This fall, Governor Newsom threatened to withhold funding from localities that didn’t comply with his callous directives to clear homeless encampments. While the Governor has not elaborated on this threat, he issued a similar directive in 2022 and even moved to withhold a grant to San Diego this year, earmarked for building tiny homes for unhoused Californias, because of a lack of action on clearing encampments.
Earlier this week, our California members sent a letter to the governor demanding he retract these threats. Read it here.
The Governor’s new directive came after the Grants Pass Supreme Court decision that upended years of legal precedent around homeless encampments. The ruling granted states and localities broad new powers to sweep homeless encampments even when there are no available shelter beds. After the decision, Governor Newsom stepped up efforts across the state to move unhoused California out of their makeshift shelters, applying significant political pressure to force cities across the state to comply. At the same time, the Governor’s office has increased supportive funding for mental services and taken action against localities that refuse to open more shelter space as they clear encampments.
Local Progress members across California are leading the fight to end the state’s homelessness crisis. From Berkeley to West Covina, LP members are investing in solutions that ensure vulnerable neighbors get the housing and support they need. The governor’s threats only put these efforts in jeopardy. Several letter signatories several members have taken their own local actions to address homelessness, such as in Sacramento and Baldwin Park, in lieu of state action. As outlined in the letter, the broad coalition is ready and willing to work with the Governor’s office to address homelessness but cannot do so with threats hanging over important local budgets.
With a second Trump administration around the corner, local leaders need support, not direction, from state officials. Governor Newsom, our members want to work with you to end homelessness in California. Threatening to end critical funding will only undermine this goal.
