Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom took to the streets of California on Thursday to clean up trash left at homeless encampments, threatening local governments with losing state funding next year if they don’t clean up the encampments.
A frustrated Governor Newsom was spotted alongside California’s Department of Transportation picking up trash from a cleared encampment in Los Angeles, one of the state’s largest centers of outdoor homeless people, whose homelessness in California accounts for roughly one-third of the national crisis.
“I want to see the results,” Gov. Newsom told reporters on Thursday. “I don’t want to read about the results. I don’t want to see the data. I want to see the results.”
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At left, Governor Gavin Newsom with people at a homeless camp in California. (Getty Images)
Under Governor Newsom’s leadership, homelessness in California has skyrocketed. According to a 2024 point-in-time count of homelessness on any given night, the number of homeless people in California has increased to approximately 172,000. This is an increase from an estimated 131,000 people counted in 2018, when Governor Newsom took office.
Thursday’s announcement was a continuation of Governor Newsom’s efforts to encourage local governments to do more to clear homeless encampments after the Supreme Court ruled that the government can forcibly remove people from homeless encampments. Last month, Governor Newsom directed state agencies to clear encampments from state property and has encouraged local officials to follow suit.
“The excuses are over,” Governor Newsom told reporters. “The big excuse last time was, ‘The courts say we can’t do anything.’ But that’s not the case anymore, so we’ve issued a simple executive order: Get on with your job. … We have the funding, we have the flexibility, we have the go-ahead, we have state support, and the public is demanding it.”
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A homeless camp in Oakland, California. (Getty)
But some local leaders aren’t on board with Governor Newsom’s approach. In a statement to ABC7 News, Los Angeles County officials said they “need to free up additional bed capacity to accommodate the patient population who are involuntarily detained and require locked facilities for treatment.”
“Without taking these steps first, efforts to get residents off the streets for their own health and safety will fail,” the statement continued. “This does not mean Los Angeles County is sitting idly by. Our Pathway Home Encampment Solutions program has already helped hundreds of people find shelter indoors, and the City of Los Angeles’ Inside Safe program has also provided extensive support, sheltering thousands of displaced people.”
“I would love to explain to the governor what we’re doing, because we are,” Los Angeles County Supervisor Katherine Berger told the news outlet.
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A homeless encampment on the sidewalk of Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles. (Toby Canham for Fox News Digital)
“I’m not going to criticize the fact that he issued that order because I actually support what he wants to do. My goal is to get us all pulling in the same direction. You can go to an encampment and clear it out, but if you don’t coordinate with the various jurisdictions around you, you’re just postponing the problem,” she said.
Earlier this year, Newsom’s administration criticized counties and cities after a state audit report found his own homelessness task force failed to keep track of how billions of dollars were spent over the past five years to solve the crisis.
at that time, California Council on Homelessness CICH, which coordinates the state’s homelessness program, told Fox News Digital that the audit findings “highlight the great progress made in recent years in addressing homelessness at the state level, including the completion of an evaluation of the statewide homelessness program.”
Tents and belongings at a homeless camp at Toriumi Plaza, at the intersection of 1st Avenue and Judge John Ayo Street in Los Angeles. (Hans Gutknecht/MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images)
The audit concluded that over the past five years, CICH had not consistently tracked whether funding had actually improved conditions.
The spokesperson added: Local Government “Its primary responsibility is to implement these programs and collect data on outcomes that states can use to evaluate the effectiveness of the programs.”
California has spent more than $25 billion on homelessness since 2016, including state, local and federal funds allocated to advance the state’s “housing first” philosophy through a variety of programs that prioritize getting people housing before addressing mental illness or substance abuse issues.
The Housing First model was launched in 2016 through SB 1380. Drafted by Democratic state senator Ed Hernandez, the bill expanded state resources to provide permanent housing to homeless individuals without conditions such as sobriety or employment.
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In response to a request for comment from Fox News Digital, a spokesperson for Governor Newsom referred to Thursday’s press conference and provided a statement.
“California is working harder than ever. We’re going to work harder. But this is my final word: If we don’t see tangible results, we’ll redirect our funding. I’m no longer interested in the status quo. And that will start with the January budget. We’ve provided support to local governments that have embraced this effort and have focused on the urgency of it. And we’re going to step up and do more. If local governments aren’t interested, we’ll redirect funding to parts of the state, cities and counties that are interested.”
