Californians are reacting to Gavin Newsom’s order to remove homeless encampments

Local officials and advocates in California are divided Governor Gavin Newsom’s recent executive order requiring government agencies to remove homeless encampments on public property, leaving the homeless community caught in the middle and unsure of where to 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 punishment. According to an assessment given 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 nation along with that of New York, Florida, and Washington.

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In an effort to addressing rising levels of homelessnessNewsom, Democrat, ordered government services to adopt plans to remove homeless encampments across the state — one of the most immediate reactions to the Supreme Court ruling and a course other states could soon follow.

While local governments are not forced to comply, Newsom said at a news conference Thursday that he will withhold funding from cities and counties to keep the encampments from being cleared next year.

Newsom has pointed out that his administration has invested billions in many state agencies to provide services to the homeless, including more than $9 billion for programs aimed at helping local governments move them out of encampments and into housing. The investments — as well as the new power the Supreme Court gave cities — will provide the tools needed to carry out the mandate, he said.

“No more excuses” Newsom said in a July 25 post at X. “We’ve provided the time. We’ve provided the funds. Now it’s time for the locals 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 homeless community in Los Angeles.

“I honestly feel like I need to get out of the country because I’ve been so desperately searching the entire country trying to find some kind of solution, literally from coast to coast,” he added.

Shurley, 48, said she has been homeless for a decade, holding down a series of temporary and itinerant jobs in one location or another in Oregon, Colorado, Louisiana, Missouri, Washington and now California, while also is facing serious health problems. .

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’ve done everything I can, every program that’s been offered,” he said. “I’ve taken it on and haven’t gotten any help I need. I feel like I’m just a rock in the river full of money and I can’t touch $1 of it.”

Last year, the state had about 71,000 housing beds available — less than half of the more than 180,000 beds needed to house the state’s homeless, according to the Public Policy Institute of Californiaa non-profit, non-partisan think tank, citing the HUD report. This shortage makes Newsom’s order much more difficult for sites.

Homeless shelters across the state will need to expand services to accommodate the influx of people coming off the streets, but many say they are under-resourced, even with the state investment.

Mission Action, which provides emergency shelter and advocates for the homeless in San Francisco’s Mission District, said in a statement to NBC News that it is concerned the city does not have enough emergency shelter beds for the population living in encampments.

The agency’s 91-bed adult emergency shelter was already ready before the order was announced, and another 80-bed family shelter has only four beds available, he said.

“If the city is unable to provide emergency shelter to those who need and want shelter, then we are effectively criminalizing the very act of homelessness,” said Laura Valdez, the agency’s executive director.

A spokesman 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 continued to be nearly full, Mayor London Breed announced a directive earlier this month to provide homeless people with relocation support, including bus tickets, to help them move elsewhere. Breed’s office said she has expanded the number of shelter beds by more than 60 percent during her tenure, but shelters across the city have continued to fill quickly as the city’s homeless population has grown. San Francisco has about 8,000 homeless people — the second furthest in the state Los Angeles, with about 75,000.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a proposal stating that people taken from camps will not be sent to jail, despite possible penalties or citations for not complying with Newsom’s order.

“Just having law enforcement sweep campuses, in my opinion, does nothing to provide permanent and lasting results. It just compounds the problem, and that’s why my constituents want permanent results,” said the supervisor of Los Angeles County Kathryn Barger, Republican. NBC News.

For Barger, the permanent solution is housing, but the question remains whether the city can provide it.

Newsom’s order is an extension of work already being done in Los Angeles to remove encampments, but adds an extra layer of coordination between state agencies, he said. Barger added that the city is working to maintain the trust of the homeless community while also working to dismantle the encampments.

Other officials applauded Newsom for addressing the camps 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’s seen in 30 years.

Steinberg authored a bill as a state senator in 2004 aimed at taxing the wealthy to help provide mental health services to the homeless and others. Later approved by voters as a ballot initiative, the measure placed a 1 percent tax on personal income over $1 million to fund such services statewide. But it did not provide immediate funding for homeless shelters, which is the fundamental thing advocates and shelters say they are missing from following Newsom’s order.

Despite concerns about resources, Steinberg says the governor’s order reflects what Sacramento has been trying to accomplish for years.

“People living in these big camps, it’s not safe, it’s not healthy for them or for our community,” he said.

His city was trying to combine “compassion and enforcement with aggressively adding more beds, more services and permanent housing for people,” he said.

Last year, the city saw a 29% decrease in homelessness since last year, which Steinberg said is due to his commitment to addressing health and safety concerns throughout the community. While Sacramento has a smaller population than Los Angeles and San Francisco, the city also saw a 49 percent decrease in unsheltered homelessness, one of the largest decreases statewide.

However, 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 provide more alternatives for people, and people have to be willing to accept them,” Steinberg said. “But it’s not perfect, and I’m going to keep arguing and pushing in my city to make sure we have something for as many people as possible.”