California Gov. Gavin Newsom says he will withhold state funds from cities and counties that fail to clean up their homeless encampments. The warning comes weeks after Newsom signed an executive order urging local governments to remove their encampments and requiring tents be cleared from any state property.
Calling the scourge of homelessness “the biggest scar on the reputation of the state of California,” Newsom demanded that local governments — especially counties — start acting with more urgency.
“This is a crisis,” he said Thursday. “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.”
“Folks may choose not to do anything differently,” Newsom added. “If that’s the result, I’m going to redirect the money. It’s not complicated and I’m going to send it to people that actually want to get the job done.”
This is not the first time Newsom has threatened to withhold funding from governments over homelessness. But this time, Newsom is buoyed by a Supreme Court decision that explicitly gives cities and counties the right to ban public camping.
Newsom has been sparring with Los Angeles County officials in particular.
"Cities, I’ve been pretty impressed. Counties, no," he griped.
The governor delivered his latest remarks while personally cleaning up an encampment at the entrance to the 5 Freeway in the San Fernando Valley. He criticized both the county’s handling of encampments and the slow implementation of his new conservatorship law.
The county said the following in a statement:
"New bed capacity needs to be built to accommodate a population of patients who will require locked facilities when held for treatment involuntarily. Without first taking those steps, the work of moving people off the streets for their own health and safety would fail. This does not mean LA County is standing still. Our Pathway Home encampment resolution program already has moved hundreds of people inside as we have also extensively supported the City of LA's Inside Safe program that has sheltered thousands of others."
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