STEVE'S PRIORITIES
COMBATING OUR HOMELESSNESS CRISIS
Tackling homelessness with bold, urgent action is Steve’s top priority and one of the core reasons why he is running for Mayor. When Steve left the Sacramento City Council, he never thought he’d run for office again, but over the last several years, homelessness and neighborhood safety have gotten to crisis levels in Sacramento. Steve is stepping up and will make the hard choices and put in the work necessary to truly address this crisis.
Steve has been focused on genuinely addressing the homelessness crisis since long before it started getting the attention it is getting today. While serving as a Sacramento City Councilmember, Steve helped create the city’s first homelessness program, opened the first long term homeless triage center with over 100 beds, helped build 300 emergency shelter beds and permanent supportive housing, and worked to secure millions in new funding to get those in need off of the streets. Since Steve left the City Council, homelessness and community safety has only gotten worse. Additionally, people’s trust in the City to take action has also diminished. We need to do more.
As Mayor, Steve will ensure that the City properly enforces, streamlines, and strengthens existing laws like the camping ordinances on sidewalks, near schools, and on private property, while simultaneously working with the County and State to implement new programs like the Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment (CARE) Act, which will bring mental health and other treatment options to the individuals who struggling the most and may present a danger to themselves or others. Steve firmly believes that tent encampments are not a housing solution and that the City needs to expand their efforts to make everyone in our community feel safe walking and biking in their neighborhood.
While the City can make major improvements on homelessness policy, Steve will make sure the County and the State are playing their part, including providing the necessary funding and assistance to properly implement the CARE Act and Project Homekey, which rehabilitates hotels, motels, and vacant apartment buildings into permanent supportive housing. Additionally, Steve is a supporter of Proposition 1 - a $6.38 billion bond to build new behavioral health housing and treatment settings across the state that will be on the March, 2024 ballot. As Mayor, Steve will secure these funds and ensure Sacramento gets its fair share to address the homelessness and mental health crisis in our community.
BUILDING HOUSING AT ALL
LEVELS OF AFFORDABILITY
Steve’s track record fighting for affordable housing is extensive and notable for some major successes in our community. Steve also successfully authored and passed a major affordable housing bond that has helped accelerate the construction of affordable housing and the preservation of existing affordable units in our community, and set in motion a plan to build 10,000 new units in the City of Sacramento.
As Mayor, Steve will expand upon these housing wins with plans to build more housing at all levels of affordability to ensure all Sacramento residents can meet their housing needs through two comprehensive plans: a regional affordable housing finance plan that ensure Sacramento secures its fair share of state and federal funds to build workforce housing, senior housing, and permanent supportive housing, and an expansive streamlining plan to cut red tape, bureaucracy, and reduce costs so that housing projects do not stagnate waiting for approval to get built.
Steve has also been a champion for tenants and renter protection. As a Sacramento City Councilmember, Steve led the successful passage of the Tenant Protection Relief Act, a historic rent control measure that made Sacramento the first major non-coastal city in California to adopt significant renter protections. The law enshrined tenant protections that included a cap on how much landlords can increase the rent and a prohibition on evictions without a cause.
IMPROVING PUBLIC SAFETY & SUPPORTING LAW ENFORCEMENT
Steve understands the impact of crime, social justice, and failed public safety policy firsthand. Growing up - he lived it. Raised in a poor, disadvantaged community in Minnesota, Steve overcame significant struggle and societal barriers living through poverty and crime as a child, forced to move around constantly, even staying in domestic violence shelters. It is undeniable that Steve’s experiences have now become an all too common reality in Sacramento - people in our community simply do not feel safe. Failed leadership, lack of resources, and an absence of political will to address homelessness has allowed crime to proliferate throughout the City, disproportionately impacting our low-income and historically disadvantaged communities.
As Mayor, Steve will prioritize expediting law enforcement response times, increasing training for first responders, and ensuring we improve public safety through thoughtful leadership, compassion, and collaboration with the community. He will also ensure that proper enforcement and prosecutions of those who commit criminal activity are upheld to stop the cycle of the early release of dangerous individuals into our community.
Recognizing the importance of maintaining a responsible and equitable justice system, Steve will expand upon his successful reform efforts. During his service as a Sacramento City Councilmember, he helped mandate body-worn cameras, reform use-of-force policies, and created implicit bias training for all law enforcement officers. Additionally, Steve helped pass mandated de-escalation training and expanded efforts to diversify the police force, hiring from neighborhoods that traditionally did not always see law enforcement or officers from their communities.
STRENGTHENING THE ECONOMY & CREATING GOOD JOBS
As a City Councilmember and now a local businessman, Steve Hansen has worked tirelessly to fight for more economic investment, more good jobs for workers, and better wages and benefits for Sacramentans. During his tenure on the City Council, Steve was a leader on recovery efforts after the Great Recession. This included helping to build the Golden One Center to create good-paying union jobs, keeping the Kings in Sacramento, and supporting revitalization efforts in downtown.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Steve drafted and implemented the plans to make sure that employees and venues, particularly artists, that were shut down received relief funding. Adapting to pandemic and post-pandemic conditions, Steve helped create the Farm to Fork Al Fresco program, where the City allowed restaurants to use sidewalks and parking areas for outdoor dining.
Steve wants to build on these successes by bringing in more businesses, good paying jobs, and a true revitalization of the downtown, which has experienced an unacceptable decline after the pandemic. Steve’s experience and vision for a dynamic and inclusive local economy is why he is supported by the Sacramento Metro Chamber, Sacramento Region Business, and local businesses throughout the City. As Mayor, Steve will increase support for small businesses and music venues by cutting red tape for new establishments and reducing barriers for entertainment permits, increasing the ability of people to perform all over the city. With state workers not returning to downtown, Steve is also committed to a robust revitalization effort that envisions adapting unused buildings for business, housing, and entertainment venues, as well as a city-enforced program to clean up trash and illegal dumping. With a profound love for Sacramento, Steve will be the strongest advocate to to attract new and diverse businesses and industries to the City.
IMPROVING PUBLIC TRANSIT
Steve continues to be a champion of public transit in Sacramento. As a former member of the Regional Transit Board, which he chaired, he helped design innovative policies to make rides free for Sacramento City Unified students, updated the City’s payment system to accept credit cards, worked with Electrify America to expand charging infrastructure, and helped bring bike and scooter sharing to the City.
As Mayor, Steve will expand upon his successes working on public transit issues and extend free riding options to more students, including college and university, improve cleanliness and safety on transit like the Light Rail, work with both public and private partners to build more electric chargers in all communities, and expand electric gig transportation opportunities to ensure all residents have high quality, affordable transit options throughout Sacramento.
FOSTERING A THRIVING EDUCATION SYSTEM AND SUPPORTING STUDENTS & TEACHERS
Sacramento is home to many strong educational opportunities because of the work and investments made during Steve’s tenure on the City Council. Continuing this support is a key priority for Steve as our next Mayor. Growing up with a fundamental lack of access to good schools and higher education, Steve understands firsthand how our teachers, schools, and colleges can uplift someone and open up a greater world of opportunities. As Mayor, Steve will focus on ensuring our local teachers have the resources they need to instill success in students, as well as basic necessities like classroom materials, so that our educators are never forced to pay out of their own pocket for important items that help children learn like books. This also includes out-of-the-box solutions like developing workforce housing so that teachers can afford to live in the communities they serve.
As a longtime supporter of our public school systems and universities, Steve will maintain strong partnerships with our community colleges and Sacramento State University to further open up access and educational opportunities for all potential students, particularly in traditionally disadvantaged neighborhoods. Lastly, Steve is firmly supportive of our LGBTQ+ students and will fight back against policies that seek to discriminate against anyone in the classroom.
INVIGORATING OUR ARTS COMMUNITIES
Steve has always been a champion for the arts in Sacramento, believing in the enrichment that our murals, music venues, galleries, and art shows bring to the community and local economy. Steve knows that public art is one of the things that makes a city more than just a collection of buildings, and gives people a sense of pride in their neighborhoods. As a Sacramento City Councilmember, Steve was instrumental in directing aid and expanding grant opportunities to small businesses in the art community that were struggling after the Great Recession. He also helped with the construction of the “artist lofts” on R street, which have helped preserve a home for local artists working in Sacramento.
As Mayor, Steve will build upon these successes and ensure that Sacramento maintains a vibrant, creative art community. This includes focusing on building more opportunities and incentives for local businesses and artists to come to Sacramento and cutting red tape for music venues who have faced closures in recent years.
