Newsom’s Homeless Executive Order Continues To Receive Flak From All Sides

Since Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order last week giving the greenlight to state officials to take down homeless encampments, many have questioned where the state should go from here.

As outlined by the Governor’s office, Newsom’s plan is multi-pronged: Remove homeless encampments because of safety, health and environmental issues, give more funds to local governments for increased mental health and substance abuse help, give more funding for shelter and affordable housing.

“This executive order directs state agencies to move urgently to address dangerous encampments while supporting and assisting the individuals living in them — and provides guidance for cities and counties to do the same,” said Newsom. “The state has been hard at work to address this crisis on our streets. There are simply no more excuses. It’s time for everyone to do their part.”

Newsom’s order was only the latest action to come out statewide after the Grants Pass v. Johnson ruling by the Supreme Court last month. At the local level, cities with encampment clearance laws like Los Angeles and San Diego are now given the federal green light. Even longtime holdout cities like San Francisco have announced a big ramping up on removing encampments since last month.

But since being introduced on Thursday, his plan has had nothing but flack from all sides. Homeless people said that that increased encampment raids will only worsen their situation and cause their few belongings to be thrown away. City-level governments are concerned over not enough shelter space and housing to bring everyone in. Homeless charities are apprehensive over a wave of new people seeking assistance. County and state organizations have said the increased funding is not enough.

Politically it is also scattered. Senate and Assembly Democrats have been largely up in arms over Newsom’s action. And the GOP, while noting it as a positive step, have said that Newsom simply adopted their earlier proposals that Democrats had shut down in the past several years.

Today, Governor Newsom issued an executive order directing state agencies to begin the process of clearing homeless encampments from state lands and urging local governments to follow suit. This order is similar to previous efforts by California Republican legislators over the last several years. Specifically, the GOP pointed to SB 1011, which would have banned homeless encampments, and how the Senate rejected it earlier this year in April.

“It’s about damn time! Letting people live and die on the streets or in our parks is unsafe and unsanitary,” said Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones (R-San Diego) on Thursday. “I introduced a proposal earlier this year that would have provided even greater and more immediate solutions. While I am cautiously optimistic that the governor has finally taken note of the urgency of this problem, albeit many years later than needed, Californians deserve government for the people, not the PR hits.”

However, the Globe talked to several homeless experts and researchers over what Newsom could have done differently to make his executive order succeed. Some noted that Newsom did not add anything in about job placement.

A state Homeward Bound program?

“Yeah, he had rehab in there, he had housing. But you know what you need in there? Jobs,” said Mark Wagner, a Philadelphia-based researcher on homelessness, to the Globe on Monday. “Especially in California. He has nothing to add on job placement services. And that’s what they need. We want them off state assistance or local assistance. You need money coming in for them to pay for needs and bills, and job placement helps them on that track. Yeah, it should be on them, but many don’t have internet access or even knowing how to make a good resume. Basic job placement services could fix that.”

But the big note that homeless experts touched on is something some Californian cities have tried before: Homeless relocation programs. While in recent years Hawaii has been best known for them, literally offering free one-way tickets off the islands to the mainland to alleviate their homeless population, California has tried them in the past. In the 1980’s, San Diego routinely had “Greyhound therapy” where homeless people in the city were given tickets out of San Diego. And then there was San Francisco’s Homeward Bound program that ran between 2005 and 2013 under the guidance of then San Francisco Mayor Newsom. Over 10,000 homeless were sent out of the city under the program, with only one in eight getting back. And busing homeless people out still lives on in some charities as well.

“Yeah, we offer some homeless people wanting out bus tickets, usually Greyhound,” Jack, who helps run a private homeless charity in the Bay Area, told the Globe. “Las Vegas, Phoenix, Austin, San Antonio. Those are the big ones. Farthest one we paid for was Titusville, Florida. Denver is popular too. A lot of people came out here ten years wanting that California dream. But it went wrong, and they want out. They used to stay since California was one of the better states in terms of helping homeless people out. But since COVID, there has been a big reversal.”

“From here a ticket to Vegas is about $100. From LA to Vegas, think $50. You know, considering the cost it is to shelter and feed people, this is not an expensive solution, especially if they agree not to come back. It could seem heartless to some, but they have a better shot elsewhere or have family or help elsewhere. If it becomes a state program, there will be pushback from other states. But you need to remember, other states have been sending homeless out here for decades, so this is just a way to have them choose.”

However, while Newsom was fine with a city-level plan to bus homeless people out of state, his new executive order didn’t include anything about it, likely being worried about complaints from other states and what it would like like on the national scale.

“California doing what Honolulu or Seattle have done in recent years could be a real solution to all of this,” added Wagner. “But look at all the negativity that Texas received through their migrant busing projects to New York and Chicago. If California begins sending the homeless to Texas or Nevada with a state ‘Homeward Bound’ program, it will not be a positive story to say the least. And  Newsom could kiss the presidency away since so many states would be angry at him. Not to mention that other states might start their own programs, some of which could send them to California.”

“Newsom’s executive order was a good start, but there is no easy solution to all of this.”