August 10 2024 - 5:03pm
On Thursday, California Governor Gavin Newsom, accompanied by television cameras and wearing plastic gloves, personally assisted state workers in cleaning up a homeless encampment beneath a busy freeway in the San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles. This visit follows Newsom’s recent executive order, issued just two weeks prior, which directs state agencies to clear homeless encampments on state-owned property and encourages local governments to adopt similar measures.
Newsom expressed frustration over California’s $24 billion in homelessness spending and its failure to achieve significant results. However, his executive order does not allocate new funding, rendering it essentially voluntary for local governments.
The Governor’s actions are influenced by a recent US Supreme Court ruling that grants cities increased authority to arrest, cite, and fine individuals sleeping in public spaces. This ruling effectively overturns six years of legal protections for the homeless in California and other western states. In the 6-3 decision in Grants Pass v. Johnson, the Court upheld an Oregon city’s ordinance banning camping on public property, contrary to a previous Ninth Circuit ruling. This decision allows cities to impose penalties on unhoused individuals in the absence of alternative housing, significantly impacting homelessness management in California. Newsom, who had supported the ruling through an amicus brief, praised it for clarifying legal ambiguities that had constrained local officials.
As a potential future presidential candidate, Newsom faces substantial criticism over California’s severe homelessness crisis. The state, while home to only 12% of the US population, accounts for more than 180,000 homeless individuals — nearly 30% of the national homeless population. This is largely attributed to its temperate year-round climate, which makes it easy to sleep outdoors, and Proposition 47, a statewide initiative which decriminalized personal drug use of methamphetamine and heroin. Newsom’s recent push to take a tougher stance on homeless encampments, following five years of perceived inaction, has made many in California furious.
His executive order has been met with mixed reactions. San Francisco Mayor London Breed, who is facing a tough re-election in November, has been quick to act. Citing an exhausted shelter system, Breed issued an executive order directing city workers to offer homeless people bus tickets out of town before providing housing or shelter services. Homeless advocates have criticized her actions, stating that it will just spread the problem to other cities. They may be right, but the problem hasn’t left the Golden State: Los Angeles, Sacramento and Humboldt were the top three destinations for homeless people traveling within California.
In Los Angeles, Newsom’s order has met resistance. Supervisor Lindsay Horvath, who has condemned the Supreme Court ruling as ‘unconscionable’, asserted that Los Angeles County is already fully engaged in its homelessness response. Mayor Karen Bass criticized the order, arguing that removing makeshift shelters would criminalize the homeless without effectively addressing the crisis. Los Angeles is home to the highest number of unhoused individuals, with 75,312 in the County, including 45,252 in the City. None of the five County Supervisors, nor the Mayor of Los Angeles will face a re-election this November, which may be the reason they are unwilling to act.
Overall, in a state where billions have been poured into ‘solving homelessness’, all eyes will be on whether Newsom will finally address the problem. California residents, especially those in Los Angeles, should not hold their breath.
