Gov. Gavin Newsom urges California cities and counties to ban homeless encampments

SAN FRANCISCO — Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday urged California cities to clear homeless encampments, escalating efforts anew to address an intractable issue of his time in office: the makeshift tents that line underpasses, parks and streets up and down the state.

Newsom's administration unveiled a blueprint for a camping ban that counties, cities and towns can directly adopt or modify to achieve his goals. The Democratic governor is also releasing $3.3 billion in voter-approved funds to expand housing and treatment options for homeless residents.

''The time for inaction is over. There are no more excuses,'' Newsom said.

Newsom, a former mayor of San Francisco, made homelessness a priority upon taking office in 2019, tackling a problem that's largely been the purview of mayors and local government. With tents lining streets and disrupting businesses in cities and towns statewide, homelessness has become one of the most pressing public health and safety issues in California and one sure to dog Newsom if he runs for national office.

He's often suggested local leaders aren't acting urgently enough to address a problem that's seeped into every corner of the state and increasingly frustrated voters. He appears to be the first Democratic governor to offer a statewide blueprint for local encampment bans. The state accounts for a quarter of the U.S. homeless population, with more than 187,000 Californians in need of housing.

Supreme Court allows crackdown

His declaration comes a year after the U.S. Supreme Court made it easier for officials to ban homeless people from camping outside. Many Democratic leaders welcomed the ruling despite criticism from advocates for homeless people that the decision by the conservative court was cruel.

Newsom's model ordinance includes prohibitions on ''persistent camping'' in one location, a ban on encampments that block sidewalks and a requirement that local officials provide notice and make every reasonable effort to identify and offer shelter before clearing an encampment.

Major cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco have already started clearing out encampments, saying they are not fair to children, seniors and disabled people needing access to parks and sidewalks.

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie pledged to clean up city sidewalks while San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan has proposed arrests if a person refuses shelter three times. Both Democrat-led cities have ramped up the number of shelter beds available.

In Los Angeles, Democratic Mayor Karen Bass has made clearing encampments a priority but sagging tents, makeshift shelters and rusting RVs remain an all-too-common sight in nearly every neighborhood. An annual tally last year estimated that more than 45,000 homeless people were living in the city.

A message was sent Monday to Bass' office seeking comment on Newsom's announcement.

Critics question encampment bans

In a Los Angeles neighborhood Monday, Jay Joshua oversaw a small encampment of about half a dozen tents where he lives. Joshua said he cleans the area daily because there's a school nearby. He said encampments can be a safe space for those living there.

''It helps certain people build their lives back,'' he said.

Critics say camping bans make it harder to link people up with stable housing and employment. People may lose critical documents or contact with a case manager, forcing them to start all over again, says the National Alliance to End Homelessness.

The California State Association of Counties, representing the state's 58 counties, said the state has not provided as much money to address homelessness as it says it has and that half of the money has gone to housing developers.

Voters want changes

In 2024, California voters approved a measure imposing strict requirements on county expenditures on housing and drug treatment programs.

Thus, counties are required to spend about two-thirds of the money from a voter-approved tax enacted in 2004 on millionaires for mental health services on housing and programs for homeless people with serious mental illnesses or substance abuse problems.

The governor has also sought laws making it easier to force people with behavioral health issues into treatment. And he has threatened to withhold state money from cities and counties that do not step up to address homelessness.

But despite the roughly billions of dollars spent on more than 30 homeless and housing programs during the 2018-2023 fiscal years, a 2024 state audit found California does not have reliable data needed to fully understand why the problem didn't improve in many cities.

The audit found California spent $24 billion to tackle homelessness over the previous five years but did not consistently track whether the outlay actually improved the situation. In Los Angeles, county and city officials have also moved to take control of an agency that oversees homeless funding after audits found the agency spent money recklessly.

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Associated Press staffers Christopher Weber, Michael R. Blood and Damian Dovarganes in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

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An earlier version of this report incorrectly said California makes up nearly one third of homeless people in the U.S., instead of a quarter.