Sacramento, California – Sacramento’s homelessness crisis has never fit neatly inside a city boundary. A person sleeping near a freeway, a family searching for shelter, a neighborhood waiting for relief, none of those problems stop at the line between Sacramento, the county, or nearby cities.
That was the heart of Councilmember Lisa Kaplan’s message in a social media statement supporting SB 802, a bill by Senate Majority Leader Angelique Ashby aimed at changing how the region works together on housing and homelessness.
Kaplan said Sacramento’s response has been split for too long across “multiple jurisdictions, funding streams, and systems,” calling that fragmentation a major barrier to real change. Her statement came after she represented District 1 at the State Legislature this week in support of Ashby’s proposal.
SB 802 would push Sacramento-area governments toward a more formal regional structure. According to bill information, the measure would require the joint powers authority now operating as the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency to be restructured, expanded, amended, and renamed as the Sacramento Area Housing and Homelessness Agency. The proposal would include Sacramento County and qualified local agencies, while making the agency responsible for work such as affordable housing development, housing preservation, homelessness prevention, and response coordination.
For Kaplan, the bill is not just about creating another government body. It is about closing the gaps between existing ones.
“SB 802 charts a path forward towards real regional coordination, accountability, and collaboration—ensuring that Sacramento, other cities and the County work together to address challenges that do not stop at jurisdictional boundaries,” Kaplan said.
Her statement reflects a growing frustration heard across Sacramento: the region has programs, funding, public agencies, nonprofit partners, and elected officials all working around the same crisis, but not always from the same table. Kaplan framed the bill as a way to align resources, reduce inefficiencies, and focus more clearly on outcomes for people who need help and communities asking for visible progress.
“As your Councilmember, I know that no single local government can solve our regional housing and homelessness crisis alone,” she said. “We need collective, coordinated solutions that align resources, reduce inefficiencies, and focus on outcomes for the people we serve.”
Kaplan also thanked Majority Leader Ashby for what she described as leadership and commitment to building a stronger approach.
In a crisis often measured by tents, waiting lists, emergency meetings, and neighborhood frustration, Kaplan’s message was simple: Sacramento cannot keep answering a regional problem with a patchwork system.