Is Newsom’s camping crackdown just for looks?

Wearing dark aviator sunglasses and a black button-down shirt, California Gov. Gavin Newsom stood near the remains of a homeless encampment while he announced an executive order on Thursday directing state agencies and cities to do everything in their power to tear down public camps. Behind him, state employees cleared crude dwellings and trash from beneath an underpass.

“There are simply no more excuses,” Newsom said in the video statement, referencing a U.S. Supreme Court decision in June that enables West Coast cities to enforce public camping bans. “It’s time for everyone to do their part.”

Some homeless advocacy groups and ministries criticized the governor for forcing people out of their makeshift dwellings when shelter space is limited, saying most individuals will simply reestablish a camp elsewhere. Other ministry leaders and local officials perceived Newsom’s announcement as an attempt to score political points while communities continue the work they’ve already been doing on the frontlines of a growing crisis. They argue little will change until the state reconsiders its Housing First approach.

Bill Wells, mayor of El Cajon, Calif., read the governor’s order with skepticism. The Republican mayor’s Southern California city already cracks down on homeless encampments, but he said local officials aren’t able to ensure people seek the help that they need.

“We have been breaking up encampments for the last five years. We’re not allowed to book people or arrest people even for crimes they’re committing, and so they’re right back on the streets an hour later,” Wells said. “My belief is that the governor’s edict was complete political theater.”

Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, has yet to announce her running mate, and Newsom is considered a dark horse contender. California’s mounting homelessness crisis has hounded the governor for years despite his administration funneling more than $24 billion into housing and services since he took the helm in 2019.

Since then, homelessness has increased 20 percent statewide. The Golden State is home to more than 180,000 homeless individuals—nearly one-third of the U.S. unsheltered population.

Newsom’s order primarily applies to state agencies and encampments on state property. Though the governor cannot force local governments to tear down the campsites, he can withhold state funding if they do not cooperate. He directed state agencies to give at least 48 hours’ notice to encampment residents and work with local organizations to offer them shelter before sweeping the area. But, he urged officials to clear encampments immediately if they pose a “threat to the life, health, and safety of the community.”

The city of San Francisco was already planning to take more aggressive actions against individuals who refuse offers of shelter starting in August, according to Mayor London Breed’s office. “Essentially what the governor’s direction does is reemphasize what our city crews already do every day,” Parisa Safarzadeh, a spokeswoman for Breed’s office, said in an emailed statement. “We have been training our city workforce to be ready once the court officially lifts the injunctions.”

In July, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals lifted part of an injunction prohibiting the city from conducting encampment sweeps. The court order stemmed from an earlier 9th Circuit ruling that struck down a city ordinance forbidding public camping in Grants Pass, Ore., on the grounds that citing homeless individuals for sleeping outside without providing enough adequate shelter beds constituted cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment.

The Supreme Court overturned the 9th Circuit’s ruling with a 6-3 decision in June. The justices stated that mild penalties for first-time offenders do not amount to cruel and unusual punishment, and they argued that local leaders, not the courts, should decide what qualifies as adequate shelter.

Bram Begonia, president and CEO of the Bay Area Rescue Mission, wasn’t surprised by Newsom’s announcement in light of the recent Supreme Court decision. The mission, which Begonia said can accommodate about 350 people, is bracing for an influx of guests. Normally, fewer individuals seek shelter during the summer months but Begonia said the ministry is already nearing max capacity. “We’re the busiest we’ve ever been,” he said, adding that they’ll see an increase during the upcoming winter months. “But we’re ramped up, and we’re prepared for that.”

The mission works with the county and other service providers to let “everyone know that you can come here anytime,” Begonia said. When other service providers visit encampments in preparation for a clean-up job, the mission sends along a stack of “You Matter” cards containing the organization’s address and phone number.

Farther south, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass criticized Newsom’s directive: “Strategies that just move people along from one neighborhood to the next or give citations … do not work,” she said in a statement to Cal Matters.

Union Rescue Mission interim CEO Jeff Hudson said he understands the city’s frustration. More than 46,000 homeless men, women, and children call the streets of Los Angeles home. That number grows to more than 75,000 when the surrounding county is included. The Union Rescue Mission’s three locations house 1,250-1,300 homeless guests every night, according to Hudson,—making it one of the largest rescue missions in the country. Still, Los Angeles has only enough shelter beds to house a little more than one-third of its homeless population.

“[The city is] in an untenable position,” Hudson said. “It is a huge amount of people on the street that cannot just be moved from one location to another.”

When Hudson asked Bass’ office about how the city would respond to Newsom’s directive, a spokesperson said the governor’s order would only affect encampments on state property where the governor has jurisdiction.

Paul Webster is executive director of the LA Alliance for Human Rights, a coalition of residents, small business owners, and social service providers that lobby the city to take more steps to address the homelessness crisis. He worries that if the governor’s order encourages smaller cities to take a more aggressive approach toward encampments, displaced individuals will flock to Los Angeles, a hub for homeless services and resources.

Webster, who also served as senior policy adviser in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, argued Newsom’s order is unlikely to change anything until the government pivots from the Housing First model. The department officially adopted the approach in 2009, which focuses on rapidly moving people into permanent housing without requiring them to participate in mental health treatment or addiction rehab programs.

“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,” said Webster, noting that while funding for housing has skyrocketed, so has Los Angeles’ unsheltered population.

In September 2023, the LA Alliance for Human Rights settled with Los Angeles for failing to clean up encampments and provide enough beds in treatment programs for individuals suffering on the streets. The city agreed to provide 3,000 new beds for people in need of treatment. “If you just put people in a bed somewhere, oftentimes they leave because you didn’t deal with their underlying issues of behavioral health, mental illness, drug addiction,” Webster added.

California became the first state to enshrine Housing First into law in 2016. No other states have followed suit. The policy means that shelters that require residents to remain sober, like the Union Rescue Mission, can’t receive state or federal funding.

Back in El Cajon, Mayor Wells also critiqued the Housing First approach, arguing that Newsom’s recent focus on clearing encampments is pointless without ensuring people get the treatment they desperately need. “[Newsom] gave the thumbs up to go ahead and move people around,” Wells said. “But he didn’t give us the tools we really needed.”

State laws such as Proposition 47, which reduced most drug possession offenses and low-level thefts from felonies to misdemeanors, make it difficult to hold individuals accountable for their actions or compel them to seek the treatment they need, Wells argued. Drug and alcohol addiction entrap people in a cycle of homelessness that simply shifting encampments around won’t break.

“We can’t just say, get out of our town,” he said. “We have to provide treatment options.”