The Governor is once again urging local governments to toughen their policies on homeless encampments. Gavin Newsom’s office released a model ordinance Monday, which he’s asking cities and counties to implement “without delay.” The model ordinance bans “persistent camping in one location” — defined as three consecutive nights — and sidewalk encampments that block free passage. It requires local officials to notify people and “make every reasonable effort to identify and offer shelter” before removing an encampment.
The call for action was released in conjunction with $3.3 billion in behavioral health funding for cities and counties.
“There’s nothing compassionate about letting people die on the streets,” Newsom said in a statement. “Local leaders asked for resources -- we delivered the largest state investment in history. They asked for legal clarity -- the courts delivered. Now, we’re giving them a model they can put to work immediately, with urgency and with humanity, to resolve encampments and connect people to shelter, housing, and care. The time for inaction is over. There are no more excuses.”
The Governor can’t force local governments to act, but he can provide or withhold funding to entice them, as he has in the past.
Monday’s announcement was criticized by both Republican lawmakers and Housing First advocates. Republicans have accused the Governor of gaslighting the American people by helping to create the problem and then blaming it on local governments. Progressives and housing advocates see the ordinance as criminalizing homelessness and failing to acknowledge housing as a root cause.
Culpability aside, California’s record on homelessness and housing has been an objective failure. Nearly a quarter of the nation’s homeless people and almost half of the nation’s unsheltered people live in the Golden State, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.
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As Newsom presses cities to clear homeless camps, they say this agency is moving too slow