Newsom’s executive order directs state agencies and departments to adopt humane and dignified policies to urgently address encampments on state property, including by taking necessary and deliberate steps to notify and support the people inhabiting the encampment prior to removal.

Newsom has made record-level investments to address the housing crisis, investing over $24 billion across multiple state agencies and departments, including billions of dollars in funding to assist local jurisdictions in providing services and wrap-around support to people living in encampments. In Fiscal Year 2022-2023, these investments helped lift more than 165,000 people out of homelessness and into interim or permanent housing.

California blueprint

Newsom’s order directs state agencies and departments to adopt policies and plans consistent with the California Department of Transportation’s (Caltrans) existing encampment policy. Since July 2021, California has resolved more than 11,000 encampments, and has removed 248,275 cubic yards of debris from encampments along the state right of way in preparation for Clean California projects. Prioritizing encampments that pose a threat to the life, health, and safety of the community, Caltrans provides advance notice of clearance and works with local service providers to support those experiencing homelessness at the encampment, and stores personal property collected at the site for at least 60 days.

The order encourages local governments to emulate the state’s successful model to adopt local policies and to use all available resources, including those provided by the state’s historic investments in housing and intervention programs, to address encampments within their jurisdictions.

Proposition 1 funding available for local governments

Governor Newsom also encourages local governments to apply for the newly available $3.3 billion in competitive grant funding from Proposition 1 to expand the behavioral health continuum and provide appropriate care to individuals experiencing mental health conditions and substance use disorders — with a particular focus on people who are most seriously ill, vulnerable, or homeless.

Proposition 1 includes two parts: a $6.4 billion Behavioral Health Bond for treatment settings and housing with services, and historic reform of the Behavioral Health Services Act (BHSA) to focus on people with the most serious illnesses, substance disorders, and housing needs. The state also recently released the Proposition 1 Behavioral Health Services Act: Housing Supports Primer (July 2024) for counties, which explains how to spend the projected $950 million annual BHSA revenue on housing interventions.

Unprecedented investments to support communities

Governor Newsom is tackling California’s homelessness crisis head-on. Since he took office, the state  has developed a Statewide Action Plan for Preventing and Ending Homelessness and the Governor has demanded unprecedented accountability from local governments to do their part to end the homelessness crisis through regionally coordinated action plans. The Governor has also pioneered nation-leading homeless and housing reforms and invested more than $24 billion to address this crisis with state and local support, including $4.85 billion for Homeless, Housing Assistance and Prevention Grants for local jurisdictions to prevent and reduce homelessness, $1 billion in Encampment Resolution Funding to assist local jurisdictions in providing services and supports to people living in encampments, and $3.3 billion for Homekey to rapidly expand housing for persons experiencing homelessness.

A copy of Thursday’s executive order can be found here.