Governor Gavin Newsom once again is exhorting cities and counties to crack down on homeless encampments, this time providing the template for a one-size-fits-all ordinance that local governments could — and should — adopt.
Newsom, widely believed to be nursing presidential ambitions, has spent billions during his administration to address the issue of homelessness, but the results have been largely mixed. Not only have encampments persisted as an abiding reality of urban life in California — home to a quarter of the nation’s homeless population — but state’s inability to track where the money actually went has been a colossal embarrassment.
Newsom is suggesting, among other things, a requirement that homeless encampments be limited to no more than 72 hours in any one location, much the way cars parked on certain streets are. Newsom is not threatening to penalize local governments that decline to comply — as he did several months ago when making similar entreaties — but he has conspicuously mentioned that the state is about to release $3 billion in mental health funds targeting the chronically homeless. Competition for these grants is expected to be intensely competitive; the governor did not have to mention that cities who disagree with a heavier-handed law-enforcement response might find themselves at a competitive disadvantage. Newsom stressed that enforcement actions should be undertaken only when there are shelter beds available…