much larger than it appears. And the real solution must be long-term, rights-based, and rooted in accountability.
Coming Soon
- A timeline of major events
- A searchable exhibit archive
- Behind-the-scenes insights on how AI tools helped us build and file this case
- Updates on the legal aid nonprofit initiative
Stay tuned as we add new sections and ways to get involved.