SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Charred remains are all that is left of the place Reena called home. She said life has gotten that much tougher living along Roseville Road since a fire took her home.
It also took the life of her only companion now that she’s unhoused.
“Well, it’s hell. I don’t know. I’m surviving. I’m just so sad about my place burning down. That was the worst thing that ever really happened to me out here. My place burned down and my dog died,” Reena said.
The mother of five is one of over 9,000 unhoused people living in the state capital. The AP reports from 2020 to 2022 Sacramento had the fastest growing population of unhoused people of any major city, more than double the next fastest, Portland.
Reena said she’s been unhoused since she split with her husband in 2017 and said it’s hard to talk about her situation.
“When I first stayed out here, people would pull up and give us food. I wouldn’t go out and get it because I would be embarrassed. But now I do because I’ve been out here so long, but it is embarrassing,” she said.
Reena lives alongside many unhoused people that line Roseville Road with RVs, trailers and tents.
The site, and Sacramento’s rise in unhoused people, is part of the reason a feature film is being shot in the capital about homelessness called “No Address.”
Robert Marbut is an executive producer on the film and was the director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness under President Trump. The Roseville Road population, Robert said, is a prime example of the urgency in needing to highlight such a major issue.
“This was the longest linear encampment in the U.S. and so it had a lot to inform, educate, guide the talent that is involved with the movie. And so, we have been able to bring all the lead actors out here to spend time in this encampment,” Marbut said.
Permanent housing has been a major issue for those looking to move off the streets. Gov. Gavin Newsom has set the goal for 2.5 million homes built in the state by 2030.
While permanent housing is being built, the governor announced he will send out 1,200 tiny homes around the state to aid with existing shelter beds, and 350 of those will head to Sacramento.
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg praising any help to add more capable shelter for the unhoused.
“Three-hundred-and-fifty homes. We still have a lot of conversations about where at Cal Expo, who exactly is going to operate them? We’ll figure all that out. This is a big step,” Mayor Steinberg said.
Reena said it would mean so much to have a roof over her head again.
“The world right now, yeah. I mean, even when it’s hot out here, it gets so hot out here. And when it’s cold, it’s cold, you know,” she said.
She was given another dog and said she’s so grateful, as companionship is crucial for her to still have some hope of bettering her situation.