Los Angeles officials are pushing back on California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s order this month to start clearing homeless encampments, arguing the effort to clean up the city’s streets won’t work.
“I do not believe that it is ultimately a solution to homelessness,” said Democrat Mayor Karen Bass, according to the Denver Gazette.
“How are they supposed to pay for their ticket, and what happens when they don’t pay?” she continued. “Does it go into a warrant and give us an excuse to incarcerate somebody?”
Los Angeles County Supervisors Chair Lindsey Horvath agreed with Bass, calling the order to clear out homeless camps “unconscionable.” The solution to homelessness is not “arrest,” she insisted. “It is not pushing people from community to community.”
Horvath also accused Newsom of setting a troubling precedent.
“The criminalization of homelessness and poverty is dangerous,” she said. “It does not work, and it will not stand in Los Angeles County.”
Newsom issued the executive order last month after the U.S. Supreme Court released a decision giving local officials more power to remove those illegally living on the streets and camping out in public parks.
Local governments are not legally obligated to follow Newsom’s order, but failure to do so could result in critical funds potentially being withheld.
“This executive order directs state agencies to move urgently to address dangerous encampments while supporting and assisting the individuals living in them—and provides guidance for cities and counties to do the same,” Newson said in a statement. “There are simply no more excuses. It’s time for everyone to do their part.”
Horvath warned Los Angeles officials would not tolerate a funding cut from Newsom’s government.
“I don’t think that threatening funding at a time where we’re trying to get more people served and more people housed is a place that anybody wants to be in,” she said.
California has the largest homeless population in the country, with more than 180,000 people in the state estimated to be living on the streets.