Moving people around

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It:

Homelessness in California

The Golden State is home to roughly one-third of the nation's unsheltered population—more than 180,000 people.

The mounting crisis has hounded California Governor Gavin Newsom since he took the helm in 2019. So, last week, the governor said enough is enough, and ordered officials to clear the homeless encampments clogging sidewalks and lining riverbeds.

But will Newsom’s order really change anything?

WORLD’s Addie Offereins did some digging into how local officials and ministries serving the homeless are responding to Newsom’s directive…and features reporter Grace Snell brings us the story:

NEWSOM: I don’t think there’s anything more urgent or more frustrating than addressing encampments in the state of California.

GRACE SNELL, REPORTER: On Thursday, Gov. Newsom recorded a video in front of the remains of a homeless encampment to announce a new executive action. State employees cleaned up crude dwellings and scattered trash from beneath the underpass in the background of the video.

NEWSOM: It is time to move with urgency at the local level, to focus on public health, to focus on public safety. There are no longer any excuses.

His order directs state agencies to clean up encampments on state property…and urges cities to do the same. Newsom can’t force local governments to comply. But he could withhold some state funding if they don’t cooperate.

NEWSOM: One of the big issues though, that has been an impediment, was the courts.

Newsom’s announcement follows a June Supreme Court decision that gave West Coast governments the green light to tear down encampments. That decision overturned a lower court ruling prohibiting cities from punishing people for sleeping outside if they had nowhere else to go.

NEWSOM: We have now no excuse with the Supreme Court decision. This executive action is about pushing that paradigm further and getting the sense of urgency that’s required of local governments to do their job.

Critics of the order argue forcing people out of their makeshift dwellings when shelter space is limited means most individuals will simply relocate.

They say California’s commitment to the Housing First approach to solving homelessness doesn’t provide homeless men and women with the treatment and support they need.

WELLS: He gave the thumbs up to go ahead and move people around, which I think is pointless and meaningless, but he didn't, he didn't give us the tools we really needed.

Bill Wells is the Mayor of El Cajon, a southern California city east of San Diego.

WELLS: We have been breaking up encampments for the last five years. We don't allow camping on the streets, which sounds good, but it's still kind of a major problem, because even though we break up the encampments, we're not allowed to book people or arrest people even for crimes they're committing.

The Republican mayor says state laws that give drug possession and other low-level crimes a free pass turn citations and encampment sweeps into empty threats.

WELLS: And so they're right back on the streets an hour later on another corner setting up their encampments all over again.

That applies to bigger cities like Los Angeles as well…where more than 75,000 individuals live out in public spaces.

WEBSTER: I feel that the governor is going to exacerbate pushing people around.

Paul Webster is the executive director for the LA Alliance for Human Rights. He understands the city’s frustration.

He worries that if the governor’s order encourages smaller cities to take a more aggressive approach towards encampments…the individuals who are pushed out will flock to Los Angeles where they can receive more services.

WEBSTER: It's a nice thought, to think that if you create housing, you'll see fewer people living on the street. But that just doesn't bear itself out in terms of the data.

Webster used to serve as a Senior Policy Advisor in the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). He said things are unlikely to change unless the government abandons its Housing First model—an approach focused on rapidly moving people into housing straight from the streets…often without addressing the issues that landed them on the streets in the first place.

WEBSTER: In 2009, Congress changed the way that they funded communities…[5:55] Instead of programs that are focused on outcomes with respect to sobriety, earnings, family unification, you know, they started really focusing on housing, making sure that people are in lease arrangements.

California became the first and only state to enshrine Housing First into law in 2016. Despite the state spending more than $24 billion to address the issue since Newsom took office in 2019, homelessness has increased 20 percent.

WEBSTER: So money has gone up, capacity has gone up and the other thing that's gone up is more people experiencing homelessness has gone up.

Back in El Cajon, Mayor Wells, who used to work as clinical psychologist, says what’s really needed in his city is treatment for underlying mental health issues and drug addiction.

WELLS: I would challenge the idea that letting people die on the side of the road in their addiction is compassionate.

WELLS: We have to change the laws to give the cities the ability to work with people to get treatment and force them to treatment if they won't, if they won't accept it, and then if they won't accept treatment, then you incarcerate them. You have to have the ability to do that.

For those seeking shelter or rehab in El Cajon, the East County Transitional Living Center keeps its doors wide open.

Dr. Julie Hayden is a licensed psychologist and the ministry’s CEO.

HAYDEN: So if we know that they're going to be tearing down an encampment we go a couple of weeks before, a week before, two days before, so we really give notice, and that's in collaboration with Caltrans, and in the cities, and so you know, they have a chance to get into a program.

She said the organization will continue to collaborate with city and state agencies if and when Newsom ramps up encampment sweeps.

At the center, formerly homeless men, women, and families participate in drug addiction rehab and life-skill classes. They receive employment training and find jobs.

HAYDEN: So when they do have that housing, they're gonna be able to keep it and they have us you know, there as a support system

For WORLD, I’m Grace Snell…with reporting from Addie Offereins.

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