California governor orders homeless encampments dismantled

California Governor Gavin Newsom on Thursday ordered the dismantling of homeless encampments on state land, one month after the US Supreme Court overturned protections for unhoused residents sleeping outdoors.

The Golden State has long been reckoning with a homelessness crisis -- roughly one-third of the entire US homeless population live there -- in part due to lack of affordable housing.

"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. It's time for everyone to do their part."

The Democratic governor issued an executive order to direct state agencies "to address dangerous encampments while supporting and assisting the individuals living in them."

Despite the governor's order, local jurisdictions are not required to follow suit, leading to a debate among the state's Democrats, who remain divided on the issue.

Like Newsom, San Francisco Mayor London Breed shares a tough approach to homelessness, saying last week the northern California city is "going to be very aggressive and assertive in moving encampments" beginning in August.

The head of the famously liberal city has long complained about the legal protections granted to homeless residents given prior court rulings which prevented municipalities from regulating people who camped or lived outdoors.

The US Supreme Court took up the issue from a lawsuit filed by the small town of Grants Pass, in neighboring state Oregon, which had passed two "anti-camping" ordinances to ban homeless residents from sleeping outdoors.

While a US District Court had ruled in 2022 that the ordinances went against the US Constitution's prohibition of "cruel and unusual punishment," the conservative-majority Supreme Court overturned the decision in late June.

The ruling was celebrated by Republicans who frequently criticize Democrats for being too lax on homelessness.

Unlike her northern California counterpart, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass denounced the Supreme Court's ruling, saying it allowed "the criminalization of people for sleeping outside when they have no other safe place to go."

Bass's homelessness policy for Los Angeles, which has the highest number of homeless residents in California, has been to increase efforts to place people in shelters.

Her efforts have paid off, resulting in a 10.4 percent decrease this year in the number of residents sleeping outside.