Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has held that cities may enforce an anti-camping ordinance, California politicians have no shield against the fury of state residents who are sick to death of seeing tent encampments on the sidewalks, streets, median strips, freeway embankments, pedestrian bridges, parks, beaches and other public spaces.
For nearly two decades, state and local officials could shift the blame to the courts, because the Ninth Circuit’s rulings had effectively prohibited the enforcement of an anti-camping ordinance unless there were enough shelter beds, as defined, for the entire homeless population, as defined. The definitions varied from court decision to court decision, and the general result was a surrender to the inevitability of virtually permanent encampments almost everywhere.
Now, that excuse is gone. Enforcing a generally applicable anti-camping ordinance does not violate the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment, the Supreme Court ruled. Local governments are now able to clear encampments and prohibit their return.
If they want to do that.
Some do and some don’t, which obviously is going to result in a migration of tent encampments from cities that won’t allow them to cities that will.
So public officials will have to up their blame-shifting game. First out of the gate was Gov. Gavin Newsom, who issued an omnipotent sounding executive order directing state agencies and departments under his authority “to address encampments on state property, including through partnerships with other state and local agencies,” and to “prioritize efforts to address encampments consistent with such policy.”
Departments and agencies not under the governor’s authority are “requested” to adopt the same policies, and local governments are “encouraged” to do so.
While the executive order actually doesn’t do much of anything, it was good for several days of news headlines that made it sound as if Newsom was ordering an end to tent encampments statewide.
It’s also a fine specimen of a blame-shifting document. The first paragraph begins by stating that California is experiencing “a homelessness crisis decades in the making”; in other words, blame should not be placed on the guy who has only been governor since 2019. The second paragraph asserts that Newsom “fast-tracked the development of shelter” with an earlier executive order. Paragraph 3 takes credit for $24 billion in “unprecedented investments.” And the fourth paragraph brags about “holding local jurisdictions accountable to reduce homelessness.”
In fact, nobody is holding anybody accountable for anything. A sharply critical report by the state auditor, conveniently released right after the March election in which voters were asked to approve $6.38 billion in new state borrowing to address homelessness, said the state doesn’t even track the outcomes of the billions of dollars in spending, or, as the governor calls it, “unprecedented investments.”
Meanwhile, the city and county of Los Angeles have made it clear that they will make no changes to existing policies as a result of the governor’s order. Mayor Karen Bass complained that removing tent encampments would “criminalize” homeless people. L.A. County Sheriff Robert Luna and the top official of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority told the Board of Supervisors that the county’s current approach is working. Supervisor Kathryn Barger said “we don’t have an answer” to the questions of what is needed to “build up capacity to actually address the encampment situation” or “what it is going to cost.”
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The November ballot in L.A. County will present voters with a measure that doubles the Measure H sales tax increase for homelessness programs. The county’s plan is to take more of your money and keep giving it to the same developers and organizations that have wasted billions already.
The Supreme Court’s decision in Grants Pass v. Johnson, empowering cities to enforce an anti-camping ordinance, has shifted the ground under the politicians, and although they can try to shift the blame to voters, who may say no to the tax increase, or to other politicians who made decisions “decades” ago, these excuses will not hold. Some cities will refuse to permit camping on public spaces, and neighboring cities will face pressure from voters to adopt the same policies.
The days of endlessly waiting for unhoused individuals to agree to accept services are over. Politicians can either catch up or head out.
Write Susan@SusanShelley.com and follow her on Twitter @Susan_Shelley
