Following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that allows cities to enforce a ban on homeless encampments, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order for how agencies should address them.
The idea is to direct “state agencies to move urgently to address dangerous encampments while supporting and assisting the individuals living in them — and provides guidance for cities and counties to do the same,” Newsom said in a news release Thursday.
“There are simply no more excuses,” he added. “It’s time for everyone to do their part.”
The reactions from local agencies responsible for enforcing the executive order — which Newsom said is bolstered by a “newly available $3.3 billion in competitive grant funding from Proposition 1”— ranged from encouraged to disappointed to nonplussed.
Santa Clarita Mayor Cameron Smyth said while he doesn’t generally agree with Newsom’s executive orders, this one addressed an important issue.
“As the governor mentioned, local governments have been really limited due to the courts,” he said Thursday afternoon, “and now that the Supreme Court has ruled, it frees up local government to take the necessary action on homeless encampments.”
L.A. County 5th District Supervisor Kathryn Barger supported the urgency behind the move, which comes one month after the high court’s ruling in an Oregon case.
“I applaud Governor Newsom’s emphasis on urgency. He rightfully points out that local government remains at the helm of homeless encampment removals,” she said in a statement sent Thursday morning. “Cities have an obligation to develop housing and shelter solutions in tandem with support services provided by county government. This formula, which is largely based on partnerships, is how we can deliver permanent results. No single entity can achieve that.”
In a 6-3 decision that was described as falling along ideological lines, the court found that citywide bans against homeless encampments are not a violation of the Eighth Amendment’s constitutional protections against excessive bail, fines or any cruel and unusual punishment.
In response to Newsom, state Sen. Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita, said the state’s Democratic Party has been working on the issues for years, and has failed to make a dent on the problem or provide a proper accounting for where the money goes.
Wilk previously co-authored Senate Bill 31, which sought to prohibit homeless individuals from living within 1,000 feet of a sensitive area, provided that at least 72 hours of notice is given. That was previously a policy used by Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station deputies regarding cleaning local encampments.
“Remember, the progressive ‘CA Way’ has kept the homelessness crisis going for years,” Wilk posted to X. “With $24 billion spent over five years and zero results, there’s still a huge lack of transparency and accountability.”
City of Santa Clarita officials did not have any specific changes to the city’s plans in response to the announcement, according to a statement issued Thursday by Tracy Sullivan, community preservation manager with the city.
“The city collaborates with the Sheriff’s (Department) on an ongoing and consistent basis to address homeless encampments citywide, including the use of a third-party contractor to abate encampments and keep our riverbed clean,” she wrote Thursday. “Our next scheduled cleanup is taking place the first week of August.”
In terms of outreach and operations with local encampments, SCV Sheriff’s Station Capt. Justin Diez said things would remain “business as usual” in terms of how the station coordinates its activities through a city-funded homeless services deputy.
Diez said the idea was like the countywide Homeless Outreach Services Team, or HOST deputies, that the department uses countywide, but at the local station, there was a dedicated deputy who operates within the local Crime Prevention Unit.
Any changes would result from a departmentwide directive from the Sheriff’s Department, he said, but there were no orders as of Thursday. That would likely be a process undertaken in concert with other county agencies, he added.
