SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday urged California cities to clear homeless encampments, escalating once again his efforts to address an intractable issue of his time in office: the makeshift tents that line underpasses, parks and local streets up and down the state.
Newsom’s administration drafted a local law that counties, cities and towns can directly adopt or modify to achieve the Democratic governor’s goals. He’s also releasing $3.3 billion in voter-approved funds to expand housing and treatment options for homeless residents.
“The time for inaction is over. There are no more excuses,” Newsom said in a statement.
Newsom, a former mayor of San Francisco, made tackling homelessness a priority of his administration when he took office in 2019 and since then, Democratic leaders in the state have also moved toward cracking down on encampments. The state accounts for a quarter of the homeless population in the United States, with more than 187,000 Californians in need of housing.