California Governor Gavin Newsom (Democrat) has vowed to “redirect funding” away from areas of the state that aren’t working to remove homeless camps.
At a news conference Thursday, Newsom said spoke He added that “more than 1,400 encampments have been removed” in California since the beginning of the year, but that “thousands more” still exist across the state and need to be removed.
Governor Newsom issued an executive order in July calling for the removal of homeless camps in California. The executive order was issued after the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in June that removing homeless camps or jailing people for violating anti-camping laws is not “cruel and unusual punishment” under the Eighth Amendment.
“The excuses are over,” Newsom said. “And the last big excuse was, ‘The courts say we can’t do anything.’ But that’s not the case anymore. So we’ve issued a simple executive order: Do your job, and you no longer have excuses. You’ll have the money, you’ll have the flexibility, you’ll have the green light, you’ll have the support from the state.”
Live Stream: Governor Gavin Newsom He spoke with local media after cleaning up the Los Angeles encampment. https://t.co/izlFUJc1Ni
— Governor of California (@CAgovernor) August 8, 2024
“If this isn’t the most important issue, you’re not paying attention,” Newsom added. “This is the biggest blemish on California’s reputation. This is what it’s all about. If we can actually prove that we can address this, people will start to believe that we can address a lot of other problems in this state. That’s how I feel. California is working harder than ever and we’ll continue to work harder. But this will be my final word on this. If we don’t see tangible results, I will redirect the funding.”
2023 Report A survey by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development found that of the approximately 653,104 people experiencing homelessness, 181,399 are in California.
