SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order Thursday directing state agencies to remove homeless encampments, a month after a Supreme Court ruling allowing cities to ban sleeping outdoors in public spaces.
Newsom’s order targets the thousands of tents and makeshift shelters that line highways, clutter mall parking lots and fill city parks. The order says the decision to dismantle the encampments remains in the hands of local officials.
The decision follows a U.S. Supreme Court ruling earlier this summer allowing cities to ban residents from sleeping outdoors in public spaces. The case is the most significant on the issue to reach the Supreme Court in decades and comes as cities across the country grapple with the politically complex issue of managing a growing number of homeless people and public frustration over related health and safety concerns.
The Newsom administration wrote to support the cities’ argument that previous decisions, including one barring San Francisco from clearing encampments until more shelter beds were available, prevented the state from addressing a critical problem.
“There are simply no more excuses. It’s time for everyone to do their part,” Newsom said in a statement.
While Newsom cannot order local officials to act, his administration can exert pressure by withholding money from counties and cities.
California is home to about a third of the nation’s homeless population, a problem that has dogged Newsom since he took office. Newsom has touted his administration’s spending about $24 billion to clean up streets and house people, but has acknowledged the problem persists. Newsom’s administration has also come under fire recently after a state audit found the state failed to systematically track whether the massive spending of taxpayer money actually improved the situation.
Newsom has worked hard to address this problem. He threw his political weight behind a referendum measure earlier this year to allow the state to borrow nearly $6.4 billion to build 4,350 housing units, which passed by a razor-thin margin.
The move comes as Republicans have stepped up their criticism of California and its homelessness crisis, as Vice President Kamala Harris, a former district attorney, attorney general and senator from California, launches her presidential campaign. Harris entered the race over the weekend after President Joe Biden announced he would not seek reelection. Newsom himself has presidential ambitions.
The timing of the order is “curious,” said California political analyst Brian Sobel, but he doubts Newsom’s decision will have much impact on Harris’ campaign.
“Harris’ problem is not California, because California is a done deal,” he said. “It’s in the battleground states where she needs to make the most progress on issues like this.”
Rather, the order is a logical step for Newsom, who has called himself the state’s “homeless czar” and has made homelessness a signature political issue in recent years, said Wesley Hussey, a political science professor at California State University, Sacramento.
“I don’t think this is driven by the presidential race, but rather by something that Newsom cared about a lot,” Hussey said. “If you put this in the political context of the election, it’s not going to magically solve the problem.”
Newsom’s decision was welcomed by local elected officials and business groups, who said they had no options to address homeless encampments before the Supreme Court ruling. San Francisco Mayor London Breed recently said the city would launch an “aggressive” campaign to eliminate encampments across the city in August. Her office noted that the governor’s order does not affect city operations.
“I applaud Governor Newsom’s focus on urgency,” Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors member Kathryn Barger said in a statement. “He rightly emphasizes that local government remains in the driver’s seat to eliminate homeless encampments. Cities have an obligation to develop housing and shelter solutions in tandem with the support services provided by county government.”
Homeless people and their advocates say the operations are cruel and a waste of taxpayer money. They say the solution lies in creating housing, not repression.
Under Newsom’s direction, state agencies, including national parks and the Department of Transportation, would be required to prioritize clearing encampments that pose safety risks, such as those along waterways. Officials would have to provide advance notice to vacate the premises, connect homeless people with local services and help store their belongings for at least 60 days. Local cities and counties are being urged to adopt similar protocols.
