California Gavin Newsom is continuing to crack down on pushing the state’s counties and cities to clean up homeless encampments.
To accurately get many counties to act quickly and get this job done, Newsom is even going so far as threatening to cut funding to many cities come next year.
California Cleans Up Homeless Encampments
Recently, Newsom issued an executive order telling the entire state to begin to clean up homeless encampments scattered around the Golden State.
This move comes after the U.S. Supreme Court said governments could do exactly this, as they decided it wasn’t illegal. At the time of this ruling, Newsom praised the court’s decision.
California’s Ongoing Homelessness Crisis
For years now, California has struggled to deal with an ongoing homelessness crisis that has only gotten worse with each new year.
Many critics, particularly Republicans, have blasted the liberal state for not dealing with the many tent encampments that have appeared in various cities.
Newsom Fights Back
However, now that Newsom has officially decided to enact this order — boldened by the Supreme Court’s ruling — other critics have attacked the governor.
These homeless advocates are worried that clearing up encampments could eventually lead to homeless people being arrested at skyrocketing rates.
Newsom Threatens California Counties
After Newsom revealed his executive order and told all California counties and cities to get to work enforcing it, there were some notable detractions.
For example, Los Angeles officials disagreed with this order, as they stated that it wouldn’t help their homeless crisis. Now, Newsom is threatening to withhold funds to these counties.
Redirecting Money
Newsom spoke to reporters about redirecting these funds next year if counties do not accurately begin to clear up encampments.
“If we don’t see demonstrable results, I’ll start to redirect money,” Newsom said while at the site of a cleared encampment in the San Fernando Valley.
Newsom Attacks Counties
Newsom then took the time to really go after California counties that weren’t doing enough to follow his executive action.
He added, “I’ll be candid with you. This is more broadly an indictment of counties. … Counties need to do more.”
Newsom vs LA?
Many analysts have felt this warning was particularly targeted at Los Angeles. Los Angeles is currently the city with the worst homelessness situation in all of California.
When Newsom’s order was first revealed, the city’s Board of Supervisors, as well as other officials, didn’t take the news well.
No More Excuses
California has long been under attack by many critics and lawmakers for how they have dealt with their homelessness crisis thus far. Newsom referenced this and explained that there can be no more excuses.
“We’re done with excuses. And the last big excuse was ‘well, the courts are saying we can’t do it.’ Well, that’s no longer the case,” Newsom stated. “So we had a simple executive order. Do your job. No more excuses.”
Other Cities Follow Suit
While Los Angeles appears to be dragging its feet in enforcing this new order, other California cities have quickly followed the governor’s suit and begun to clear up many homeless encampments.
Perhaps most surprisingly, San Francisco has begun to take a more aggressive approach in dealing with its street tents.
San Francisco Clears Up Encampments
London Breed, San Francisco’s mayor, has even explained that she’s open to new citations and even jail time for people who refuse to clear up their tents and head to shelters.
Breed also reportedly took staff to give homeless people bus tickets out of San Francisco before they offered them shelter.
Los Angeles Disagrees With San Francisco’s Methods
Meanwhile, Los Angeles has publicly stated that they do not want to criminalize people who are living on the street.
Newsom has fought against this assessment of criminalization, saying, “No one wants to see criminalization. That’s a lazy, lazy framework. And that’s the binary people that don’t want to do the job are going to try to frame, and I reject that.”
