Health, safety concerns central to Newsom's more aggressive directive on homeless encampments
Supe Ellenberg may wave away Newsom's enjoinments regarding our homeless neighbor's well-being as "not helpful," but the Governor's argument is rooted in a focus on the welfare and security of the unhoused. The LA Times reports.
Newsom characterized the proliferation of encampments as a health and safety hazard that requires immediate action.
“We must 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
Newsom’s order requires state agencies to adopt policies modeled after a California Department of Transportation directive that “prioritizes removal of encampments that pose threats to life, health and safety, while partnering with local governments and nonprofit providers to facilitate offers of shelter and supportive services in advance of removal.”
Encampments judged to pose “imminent threat to life, health, safety or infrastructure” must be addressed immediately, though the directive does not provide a specific deadline.
Caltrans has cleared 11,000 homeless encampments since 2021 as the agency devotes an increasing amount of its resources to taking down tarp tents and makeshift kitchens alongside and under freeways.
The condition of homeless individuals living near the massive concrete structures, which both cool and protect them from the rain and heat, has become both a health issue and a serious safety concern for Caltrans.
Up and down the state, fires have threatened to compromise hulking concrete freeway structures and put lives in danger. A pregnant woman living under the 10 Freeway was among more than dozen homeless people who reportedly escaped a massive fire that broke out last November and shut down the freeway for a week.
The Caltrans policy has “mechanisms for providing the people within the encampments care and dignity and the services that they need,” said Newsom’s spokeswoman, Tara Gallegos.
The order expands those efforts to other state-owned properties such as state parks.
Under Caltrans’ maintenance order, the agency identifies encampments and labels them based on their risk to structures and life, with those of highest risk given priority. When camps are cleared, Caltrans gives its residents 48 hours to leave and should connect them with housing assistance. The agency also holds their items for 60 days.
Though the governor cannot force cities and other jurisdictions to follow the order, he encouraged them to use “substantial funding provided by the state to take similar action.”
Read the whole thing here.
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