SACRAMENTO -- It was a historic event Tuesday night as the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors and the Sacramento City Council held their first-ever joint meeting.
The issue they discussed was a huge problem to tackle: Reducing the number of homeless living on the streets.
The meeting was with their respective housing authorities. At times things were tense, as Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg had to have several protesters removed. But for the most part, calm as dozens of leaders in business and charity as well as everyday citizens gave their input.
Ryan Loofbourrow is the CEO of Sacramento Steps Forward, the nonprofit group responsible for last week's homeless count.
"This is a difficult topic and the conversations we're having are critical because we need more coordination, we need more capacity to house, and it can't be done without the support of both the county, the city of Sacramento and frankly the other cities that are within that same footprint," Loofbourrow said.
The official homeless count numbers don't come out till June, but Loofbourrow believes it's gone up.
"I think anecdotally it has, without a doubt, I get calls from parts of this city and county that I have never heard from before on issues of homelessness," Loofbourrow said.
Some homeless at Tuesday night's meeting, like James Faygo Clark, believe the number is higher than what the count will find.
"How do we know people weren't in a motel room that night. How do we know that people weren't someplace you couldn't find them, like I've been homeless for 15 years, and I've never been counted," Faygo Clark said.
Faygo Clark is also optimistic with the city and county working together.
"I do have to say it is more than we've seen in past years, and it is something that does bring hope," Faygo Clark told FOX40.
But he said camping ordinances from both the city and county need to go; ordinances he claims are responsible for the recent deaths of two homeless men who couldn't use tents to protect themselves from the cold.
"In the homeless community, something like this affects us as if it's our own family member dying," said Faygo Clark.
One of the most important issues both the city and county talked about tonight is setting up a homeless triage center. Both the Sacramento City Council and the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors will revisit this topic and develop a strategy in their next joint meeting scheduled for February.