California to remove homeless camps

In a dramatic move to address California's longstanding homelessness crisis, Governor Gavin Newsom on Thursday issued an executive order mandating the dismantling of thousands of homeless encampments across the state.

The action marks the most comprehensive response yet to a recent US Supreme Court's ruling that expanded government authority to remove homeless individuals from public spaces.

"This executive order directs state agencies to move urgently to address dangerous encampments while supporting and assisting the individuals living in them — and provides guidance for cities and counties to do the same," Newsom said in a statement. "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."

The governor's decision comes in the wake of a June 28 Supreme Court ruling that upheld an Oregon city's ban on homeless residents sleeping outdoors, saying the city had not violated the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment by ticketing homeless campers.

The ruling overturned previous opinions by the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco, which had deemed it unconstitutional to punish people for sleeping in public spaces when they had no other legal options.

Many politicians, including Newsom, blamed the appellate court's rulings, saying it limited the abilities of cities to address homelessness with arrests and citations.

California's homelessness crisis has reached staggering proportions, with more than 180,000 people estimated to have experienced homelessness on any given night in 2023. Of these, 123,000 individuals were living in unsheltered conditions, inhabiting tents, trailers and vehicles across the state, according to the governor's office.

Since taking office in 2019, Newsom's administration has invested approximately $24 billion into addressing homelessness. More than 165,000 people were moved from homelessness into interim or permanent housing in the 2022-23 fiscal year.

Additionally, the California Department of Transportation has removed 11,188 encampments and 248,275 cubic yards of debris from state rights of way since July 2021, according to the executive order.

However, the effectiveness of the cleanup efforts has been called into question. A recent study by the RAND Center on Housing and Homelessness found that encampment cleanups have no long-term effect on reducing the number of people living on the streets.

The study pointed to rising rents, high home prices, regulatory barriers to housing production and a lack of coordination among service entities as contributing factors to the persistent problem.

The root causes of homelessness in California are complex and multifaceted, said researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, in their report last year. The study revealed that 75 percent of homeless adults in the state were local residents, with many citing unaffordable housing as the primary reason for their situation.

California has the nation's highest housing costs, further complicating efforts to address the crisis. And despite extensive investment in homelessness programs, the state still faces a shortage of emergency housing.

The governor's order has ignited a heated debate among California officials and advocacy groups. Supporters of the move, like San Francisco Mayor London Breed, have welcomed the decision. The city plans to begin removing encampments next month and may start citing homeless individuals who refuse offers of shelter.

On the other side of the debate, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who opposed the Supreme Court's decision, criticized Newsom's order.

"Strategies that just move people along from one neighborhood to the next or give citations instead of housing do not work," Bass said in a statement. "We thank the Governor for his partnership thus far and hope that he will continue collaboration on strategies that work."