California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) vowed to “redirect money” from communities in the state that do not work to clear homeless encampments.
During a news conference on Thursday, Newsom spoke about how since the beginning of this year, “over 1,400 encampments have been removed” in California, adding that “thousands of thousands of additional encampments” still existed and needed to be cleared throughout the state.
Newsom previously issued an executive order in July for homeless encampments in California to be cleared. The executive order came after the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in June that under the Eighth Amendment, it was not “cruel and unusual punishment” for homeless encampments to be removed, or for people to receive jail time regarding the violation of anti-camping laws.
“We’re done with the excuses,” Newsom said. “And, the last big excuse was, ‘Well, the courts are saying we can’t do anything.’ Well, that’s no longer the case. So, we had a simple executive order. Do your job, there’s no more excuses. You got the money, you got the flexibility, you got the green light, you got the support from the state.”
LIVE NOW: Governor @GavinNewsom gaggles with local media following encampment clean up efforts in Los Angeles. https://t.co/izlFUJc1Ni
— California Governor (@CAgovernor) August 8, 2024
“If this is not the most important issue, you’re not paying attention,” Newsom added. “This is the biggest scar on the reputation of the state of California. This is it. If we can prove we can actually deal with this, they’ll start believing we can solve a lot of other problems in this state. That’s my state of mind. The state of California’s doing more than ever; we’ll continue to do more. But, this will be my final words on this, if we don’t see demonstrable results, I’ll start to redirect money.”
A 2023 report from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development found that out of the roughly 653,104 people who were experiencing homelessness, California reported seeing 181,399 homeless people.