Governor Gavin Newsom. (Photo by Gage Skidmore)
Pasadena and other cities could lose state money if they don’t clear out homeless encampments under an order by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
The order calls on state agencies to clear encampments in their jurisdiction.
The order comes on the heels of a Supreme Court decision that removed legal ambiguities and supports municipal officials’ authority to enforce local laws on unsafe encampments.
However, the ruling has also raised concerns about potential shifts in homeless populations between jurisdictions.
“I want to see results,” Newsom told reporters at a news conference. “I don’t want to read about them. I don’t want to see the data. I want to see it.”
Newsom helped with clearing an encampment under the 5 freeway last week.
The Pasadena City Council is set to discuss the decision and possibly Newsom’s order on Aug. 26.
According to the latest homeless count, there are 556 homeless people in Pasadena on any given night.
Although Newsom cannot force cities to act, he can strong-arm them.
“This is not about criminalization,” Newsom said on Thursday. “What’s criminal is neglecting people who are struggling, suffering and dying on our watch. We need local government to step up. This is a crisis. The state’s unprecedented billions of dollars of support? I’m not interested in providing that support and not seeing the results. I’m a taxpayer, not just the Governor. It’s not complicated. We’ll send that money to counties that are producing results.”
But activists say homeless people have no place to go, and some fear that cleaning up homeless encampments on County property like Eagle Rock will lead homeless people into nearby cities like Pasadena and Glendale.
“There doesn’t seem to be any real plan,” said Rev. Bert Newton. “Just clearing encampments doesn’t solve the problem, and it may cause more problems. Uprooting people aggressively can result in more mental health crises among those uprooted, and that could lead to increased financial costs dealing with the fallout from that. Additionally, it could lead to lawsuits if things go wrong. This whole plan could leave us in a worse place than when we started.”
Newton said the Governor’s order may realize some short-term “benefits” of seeing fewer unhoused people on our streets, but nothing will be solved for the long term, and things could get worse.
“I worked in direct service to unhoused people with mental illness for 15 years, so I understand the frustration in dealing with difficult situations,” he said.
“I understand the temptation to see arresting people as a ‘tool.’ But it is a very dangerous tool that can brutalize people and leave them traumatized, especially when there are not enough shelter or hospital beds for everyone who needs them. While the point-in-time count in January was 556 unhoused people in Pasadena, the number of people who received services for homelessness in 2023 in Pasadena was almost twice that, 1,097. We don’t have anywhere near that many beds.”
County officials said more beds were needed to accommodate patients who will require locked facilities when held for treatment involuntarily.
“Without first taking those steps, the work of moving people off the streets for their own health and safety would fail,” the statement said. “This does not mean LA County is standing still. Our Pathway Home encampment resolution program already has moved hundreds of people inside as we have also extensively supported the City of LA’s Inside Safe program that has sheltered thousands of others.”
California is home to roughly one-third of the nation’s population of homeless people, a problem that has dogged Newsom since he took office. There are thousands of tents and makeshift shelters across the state that line freeways, and fill parking lots and public parks.
The state has spent roughly $24 billion under Newsom’s leadership to clean up streets and house people. That includes at least $3.2 billion in grants given to local government to build shelters, clear encampments and connect homeless people to services as they see fit, Newsom said.