California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) on Thursday threatened to take away state funding from counties across the state that aren’t doing enough to curb homelessness, while helping to clear homeless camps in Los Angeles.
Governor Newsom was photographed working with Caltrans crews under a Los Angeles freeway on Thursday and said more than 1,400 encampments have been removed since January.
“There are thousands of encampments not just in Los Angeles County but across the state of California that are not responding,” Newsom told reporters while standing near the encampment.
“The state has provided unprecedented funding to cities and municipalities large and small to address the encampment crisis,” he added, calling the issue “the biggest blemish on California’s reputation.”
“We’ve offered assistance, and local governments have embraced that effort and have taken the urgency out of it,” Newsom said. “We’re going to step up. It doesn’t matter if local governments aren’t interested. We’re going to direct funding to some of the states, cities and counties that are interested.”
The New York Times reported that Governor Newsom or his office visited two homeless camps on Thursday but did not directly notify city or county leaders. The only advance notice was through state placards warning people that they would be sued or arrested if they continued to live there, the paper reported.
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The governor, referring to an executive order he issued last month on the issue, said he participated in the cleanup on behalf of 40 million “fed-up Californians.”
The executive order, issued on July 25, directed state agencies and departments to develop “clear policies” to rapidly address the thousands of homeless camps that have sprung up across California.
The governor noted at the time that courts had previously blocked local and state governments from cleaning up encampments, but that the Supreme Court’s decision in Grants Pass v. Johnson changed that.
In its decision, the Supreme Court ruled that cities can fine homeless people for camping in public spaces even if they have no alternative shelter.
“So I’ve issued a simple executive order: Do your job. No more excuses. You have the funding, the flexibility, the go-ahead, and support from the state. And the public demands it,” Newsom said Thursday. “If this isn’t the most important issue, you’re not paying attention.”
According to Governor Newsom’s office, California has invested more than $1 billion in Encampment Solutions grants to clear homeless encampments and address the underlying issues.
California is home to about a third of the nation’s homeless people, and Governor Newsom has been a vocal advocate for solving the problem, with his office boasting that his administration has spent about $24 billion on cleaning up streets and housing the homeless.
Earlier this year, he sponsored a ballot measure that narrowly passed that would have allowed the state to borrow about $6.4 billion to build 4,350 housing units, according to the Associated Press.
