The order comes less than a month after the Supreme Court reversed a ruling that prohibited cities from banning encampments.
Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a sweeping executive order yesterday to dismantle homeless encampments, impacting hundreds of thousands of people, the New York Times reported. This action follows a recent Supreme Court ruling that permits cities to ban sleeping outside in public spaces.
The June Supreme Court decision overturned a lower court ruling that had halted such bans, deeming them cruel and unusual. This change has led to diverse approaches to homelessness across the state.
“We have been hard at work to address this crisis on our streets,” Newsom said in a statement to The New York Times. “There are simply no more excuses. It’s time for everyone to do their part.”
According to the Times, this executive order is the nation’s most significant response to the ruling, affecting roughly 180,000 unhoused people in California.
“This decision removes the legal ambiguities that have tied the hands of local officials for years and limited their ability to deliver on common-sense measures to protect the safety and well-being of our communities,” Newsom stated after the ruling.
In Los Angeles, home to the nation's largest homeless population, Mayor Karen Bass criticized the Supreme Court decision. Efforts to clear encampments have faced protests, and Bass urged caution following the ruling.
“This ruling must not be used as an excuse for cities across the country to attempt to arrest their way out of this problem or hide the homelessness crisis in neighboring cities or in jail. Neither will work,” she said.
LA County, the nation’s most populous with about 10 million people, houses over 20% of the U.S. homeless population. A January tally found 75,312 homeless individuals in the county, with 45,252 in Los Angeles city, where public frustration has grown over the proliferation of tents on sidewalks and in parks.
Conversely, San Francisco Mayor London N. Breed praised the Supreme Court ruling. She announced plans to aggressively clear the city’s encampments starting in August, potentially including criminal penalties.
“We will continue to lead with services, but we also can’t continue to allow people to do what they want on the streets of San Francisco, especially when we have a place for them to go,” Breed stated following the ruling.
