California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed an executive order aimed at addressing “dangerous encampments” that pose a risk to the homeless, as well as surrounding areas.

California has received its fair share of criticism over its homeless crisis, with numbers rising dramatically over the last several years, in no small part as a result of runaway housing costs within the state.

The state’s issues with homelessness and drug abuse have been factors in several high-profile companies leaving, or threatening to leave. Google recently announced it will not renew its lease for its largest office space in San Francisco, and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff threatened that 2023’s Dreamforce could be the last one in San Francisco if it was “impacted by the current situation with homelessness and drug use.”

Governor Newsom appears to be taking action, with his executive order first acknowledging the scope of the problem.

California is experiencing a homelessness crisis decades in the making, with over 180,000 people estimated to have experienced homelessness on any given night in 2023, including 123,000 people who experienced unsheltered homelessness, living in tents, trailers, and vehicles across the state.

The executive order goes on to highlight the efforts that have been made to address the problem.

Since the beginning of my Administration, the State has made unprecedented investments to address the homelessness crisis head on, investing more than $24 billion across multiple state agencies and departments, including $4.85 billion in flexible funding to local jurisdictions to prevent and reduce homelessness through Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention grants, $1 billion in Encampment Resolution Funding to assist local jurisdictions in providing services and supports to people living in encampments, and $3.3 billion to rapidly expand housing for persons experiencing homelessness through Homekey.

Governor Newsom addressed the dangers that some encampments pose, both to the homeless, as well as as businesses and neighborhoods.

It is imperative to act with urgency to address dangerous encampments, which subject unsheltered individuals living in them to extreme weather, fires, predatory and criminal activity, and widespread substance use, harming their health, safety, and well-being, and which also threaten the safety and viability of nearby businesses and neighborhoods and undermine the cleanliness and usability of parks, water supplies, and other public resources.

The Governor’s order constitutes four specific points.

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT:

• 1) Agencies and departments subject to my authority shall adopt policies, generally consistent with California Department of Transportation’s Maintenance Policy Directive 1001-R1, to address encampments on state property, including through partnerships with other state and local agencies, and shall prioritize efforts to address encampments consistent with such policy. Such policies shall include the following:

a. Whenever feasible, site assessment in advance of removal operations to determine whether an encampment poses an imminent threat to life, health, safety or infrastructure such that exigent circumstances require immediate removal of the encampment.
b. Where exigent circumstances exist, as much advance notice to vacate as reasonable under the circumstances.
c. Where no exigent circumstances exist, posting of a notice to vacate at the site at least 48 hours prior to initiating removal.
d. Contacting of service providers to request outreach services for persons experiencing homelessness at the encampment.
e. Collection, labeling, and storage for at least 60 days of personal property collected at the removal site that is not a health or safety hazard.

2) All departments and agencies not under my authority are requested to adopt policies consistent with the guidelines in Paragraph 1.

3) Local governments are encouraged to adopt policies consistent with this Order and to use all available resources and infrastructure, including resources provided by the State’s historic investments in housing and intervention programs where appropriate and available, to take action with the urgency this crisis demands to humanely remove encampments from public spaces, prioritizing those encampments that most threaten the life, health, and safety of those in and around them.

4) The California Interagency Council on Homelessness shall develop guidance and provide technical assistance consistent with this Order for local governments to follow in implementing their local homelessness programs.

Governor Newsom credited a 2024 Supreme Court ruling that eliminated restrictions on local governments’ authority to address encampments, giving jurisdictions the ability to “tailor their enforcement practices to reflect policy-driven approaches to addressing homelessness.”

Only time will tell if the executive order will result in change. As long as California’s housing market remains exorbitantly expensive, it’s hard to imagine the state’s homeless crisis will seen any meaningful improvement.