California governor Gavin Newsom directed state officials to remove homeless encampments across the Golden State on Thursday after the Supreme Court ruled in June that local governments have a right to ban public camping and impose fines for violators.
Newsom announced the guidance in an executive order, advising cities to crack down on encampments on public property while providing social services and housing alternatives. The order, first reported by the New York Times, represents a sharp departure from the accommodative homelessness policies adopted by progressive state governments over the last decade.
“The state has been hard at work to address this crisis on our streets,” Newsom said in a statement. “There are simply no more excuses,” he added. “It’s time for everyone to do their part.”
Until the Supreme Court’s decision, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit restricted the ability of local government to ban public camping when cities did not have enough beds in homeless shelters. California continues to battle an increasing homelessness problem as 180,000 people were estimated to be homeless last year.
Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass said of the SCOTUS decision that it “must not be used as an excuse for cities across the country to attempt to arrest their way out of this problem or hide the homelessness crisis in neighboring cities or in jail.”
Local authorities will be responsible for clearing homeless encampments per the order, but Newsom can leverage the billions of dollars California has allocated to solving the crisis to pressure municipalities into moving encampments.