Staff Reports
California Governor Gavin Newsom has taken a significant step in the ongoing saga of homeless encampments with a bold executive order aimed at tackling the state’s infamous homeless crisis. This latest move is reminiscent of throwing a bucket of cold water on a campfire that just won’t quit. Newsom’s order directs state officials to start removing encampments from state property, which is delightful news for those who are tired of seeing tent cities pop up like dandelions in spring.
This initiative comes on the heels of a Supreme Court ruling that reinforced the state’s authority to manage such encampments, providing a much-needed legal green light for officials. Newsom is noticeably keen on complying with the law this time around—perhaps taking a cue from the feds after years of California’s unencumbered experimentation with homelessness. The Governor expresses a sense of urgency in addressing these dangerous encampments while also promising to assist those affected. While this noble intention sounds good, one must wonder if the intended rapid response will turn into the usual slow-motion shuffle that often characterizes government action.
California Governor Gavin Newsom said the state would begin removing homeless encampments after a recent Supreme Court decision upheld anti-camping laws used to ticket and fine people living on the streets https://t.co/7dZwgVSC00 pic.twitter.com/K28lFYvBIV
— grannywatchstocks (@grannystocks) July 26, 2024
Under the executive order, the regime requires a 48-hour notice of eviction unless things are unusually dire—like maybe a tent igniting in the middle of a San Francisco summer fog. Additionally, state officials need to safeguard personal belongings for a whopping 60 days, as if that will comfort individuals who have probably long since learned that the streets of California are not the best place to keep their keepsakes. Instead of being soundly evicted, they will be treated like guests at a poorly managed hotel, clinging to the hope that their belongings are still intact in a state storage facility.
California has a homelessness problem that is so pronounced it could be a major character in a Hollywood blockbuster—an unsightly villain towering over the state with a staggering 30% share of national homelessness. Despite Newsom’s announcement of having cleared over 11,000 encampments and countless cubic yards of debris (a statistic that feels as inflated as a balloon in a party shop), the narrative doesn’t change much. The state has poured over $24 billion into addressing this crisis since 2019, making one wonder where all that money has gone. Perhaps it has funded new tents for the encampments.
While people can applaud an ‘action’ plan, the irony of a state boasting about its spending and subsequent ‘clean-outs’ is as rich as a chocolate cake at a slim-down convention. California’s strategy might suggest it simply threw a ton of cash at the problem, hoping it would magically disappear—spoiler alert: it didn’t. With ample proof of the ineffectiveness of prior initiatives, only time will tell if this latest order will yield any genuine improvements or if it will just go the way of California’s forgotten “Housing First” policy: ambitious on paper, dismal in reality. Will this executive order mark the dawn of a new era in California or merely another chapter in the state’s ongoing saga of political theater?
