Local officials and advocates in California are divided over Gov. Gavin Newsom’s recent executive order that requires state agencies to remove homeless encampments on public property, leaving the homeless community stuck in the middle and unsure of where they will go.
In June, the Supreme Court ruled that punishing homeless people for sleeping on public property does not violate the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishments. According to an assessment provided to Congress last year by the Department of Housing and Urban Developmentthere were about 180,000 homeless people statewide, making California’s homeless population one of the highest in the country, along with those of New York, Florida, and Washington.
In an effort to address rising levels of homelessnessNewsom, a Democrat, ordered state agencies adopt plans to remove homeless encampments across the state — one of the most direct reactions to the Supreme Court ruling and a path other states may soon follow.
While local governments will not be forced to comply, Newsom said at a press conference Thursday that he will withhold funding from cities and counties for not cleaning up encampments next year.
Newsom noted that his administration has invested billions in multiple state agencies to provide services to the homeless, including more than $9 billion for programs designed to help local governments move them out of camps and into housing. The investments — as well as the new authority the Supreme Court has given cities — will provide the tools needed to comply with the order, he said.
“No more excuses” Newsom said in a July 25 post in X. “We provide the time. We provide the funds. Now it’s time for local residents to do their job.”
But members of the homeless community say they have nowhere to go.
“It’s absolute chaos and madness,” said Jeni Shurley, a member of the Los Angeles homeless community.
“I honestly feel like I need to leave the country because I have desperately searched all over the country trying to find some kind of solution, literally going from coast to coast,” she added.
Shurley, 48, said he has been homeless for a decade, holding down a series of temporary and traveling jobs in one location or another in Oregon, Colorado, Louisiana, Missouri, Washington, D.C. and now California, while also suffering serious housing problems. health .
After Newsom announced his executive order on July 25, Shurley said she considered moving to another country because she didn’t want to be criminalized for being homeless.
“I did everything I could, every program offered,” she said. “I took this on and I haven’t gotten any of the help I need. I feel like I’m just a pebble in a river full of money and I can’t touch $1 of it.”
Last year, the state had about 71,000 beds available — less than half of the more than 180,000 beds needed to house the state’s homeless population, according to the California Public Policy Institutea non-profit, non-partisan organization that is grateful, citing the HUD report. This shortage makes Newsom’s order much more challenging for localities.
Homeless shelters across the state will have to expand their services to accommodate the influx of people coming off the streets, but many say they don’t have adequate resources, even with state investments.
Mission Action, which provides emergency shelter and advocates for homeless people in San Francisco’s Mission District, said in a statement to NBC News that it is concerned that the city does not have enough emergency shelter beds for people living in camps.
The organization’s 91-bed adult emergency shelter was already full before the order was announced, and another 80-bed family shelter has just four beds available, he said.
“If the city is unable to provide emergency shelter to those who need and want shelter, then we are essentially criminalizing the very act of homelessness,” said Laura Valdez, the organization’s executive director, in the statement.
A spokesperson for Newsom, however, told NBC News that concerns about resources are misplaced.
“Local governments have received ample funding to help address this issue in their communities,” said Tara Gallegos, Newsom’s deputy communications director, echoing the governor’s statement that there is no excuse for communities to neglect encampments.
As shelters in the San Francisco area remained nearly full, Mayor London Breed announced a directive earlier this month to provide relocation support for homeless people, including bus tickets, to help them move to another place. Breed’s office said she expanded the number of beds by more than 60% during her tenure, but shelters across the city continued to fill quickly as the city’s homeless population grew. San Francisco has around 8,000 homeless people – the second largest in the state, behind Los Angeles, with about 75,000.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a motion stating that individuals removed from the camps will not be taken to jail, despite the potential for penalties or citations for failing to comply with Newsom’s order.
“The mere fact that authorities carry out sweeps on campuses, in my opinion, does nothing to produce permanent and lasting results. This just muddles the issue, which is why my constituents want permanent results,” Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, a Republican, told NBC News.
For Barger, the permanent solution is housing, but the question remains whether the city is capable of providing it.
Newsom’s order is an extension of work already done in Los Angeles to remove encampments, but adds an extra layer of coordination between state agencies, she said. Barger added that the city is working to maintain the trust of the homeless community as it works to dismantle the camps.
Other officials applauded Newsom for addressing encampments with the executive order.
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg, a Democrat, said the governor’s efforts to address mental health and homelessness are unlike anything he has seen done in the last 30 years.
Steinberg authored a bill as a state senator in 2004 aimed at taxing the wealthy to help provide mental health services to homeless people and others. Later approved by voters as a ballot initiative, the measure imposed a 1% tax on personal income above $1 million to fund these services statewide. But it didn’t provide direct funding for homeless shelters, which is the key thing advocates and shelters say is missing following Newsom’s order.
Despite concerns about resources, Steinberg says the governor’s order reflected what Sacramento has been trying to accomplish for years.
“For the people who live in these large encampments, it’s not safe, it’s not healthy for them or for our community,” he said.
His city was trying to combine “compassion and oversight with aggressively adding more beds, more services and permanent housing for people,” he said.
Last year, the city saw a 29% decrease in homelessness compared to the previous year, something Steinberg said is due to his commitment to addressing health and safety issues throughout the community. Although Sacramento has a smaller population than Los Angeles and San Francisco, the city also saw a 49% decline in the number of homeless people without shelter, one of the largest drops statewide.
Still, Steinberg said they are not celebrating a victory given the number of people living on the streets. The order, he said, is a step “in the right direction.”
“We just have to continue to offer people more alternatives, and people have to be willing to accept them,” Steinberg said. “But it’s not perfect and I will continue to discuss and lobby in my city to ensure we have something for as many people as possible.”
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
