Gavin Newsom Seen Clearing LA Homeless Encampments, Vows Statewide Crackdown
Jesus Mesa
Newsweek
Last week, California Governor Gavin Newsom spent time out of the governor’s mansion, personally clearing homeless encampments under a Los Angeles freeway and publicly expressing frustration with the slow pace of progress in addressing the state’s most glaring humanitarian crisis.
“I want to see results,” Newsom, wearing jeans and a t-shirt, told reporters at an impromptu news conference in front of the encampment. “I don’t want to read about them. I don’t want to see the data. I want to see it.”
As he nears the halfway point of his second and final term in office, Newsom is among California’s Democratic leaders taking a sudden and far more aggressive stance in addressing the state’s long-festering homelessness problem. Last month he issued an executive order demanding state agencies start clearing encampments on state land and pressuring local government to do the same, though he cannot legally force them to act.
Newsom pledged on Thursday to start taking away state funding from cities and counties that are not doing enough to get homeless people out of encampments and into shelters.
“The state has been hard at work to address this crisis on our streets. There are simply no more excuses. It’s time for everyone to do their part,” he said.
Newsom’s more aggressive position comes after the Supreme Court overturned a lower court ruling that said governments could not force people to leave encampments if there weren’t any shelter beds available, clearing the way for states and cities to clear those encampments.
The decision was divisive among liberals. Newsom and San Francisco Mayor London Breed praised the ruling, saying that previous court decisions had been hamstrung by elected officials from addressing homelessness, open-air drug use and other matters of public safety. Others, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Bernie Sanders, argued that punishing homeless people won’t solve the lack of affordable housing.
Breed, also a Democrat, responded to the Supreme Court ruling by adopting her own, sudden pivot to a more hardline stance on homelessness.
The San Francisco mayor has vowed her own crackdown on the encampments that dot her city and has gone so far as to tell police they have the authority to ticket and even arrest homeless people who camp illegally and refuse shelter. City officials in San Francisco have also been told to offer bus tickets to homeless people before a shelter bed.
The shift in tactics come as another high-profile California Democrat has captured the party’s nomination for president.
Kamala Harris, who was born in Oakland and launched her political career in the Bay Area, has been accused by Republicans of wanting to “turn America into San Francisco.” She has proposed using federal funding to help address housing affordability, but has been relatively quiet about the specific issue of homelessness in her home state.
Meanwhile, Newsom’s executive order has drawn criticism from both local leaders and politicians. State Assembly Minority Leader James Gallagher, a Republican, dismissed Newsom’s proclamation as a continuation of failed policies.
“It’s the same-old failed approach to the problem,” Gallagher remarked, reflecting broader skepticism among Republican leaders about the efficacy of the governor’s new harder-line position.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, speaking to FOX 11, acknowledged Newsom’s frustration but emphasized the need for better coordination between state and local efforts.
“If they’re going to do the cleanup on these encampments on state land, we don’t want to just move the people into different areas. It’s about coordination,” she said, warning that simply moving people from one area to another without adequate support does not solve the underlying problems.
“He’s right. People are fed up,” Barger said.
Sean Kennedy, executive director of the Coalition for Law, Order, and Safety, also voiced concerns about the effectiveness of the state executive order. While he acknowledges that Newsom’s order is timely, he emphasizes that even with this new directive, significant challenges remain in the state.
“The way we measure homelessness through the Housing and Urban Development agencies’ point-in-time count is terribly flawed,” Kennedy told Newsweek.
But Newsom’s actions have found support from an unexpected quarter: top Republicans outside California. In Florida, several leading Republicans, including a prominent state lawmaker and staff from Governor Ron DeSantis‘ office, praised Newsom for his executive order.
“I’m glad to see Governor Newsom finally accept reality and acknowledge the damage chronic homelessness does to communities and businesses,” said Republican State Rep. Sam Garrison, in a statement last month.
California is home to roughly one-third of the nation’s population of homeless people, a problem that has dogged Newsom since he took office. There are thousands of tents and makeshift shelters across the state that line freeways and fill parking lots and public parks.
“Homelessness in the state has expanded beyond its traditional urban cores, with areas like Skid Row in Los Angeles growing significantly. The issue has become more visible across the state, particularly during and after the COVID-19 pandemic,” Kennedy said.
The state has spent roughly $24 billion under Newsom’s tenure to clean up streets and house people. That includes at least $3.2 billion in grants given to local government to build shelters, clear encampments and connect homeless people to services as they see fit.
