Newsom faces backlash over executive order on homeless encampments

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — Just a day after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order urging cities to remove homeless encampments, he is now facing backlash. Critics are calling the order “weak and disappointing.”

El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells criticized the governor’s approach, saying that if you visit any park in his city, you won’t see any tents because they are removed immediately. He believes the governor needs to adopt a tougher stance.

On Thursday, Newsom announced his executive order, encouraging local governments to remove homeless encampments across California. This move follows a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that allows cities to enforce bans on sleeping outside in public places, including sidewalks.

“The executive order sounds like a good idea on the surface, but frankly, I think it’s a lot of smoke and mirrors,” Wells said. “I think it’s a PR stunt to help the governor get on the ticket to be vice president.”

Wells argued that the executive order doesn’t do enough to address the ongoing homeless crisis many cities face. He emphasized the need for stricter laws against crimes such as retail theft, drug selling, and drug use among homeless individuals.

“You have to be able to take those people off the street and book them into a county jail. Right now, because they decriminalized crime, you’re not allowed to book people into county jail for any of those offenses, so all we can do is give somebody a ticket. They stay on the streets, and that doesn’t change the problem at all,” Wells said.

The mayor also criticized state leaders for focusing too much on housing the homeless instead of providing resources to help them get back on the right path. “I’ve been in mental health for 35 years, and I’ve dealt with this population extensively. If you ask any cop, firefighter, or ER doctor, they’ll tell you that about 95 to 97% of the people we interact with in hospitals are addicted to drugs and alcohol,” Wells said.

Hanan Scrapper, the regional director of PATH, a group dedicated to ending homelessness, also expressed disappointment with the governor’s executive order.

“It doesn’t really give us additional resources it doesn’t give us additional beds for shelters se really need to move away from criminalizing homelessness and focus on what we know works which is evidence based services doing persistent engagement and outreach,” Scrapper said. “This order doesn’t really give us a solution at all it’s just doing the same things we’ve been doing status quo.”

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