L.A. County Sheriff says Newsom’s executive order won’t alter homelessness approach

In the week since Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order calling on local governments to remove homeless encampments, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and the L.A. County Board of Supervisors have criticized the order , saying it will only exacerbate the problem.

KNX News Chief Correspondent Charles Feldman talked with L.A. County Sheriff Robert Luna, who said nothing's changing for his department.

“The governor's executive order will not alter the Sheriff's Department approach to managing the unhoused population,” Luna said. “Although I was very happy to see it, because any time this very significant challenge that we all face gets to the office of the governor, you know that the right people are paying attention to it.

Luna said that Newsom’s executive order and the Supreme Court ruling that preceded it have given the department “additional tools” that may help when state agencies begin clearing encampments.

“When these encampment clearing operations do start, we want to make sure that there's a coordinated effort because, as you know, state land typically means around the freeways, and those freeways run right through all of our neighborhoods,” he said. “So we don't want one group working against the other.”

Luna said he hasn’t been notified when state agencies will begin their encampment removal operations. In the meantime, the Sheriff’s Department plans to keep doing business as usual.

“Our HOST teams do amazing work – our Homeless Outreach Services Team, that’s what HOST stands for – and our approach emphasizes sustained outreach and comprehensive assessments before any displacement occurs,” he said.

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Luna pointed out that LA County's jails are still overcrowded, so even if the agency did start clearing more camps and making more arrests, those people would probably wind up back on the street.

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