California governor vows to remove funding from cities and counties for not clearing encampments

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday had a message for native governments: clear up homeless encampments now or lose out on state funding subsequent 12 months.

Standing in entrance of a cleared homeless encampment in Los Angeles, Newsom vowed to start out taking state funding away from cities and counties that aren’t doing sufficient to maneuver individuals out of encampments and into shelter. The governor joined the California Division of Transportation, referred to as Caltrans, on Thursday to clear a number of encampment websites within the space.

“I need to see outcomes,” Newsom informed reporters at a information convention. “I don’t need to examine them. I don’t need to see the information. I need to see it.”

Thursday’s announcement was a part of Newsom’s escalating marketing campaign to push native governments into doing extra homeless encampment sweeps. Newsom final month ordered state businesses to start out clearing encampments on state land. He additionally pressured native authorities to do the identical, although he can’t legally drive them to behave.

The chief order got here after the U.S. Supreme Courtroom overturned a decrease court docket ruling that stated governments couldn’t drive individuals to go away encampments if there weren’t any shelter beds out there. Newsom’s administration wrote in assist of cities’ arguments that earlier rulings, together with one which barred San Francisco from clearing encampments, have prevented the state from fixing a important downside.

California is house to roughly one-third of the nation’s inhabitants of homeless individuals, an issue that has dogged Newsom since he took workplace. There are literally thousands of tents and makeshift shelters throughout the state that line freeways, and fill parking tons and public parks.

The state has spent roughly $24 billion underneath Newsom’s management to wash up streets and home individuals. That features not less than $3.2 billion in grants given to native authorities to construct shelters, clear encampments and join homeless individuals to companies as they see match, Newsom stated.

These have been unprecedented investments from the state, he added, however his administration will begin redirecting that cash in January.

“This isn’t about criminalization,” Newsom stated. “What’s felony is neglecting individuals which might be struggling and struggling and dying on our watch.”

It is not the primary time Newsom has vowed to chop funding over what he sees because the lackluster efforts from native governments to deal with homelessness. In 2022, he threatened to withhold $1 billion in homelessness spending from cities and counties over the dearth of progress. Final month, his workplace clawed again a $10-million grant despatched to San Diego to construct tiny houses as a result of the county did not act quick sufficient.

San Francisco’s mayor has taken extra aggressive motion in clearing encampments.

However others, together with Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and LA County officers, have pushed again, saying the governor’s method will not work. Newsom on Thursday praised Bass’ work at efficiently lowering the variety of individuals sleeping exterior in Los Angeles, including his frustration is usually directed towards counties.

California State Affiliation of Counties, which represents 58 counties in California, stated it received’t weigh in on the governor’s announcement Thursday. A spokesperson as a substitute pointed to an announcement in response to Newsom’s order final month that the counties “will proceed to work along with the Governor and share his sense of urgency.”