Sacramento homeless population up 67% and now higher than San Fran as activists blame surging rents

Sacramento’s homeless population has spiraled out of control, soaring by 67 percent in just three years – pushing the numbers even higher than nearby San Francisco as photos show tent cities and communities of the unhoused living under bridges. 

California’s capital has just over 5,000 homeless people within the city limits, many living in vehicles and tents, compared to the 4,400 homeless people estimated to live in San Francisco. 

However, the number becomes more stark when factoring in the city’s population numbers – only 525,000 people live in Sacramento versus San Francisco’s 874,000.

Sacramento, which is separated by about 87 miles from San Francisco across the nearby bay, now has a staggering 952 homeless people per 100,000 citizens, versus 503 per 100,000 in San Francisco. 

At its peak, an estimated 9,278 individuals in the county were experiencing homelessness in February 2022, according to Sacramento Steps Forward. That’s a whopping 67 percent increase from the peak in 2019. 

Local Democrats blame the surge on the rising cost of living and house prices. 

However medical experts and others say it is more likely caused by new, more harmful types of drugs and a lack of sufficient policing or shelter for the homeless.  

Sacramento has a little over 5,000 homeless people in the city, many living in vehicles and tents. That’s slightly higher than the 4,400 in San Francisco

However, the number becomes more stark when factoring in the city’s population numbers – only 525,000 people live in Sacramento versus San Francisco’s 874,000 

Sacramento, which is separated by about 87 miles from the city by the bay, now has a staggering 952 homeless people per 100,000 citizens, versus 503 per 100,000 in San Francisco

Traveling around Sacramento, the crisis is clear to see. 

DailyMail.com cameras captured people living in tents, RVs, pushing around shopping carts with their entire lives in them and more in the city under Interstate 80. 

As a percentage of population, Sacramento (0.96 percent) nearly doubles San Francisco (0.50 percent). 

Activists have blamed a lack of affordable housing, as the median rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Sacramento rose 30 percent in the last three years, according to the SF Chronicle.  

This comes as crime also continues to rise in tandem with the number of unhoused people living in the jurisdiction. 

In Sacramento, crime has risen up to 17 percent from the same point last year, according to the city’s data.  Robberies are up 42 percent and rapes are up a shocking 92 percent.

Anne Marie Schubert, the Sacramento County DA, has served in that office since 2014. Despite the shocking increase in crime, she plans to step aside to run for California Attorney General. 

Assistant Chief Deputy District Attorney Thien Ho won the recent election to take over. 

At it’s peak, an estimated 9,278 individuals in the county were experiencing homelessness in February 2022, according to Sacramento Steps Forward . That’s a whopping 67 percent increase from its peak in 2019

Our cameras saw people living in tents, RVs, pushing around shopping carts with their entire lives in them and more in the city under Interstate 80

As a percentage of population, Sacramento (0.96 percent) nearly doubles San Francisco (0.50 percent) in homeless

Experts have blamed a lack of affordable housing, as the median rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Sacramento rose 30 percent in the last three years

This comes as crime, like in many cities across America, is on the rise in California’s capital, up 17 percent from this point last year according to the city’s data

But it’s not just Sacramento that’s struggling: Democratic-led San Francisco is also plagued by similar problems, with public drug use and vagrancy on the rise, as well as violent crime.

Last month, the city’s district attorney, Chesa Boudin, was recalled. Many locals cited a backlash to his soft-on-crime reforms as the reason he was voted out of office.

The crime wave worsened significantly under his tenure – with 2021 going down as one of the worst years for San Francisco crime in decades. The city’s murder rate rose 11 percent, and rapes went up by nearly 10 percent.

San Francisco police report 20 murders so far this year – an 11 percent increase from the 18 reported in the same time last year.

Larceny theft, meanwhile – which represents the majority of the recent ‘smash and grabs’ – has skyrocketed under Boudin, with 13,424 cases reported this year, a 20.4 percent rise from the 11,151 reported last year.

Assaults have also been on the rise, with 11 percent with 1,035 cases reported so far this year, with rapes also up by 10 percent.   

Anne Marie Schubert, the DA of Sacramento County since 2014, is running to be California’s Attorney General. She will be replaced by Assistant Chief Deputy District Attorney Thien Ho

Chesa Boudin was ousted from his position last month after critics accused him of not doing enough to keep residents and business owners safe amid a crime wave