Los Angeles rejects Newsom’s order to clear homeless encampments

(The Center Square) - Los Angeles County and the City of Los Angeles, which have the largest homeless population in the nation, rejected California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s executive order to clear out homeless encampments from government property.

Officials are concerned that homeless individuals who do not comply could face fines that, if unpaid, would lead to incarceration for the simple fact of being homeless.

The City of Los Angeles is home to 45,000 of the 75,000 homeless individuals in Los Angeles County. Under a new unanimous order from the five-member Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, the county will not cite or arrest individuals during encampment sweeps for being homeless.

“Arresting people for sitting, sleeping, or lying on the sidewalk or in public spaces does not end their homelessness, and will only make their homelessness harder to resolve with a criminal record and fines they can’t afford to pay,” said the order. “Moving people from one community to another does not resolve their homelessness."

Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna told the Board of Supervisors at the vote he agrees individuals should not be arrested merely for being homeless, but that individuals seen committing other crimes would still be arrested.

“We will do the right thing by getting homeless individuals the right services,” Luna said. “If there is criminal activity occurring, people will be arrested.”

Los Angeles County is already under a court order to reduce overcrowding at its aging jails, suggesting there is limited capacity for jailing homeless individuals who do not comply with encampment sweeps. According to the Vera Institute of Justice, a non-profit that advocates for reduced incarceration, Los Angeles County’s jail capacity peaked at nearly 25,000 in 2000, when the county population was 9.5 million, and has since declined to just over 23,000 as of the tail end of 2022, when the county population was 9.7 million.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass issued a statement on the same day of Newsom’s executive order, implicitly rebuking the governor.

“For the first time in years, unsheltered homelessness has decreased in Los Angeles because of a comprehensive approach that leads with housing and services, not criminalization,” Bass said. “Strategies that just move people along from one neighborhood to the next or give citations instead of housing do not work.”

San Francisco and San Diego have embraced the governor’s order and moved forward with encampment sweeps. California as a whole is home to over 180,000 homeless individuals, the largest homeless population in the country.

San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, chair of the California Big City Mayors Coalition — which includes Los Angeles — celebrated the order in a statement issued from the governor’s office. “California’s Big City Mayors welcome the Governor’s renewed direction and sense of urgency to address homelessness with tangible and meaningful action,” said Gloria.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed promised more aggressive action, telling the audience at a debate — as reported by the San Francisco Standard — that “Effective August, we are going to be very aggressive and assertive in moving encampments, which may even include criminal penalties.”

In Los Angeles, Republicans wonder why the city and county aren’t doing more.

“Angelenos have seen all-talk, no-action moves from the City and County before,” said LAGOP Chairman Timothy O’Reilly to The Center Square. “You would think that after billions of dollars of spending, our streets, public parks and libraries would be clean and useable by all residents, and that the mentally ill and drug-addicted would be getting the help they so sorely need.”