A plan to create a kind of “right to housing” in Sacramento California is a controversial proposal from its current mayor. It has been on local, national, and international radar for a few months now1.
The mayor’s plan has been largely motivated by the socially chaotic presence of California’s huge homeless population. Those folks are scattering in unsightly, unhealthy and dangerous pop-up camps everywhere throughout the state as well as, needless to say, in Sacramento.
On November 15, 2021, the mayor’s ideas were finally couched as a formal proposal to Sacramento City Council. Pie in the sky ideals, objectives, execution methods have come down to earth with a thump.
“Rights” are familiar to Americans thanks to their totemic shrine of national respect — the American Constitution. Internationally, similar kinds of human rights find a home at the United Nations. Of the rights that are guaranteed by the U. S. Constitution, its architects did not enshrine a right to housing.
Without such constitutional rights deeply embedded in the American psyche (gun rights are an example) a city such as Sacramento, which wishes to deliver meaningful housing action, is forced to make up the concept of a “right to housing” as it goes along.
What is a significant source of controversy in the Sacramento proposal are the “riders” attached to the right to housing and/or basic shelter. In this proposal, Responsibilities are directly tied to rights. Whether or not the Constitution approves/demands such social bargains, they do not resonate in the minds of most Americans. Rights, whether constitutionally guaranteed or otherwise, are traditionally viewed as absolute, not invitations to a bargaining table.
For just one example, where the current proposal before City Council requires that tent shelter sites are to be concentrated exclusively in city-run camps, does this make them “concentration camps?” In the freedom-focused minds of some critics, the answer is “yes.”
Evaluating the rights/responsibilities arguments that arise out of the Sacramento proposal turns out to be complex problem. Read more in the THE SACRAMENTO BEE: Sacramento mayor’s ‘right to housing’ plan for the homeless likely moving forward
