Newsom asks California cities to ban homeless encampments

Newsom asks California cities to ban homeless encampments

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday provided a path for cities in California to get rid of homeless encampments based on a template his administration created for them to use to clear out the camps.

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday provided a path for cities in California to get rid of homeless encampments based on a template his administration created for them to use to clear out the camps.

In a news release, Newsom said this "state model" will address "encampments with urgency and dignity," despite cries from homeless rights advocates who say punishing people for being homeless is cruel and inhumane. 

The ordinance bans "persistent" camping in one location and encampments that block free passage on sidewalks. The  ordinance also includes a requirement that local officials provide notice and make every reasonable effort to identify and offer shelter prior to clearing an encampment.

Newsom cannot force the adoption of his ordinance, but he can use state funding for housing issues to encourage cities to follow his lead. 

This announcement is coupled with the release of $3.3 billion in voter-approved Proposition 1 funding, which Newsom's office said will be made available on Monday to communities statewide to expand behavioral health housing and treatment options for the most seriously ill and homeless in California.

Cities would decide on their own how tough the penalties should be, including arrests or citations to those who violate the ban. The template’s state-issued guidance says that no one "should face criminal punishment for sleeping outside when they have nowhere else to go."

Meanwhile, in San Jose, city officials are holding a special budget study session on Monday that includes Mayor Matt Mahan's "responsibility to shelter" initiative, to give police the power to arrest unhoused people who refuse city services. 

Mahan said about ⅓ of unhoused residents who have been offered help in the form of shelter, refuse such help.

Just last week, a San Jose police officer was stabbed in the arm trying to make an arrest of an unhoused person.

The initiative would, over an 18-month time period, grant police the power to issue citations for the first two times a person declines to take advantage of city sheltering services.

The third time they could be jailed.

This is in concert with the mayor's ongoing efforts to remove RV dwellers from city streets and get them into safe parking areas.

Mahan says it's about holding people accountable, while advocates say it'll make a bad situation worse.

"Our primary tool for enforcement is abatement,"  Mahan said on April 2. "We don't wait 72 hours or three week.  if you're re-encamping in an area where we've cleared, offered housing, posted signage and said this is a no camping zone, we will immediately abate and force you to move."

But homeless advocates like Shaunn Cartwright, said that this will only cause people to lose their RVs, end up on the streets and increase the death rate. 

Those in opposition to the mayor's initiatives, which include those at Sacred Heart Community Service, say they'll come demonstrate at the special meeting. They are condemning the plan as "inhumane, ineffective, and deeply harmful."

"This proposal is just as cruel as the original," said Tori Truscheit, SHCS senior director of Strategic Partnerships. "Punishing people for being unhoused in a system that fails to offer safe shelter is unjust and shortsighted."