‘We Gotta Be Somewhere’: Newsom’s Order to Clear Homeless Encampments Causes Chaos

In the weeks following the directive, California cities and counties have been divided on what to do, forcing Newsom to issue a threat to withhold funding for any local governments who will not comply.

“With the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in Grants Pass v. Johnson, local governments now have the tools and authority to address dangerous encampments and help provide those residing in encampments with the resources they need,” said an announcement from the governor’s office.

Long Beach is beginning a teardown of tents this week. “We fully understand how sensitive this is for our residents and also the urgency of some of the chronic encampments, so we took our time,” said Rex Richardson, Mayor of Long Beach.

“No more excuses. We’ve provided the time. We’ve provided the funds. Now it’s time for locals to do their job,” wrote Newsom.

Approximately 30% of the nation’s homeless population lives in California, and the state also has the highest rate of unsheltered people. In five of the state’s major cities, more than 70% of the homeless population lived unsheltered in 2023.

“It’s absolute mayhem and craziness,” said Los Angeles homeless community member Jeni Shurely.

“Being homeless is not a crime and we will maintain our focus on criminal behavior rather than an individual’s status,” said LA County Sheriff Robert Luna. “The governor’s executive order, for example, will not alter the way our department approaches or manages the unhoused population.”

“They’re forcing someone under threat of arrest to pack up and move all their belongings,” said Niki Jones, executive director of the Sacramento Regional Coalition to End Homelessness. “And people’s bodies literally can’t handle the physical stress.”

Last week, Newsom indicated he would redirect money away from any county that is not meeting state milestones, calling out Los Angeles County specifically.

Earlier this month, Newsom told reporters: “We need local government to step up. This is a crisis. The state’s unprecedented billions of dollars of support? I’m not interested in providing that support and not seeing the results. I’m a taxpayer, not just the governor. It’s not complicated. We’ll send that money to counties that are producing results.”

The court ruled that cities could ticket homeless people camping in public. Unhoused people can receive tickets even if there is no alternative shelter available. Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the majority that the Eighth Amendment (protection from cruel and unusual punishment) should not dictate local governments’ homelessness policy.

In her dissenting opinion, Sotomayor wrote: “For people with no access to shelter, that punishes them for being homeless. That is unconscionable and unconstitutional. Punishing people for their status is ‘cruel and unusual’ under the Eighth Amendment.”

In the memo, the government emphasizes reducing crime and keeping the city safe. While Long Beach police can arrest or issue a citation to unhoused people who refuse to leave encampments, the local government’s approach encourages arrest only for repeat offenses or other crimes.

According to the Public Policy Institute of California, last year the state only had 71,000 shelter beds available, which is less than half of the over 180,000 needed to shelter the state’s entire homeless population.

“I have done everything I can, every program that’s been offered,” Shurley said. “I’ve taken up on it, and I haven’t gotten any assistance that I need whatsoever. I feel like I’m just a rock in the river full of money and I can’t touch $1 of it.”

Mission Action provides emergency shelter in San Francisco. The organization is concerned that there are not enough beds to accommodate everyone living in the encampments. Mission Action’s 91-bed shelter was already at capacity before Newsom’s order was announced. Another 80-bed shelter had just four beds available.

Breed announced a directive earlier this month to help relocate homeless people. This would include bus tickets to move them elsewhere. Breed has spent over 60% of her tenure expanding the number of shelter beds for the unsheltered. However, the homeless population has kept on rising. San Francisco, the state’s fourth-largest city, has about 8,300 homeless people.

“If the city is unable to provide emergency shelter to those who need and want shelter, then essentially, we are criminalizing the very act of being unhoused,” said Mission Action executive director Laura Valdez.

“Simply having law enforcement performing campus sweeps, in my opinion, does nothing to deliver permanent and lasting results. It just shuffles the problem around, and that’s why my constituents want permanent results,” Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, a Republican, told NBC News.

Last year, Mayor Todd Gloria of San Diego banned camping on sidewalks. Leaders and organizers in neighboring communities said this new policy just sent homeless people to their areas. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors passed a motion stating that people taken from encampments will not be taken to jail. More questions arise about where these people can go.

Sacramento’s mayor, Darrell Steinberg, authored a bill in 2004 that would introduce a 1% tax on personal incomes above $1 million to fund statewide mental health services for homeless people. While this initiative did not directly provide housing, the city saw a 29% decrease in homelessness last year. Sacramento also saw a 49% fall in unsheltered homeless, one of the biggest drops across the entire state.

In April, between 30 and 40 people were pushed out of a camp in a community park. Those displaced people then set up tents on Coral Street. The city cleared that camp in June. Some people relocated to the Pogonip nature reserve at the city’s edge. The city also swept that camp.

“We gotta be somewhere,” said Tré Watson, who lives in a tent in Santa Cruz. “We can’t hover. We come here, they run us away. We go to any park, and they run us away. We go to the Pogonip (nature reserve), and they bring bulldozers,” said Watson.

Politicians in Californian cities are outraged at Newsom’s order to clear encampments, which seems to punish unsheltered people while they have nowhere else to go. But with a lack of funds to end homelessness once and for all, the future for the unhoused in the Golden State looks bleak.