Unhoused Californians and activists say authorities are cracking down harder on encampments after getting the green light from the Supreme Court and Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Coral Street in Santa Cruz has become a prominent hangout for the unhoused community, who find resources at the Housing Matters shelter during the day.LAist is facing a budget shortfall, but our mission to provide fact-based journalism is stronger than ever. We cannot do this important work without your member support today. Whether you give for the first time or increase your monthly donation, it all goes a long way in setting us up for a sustainable future.
Others have said they won’t make changes to their encampment strategies. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors last month reaffirmed that the county won’t use its jails to hold homeless people arrested for camping, the Los Angeles TimesHomelessness has been a defining obstacle of Newsom’s career ever since he was mayor of San Francisco in the early 2000s.
The state agencies that will be most immediately affected by Newsom’s order — Caltrans, California State Parks and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife — did not answer questions requesting details about how the executive order will change how they clear encampments on their property, nor did they provide data on their prior abatement efforts. State Parks referred questions to the governor’s office, which did not respond.
The city says just five people were removed from the Pogonip in that sweep, but McHenry suspects it was more.“The City’s current practices have proven effective and are already consistent with Governor Newsom’s suggested encampment-related policies for local governments contained in his recent executive order,” city spokesperson Erika Smart said in an email.
In San Francisco, where Mayor Breed promised an aggressive crackdown following the court ruling, the city removed 82 tents and five other structures from the streets the week of July 29 through Aug. 2. Abatement teams engaged with 326 people during those operations — 38 of whom accepted a shelter bed — and arrested or cited nine people, according to the city.Other cities are passing or considering new, more punitive rules as a result of Newsom’s executive order.
Stephanie Ross, who has been living on the streets of Santa Cruz for seven months, recently lost everything in a sweep. All she had left was the outfit she was wearing — a dinosaur-print dress, pants covered in pink flowers and a sweater she found on the ground. On Wednesday, she met up with McHenry to pick up a new tent to replace the one she says was confiscated by police a few days ago.
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