News

Supervisor Frost March Newsletter

Homelessness in Sacramento County

The following is an excerpt from a recent article I wrote for local newspapers regarding homelessness.  To read the entire article, please click here.

On January 31st, the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors and the Sacramento City Council had a joint meeting that drew an overflow crowd of about 400 to have a discussion about homelessness.  The main topic of discussion was in regards to federal housing vouchers.  There are currently around 70,000 people in Sacramento County waiting to receive federal housing vouchers, with only around 900 open slots each year. The people waiting on this list are either veterans, disabled, or pay over 50% of their income on rent/utilities – and have been waiting for years.  Sacramento County is being asked to divert around 800 of these 900 slots to homeless people, letting them “jump the line” on the list.

I am not in favor of this approach for two reasons.

First, I do not think it is fair to the people currently waiting on the list.  These people are often one step away from being homeless themselves – when they receive these vouches, it helps ensure that their housing situation is more stabilized.  This system would rob Peter to pay Paul, and push more people to homelessness.

Second, I do not think doing this will actually help solve the problem.  We are kidding ourselves if we think that simply giving a homeless person access to housing is going to solve their problems.  They need comprehensive services that any one solution fails to address, including better access to physical and mental health services.  Further, voucher recipients must still convince landlords to rent to them. Unless they are receiving wide-ranging services, many landlords will simply refuse to rent to homeless people.  If vouchers are not being utilized, it increases the risk of our voucher program receiving less funds from the federal government.

Serving on a Board/Commission

Sacramento County has dozens of boards and commissions that you can serve on, and I very much want you to apply!  Right now there are 28 different boards and commissions with vacancies that you can apply for.

To see the list of vacancies, please click this link.

After you find one that interests you, apply here.

Finding Rover

The Sacramento County’s Bradshaw Animal Shelter is using facial recognition technology to identify lost pets by offering County residents “Finding Rover” – a free app for smartphones and computers.

Every dog that enters the Bradshaw Shelter is registered on “Finding Rover” and dog owners also can register their cherished pet on it, too.  When a user spots a lost dog, he/she can take a photo either within the app, or upload a photo from a device’s photo album.  When a dog has been found and identified through the facial recognition software, the finder receives information on how to notify the owner.

Learn about the app by visiting the Finding Rover website here.

And you can visit the Sacramento County Animal Care and Regulation website to learn more about adoptable pets and ways to volunteer, foster and support the animals at the Sacramento County Bradshaw Animal Shelter.

Returning Home After a Flood

With rain set to hit our region again this weekend, it’s a good time to talk about what happens when you return to your home after a flood.

​​​​Flood dangers do not end when the water begins to recede. Only return home if it is safe to do so. When returning home, do not attempt to drive through water on the road. Even water that looks shallow can stall or wash your car off the road. For a list of up-to-date road closures visit this website.

If you live in a flood zone, I highly encourage you to read this whole article that gives a very detailed things to look out for when returning home.

Unrestricted Wood Burning

The restrictions on wood burning have now been lifted.  Wood burning was restricted until February 28th in the unincorporated area as well as in the cities of Citrus Heights, Elk Grove, Folsom, Galt, Isleton, Rancho Cordova, and Sacramento.

This restriction was applicable to fireplaces, wood stoves, fire pits, and chimneys – and it was put in place to help reduce pollution and allow our area to stay in compliance with federal air quality standards.

To stay up to date on our air quality, visit the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District website.

Community Survey

My community survey is still open, and I want to invite you to participate before it closes so you can help me evaluate and improve our services based on what you want to see.  Click here to take this short survey, which will only take a couple minutes.