There were harsh words but also high praise regarding the homelessness crisis in Sacramento during the annual State of Downtown event Tuesday. Celebrity personality Dr. Drew Pinsky delivered the keynote address before a packed audience of business and community leaders inside the Hyatt Regency. Professionally known as Dr. Drew, a longtime TV and radio personality with a specialty in addition medication, Pinsky implored leaders to do more to focus on treatment of mental illness in order to help stop the cycle of homeless going to jail and ending up back on the street. "And now, Sacramento, you're losing one person every other day. It's a slow genocide," he said at the event. "So, what's the body count need to be before you make a change." Beyond the harsh words, Pinsky also applauded Mayor Darrell Steinberg, who has introduced a proposed constitutional amendment for November's ballot that would mandate cities and counties must aggressively begin spending money to get homeless off the streets and into housing that includes mental health services."Right now, everything we do around homelessness is optional," Steinberg told KCRA 3. "Name another area of major public concern where everything government is called upon to do is optional." Downtown development was also touted at the 22nd annual event. There are currently two-dozen projects under construction in the Sacramento grid.

There were harsh words but also high praise regarding the homelessness crisis in Sacramento during the annual State of Downtown event Tuesday.

Celebrity personality Dr. Drew Pinsky delivered the keynote address before a packed audience of business and community leaders inside the Hyatt Regency. Professionally known as Dr. Drew, a longtime TV and radio personality with a specialty in addition medication, Pinsky implored leaders to do more to focus on treatment of mental illness in order to help stop the cycle of homeless going to jail and ending up back on the street.


"And now, Sacramento, you're losing one person every other day. It's a slow genocide," he said at the event. "So, what's the body count need to be before you make a change."

Beyond the harsh words, Pinsky also applauded Mayor Darrell Steinberg, who has introduced a proposed constitutional amendment for November's ballot that would mandate cities and counties must aggressively begin spending money to get homeless off the streets and into housing that includes mental health services.

"Right now, everything we do around homelessness is optional," Steinberg told KCRA 3. "Name another area of major public concern where everything government is called upon to do is optional."

Downtown development was also touted at the 22nd annual event. There are currently two-dozen projects under construction in the Sacramento grid.