Gavin Newsom stokes outrage with executive order to clear California homeless encampments
Sacramento, California - California Governor Gavin Newsom on Thursday issued an executive order to shut down homeless encampments on state land and to provide incentives for local authorities to follow suit.
![California Governor Gavin Newsom has issued a controversial executive order to shut down homeless encampments.](https://media.tag24.de/951x634/l/9/l9m84k0vdoi2ef7qv9a6fjako74qqrda.jpg)
"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," Newson said in a statement. "There are simply no more excuses. It’s time for everyone to do their part."
The governor's order comes on the heels of a Supreme Court decision last month which upheld an Oregon city's ban on sleeping outdoors – a move dissenting liberal justices slammed as criminalizing homelessness.
Newsom's move has sparked outrage among homeless advocates in California, which has the largest population of unhoused people in the nation. Without a meaningful expansion of affordable and emergency housing opportunities, many are now wondering where unsheltered people are supposed to go.
Diane Yentel, president and CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, responded to Newsom on X: "You didn't provide the needed affordable housing. You're choosing political expediency over real solutions. That's not leadership, it's cowardice. This will only worsen homelessness."
"The only way to end homeless encampments in California is to end the need for homeless encampments," Eric Tars of the National Homelessness Law Center told the New York Times. "California has an affordable housing crisis, and unless Newsom's executive order is coming with sufficient resources to address that, this new push isn’t going to work."
Cover photo: Collage: MARIO TAMA / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / GETTY IMAGES VIA AFP & Patrick T. Fallon / AFP