Los Angeles, California – June 10: After his homeless encampment under the 110 Freeway was dismantled by the city of Los Angeles for the Summit of the Americas, 63-year-old Calvin Hall, who has been homeless for four years, returns from grocery shopping through a cordoned off area to a new area near the 110 Freeway and the Los Angeles Convention Center. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Allen J. Schaben | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images
Across California, homeless encampments on city streets, in public parks and beneath freeways have become the most visible symbols of the state’s overwhelming challenges with affordable housing. Government officials are now using their newfound power to address the problem.
In late June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in a conservative majority vote that cities are allowed to impose fines and arrests for public camping and sleeping outdoors, and to threaten jail sentences for people who repeatedly refuse to go indoors and accept help.
The decision overturned a 2022 appeals court ruling that benefited a group of homeless people in the small town of Grants Pass, Oregon.
Following the decision, California Governor Gavin Newsom praised the clarity of the ruling and issued an executive order in July calling on local governments to “develop their own strategies to address the encampments with compassion, care and urgency.”
The order provided guidelines for cities and counties in a state that will have more than 181,000 homeless people in 2023. Newsom said in a statement in June that the court’s decision “removes the legal ambiguities that have tied local officials’ hands for years and limited their ability to take common-sense actions to protect the safety and well-being of our communities.”
On Tuesday, Newsom signed two new laws. One will make it easier for service providers to house homeless people in private hotels and motels for more than 30 days, and the other speeds up the process for local governments to build additional housing units as shelter.
According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, nearly a third of the nation’s homeless population lived in California last year. Over the past five years, the state has invested $27 billion to address the homelessness crisis, including $1 billion in funds to resolve homeless encampments.
California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) reacts as he speaks to members of the press on the day of the first presidential debate hosted by CNN in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., June 27, 2024. REUTERS/Marco Bello
Marco Bello | Reuters
San Francisco Mayor London Breed, who is in the midst of a tough re-election campaign, responded to the order by clearing out encampments and offering bus passes out of the city. Breed’s order cited data from this year’s Point-in-Time Count, which found that 40% of the city’s homeless were from other parts of California or out of state, up from 28% in 2019.
Breed’s challengers, including Levi Strauss heir Daniel Lurie and former interim mayor Mark Farrell, have told CNBC that safety on the streets must be increased and public camping eliminated. Lurie said he plans to build 1,500 shelters in his first six months in office. Farrell has called for a stronger police presence in areas where both drugs and homelessness are prevalent, as well as more incentives for small businesses and affordable housing.
“A real punch in the stomach”
The changed approach has met with criticism.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said the Supreme Court ruling “should not serve as an excuse for cities across the country to try to arrest their way out of this problem or to cover up the homeless crisis in neighboring cities or in prison.”
Bass has publicly called for more housing and emergency shelters for the homeless, as well as supportive services, saying that criminalizing these acts or trying to push them away is “more expensive for the taxpayer than actually solving the problem.”
Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director of the San Francisco-based Coalition on Homelessness, called the ruling “a real punch in the gut.”
Her group’s goal is to find permanent solutions to homelessness through advocacy and voting. Before the Supreme Court decision, homeless public campers could not be penalized without offering them shelter.
“This was a protection that was supposed to at least get local communities to give people a place to sleep,” Friedenbach said. “They literally have nowhere to go. When these raids happen, they tend to exacerbate homelessness and make it worse.”
Breed and Bass have both advocated for greater access to affordable housing and shelters. In 2022, the California Department of Housing and Community Development found that at least 2.5 million new homes must be built by 2030, with at least 1 million of those homes to go to low-income families.
Inaction has far-reaching economic consequences. The National Alliance to End Homelessness found in 2017 that a chronically homeless person costs taxpayers an average of $35,578 per year. This cost is reduced by almost half when the person is placed in assisted housing.
One solution is more transitional housing, says Adrian Covert, senior vice president for public policy at the nonprofit Bay Area Council.
“We know that we cannot create permanent housing in California any faster than our broken housing market is creating homelessness through our housing shortage,” Covert told CNBC. “You have to give them a place to go so they don’t have to suffer that trauma on the streets. And that’s where transitional housing comes in.”
REGARD: California reacts to Supreme Court ruling on camps
