Newsom launches statewide task force to clear homeless encampments

[WhiskeyGrinder]

https://ktla.com/news/california/newsom-launches-statewide-task-force-to-clear-homeless-encampments/

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday announced the creation of a statewide task force aimed at dismantling homeless encampments on state property and expanding access to shelter and services.

The State Action for Facilitation on Encampments, or SAFE Task Force, will coordinate efforts across multiple state agencies, including the California Highway Patrol, Caltrans, and the state’s health and housing departments.

The group will focus on encampments along state rights-of-way in California’s 10 largest cities: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, San Diego, Sacramento, San Jose, Long Beach, Anaheim, Bakersfield and Fresno.

The announcement follows Newsom’s 2024 executive order, which directed encampment cleanups after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling granted state and local governments more authority to remove them.

[Ritabert]

1. Is he offering alternative shelter? Otherwise this is performative.

[Oeditpus Rex]

3. '...and expanding access to shelter and services.'

[Ritabert]

5. I'll believe it when I see it

He could have done this years ago.

[Oeditpus Rex]

11. With *any* politician

we shouldn't beleve anything until we see it. But, I trust Newsom has at last a viable, sincere plan.

And, yes -- a whole lot of things could've and should've been done years ago, even decades. Who's stood in the way of much of it?

I usually don't blame Democrats for such things not getting done.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

8. Sounds great! I'll believe it when I see it.

[sboatcar]

2. As someone who has an encampment about a block from my house

I have to say that I don't like having random junkies wandering around in my alley and leaving needles and things like that around, but just making them uproot and move somewhere else isn't solving the underlying problem. These people need a safe place to be, a safe place to use, things like that. Its awfully hard to get your shit together when you're addicted, when you're dependent on a dealer to get you your fix, when you maybe have a tent to sleep in.
What's the solution? I don't know, but I think creating harm reduction centers for people to use in, with clean needles and things like that would be a help, but beyond that, I'm not sure. The life of a junky is such a mess that its hard to keep anything together. People need actual real help, that's beyond my knowledge, but just shuffling them from one neighborhood to another isn't going to help at all.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

6. We know what works, and it's housing first.

Housing first, and then wraparound services for other issues.

[sboatcar]

10. I agree

I just wish the city would get behind it. Also in this case, the owner of the property intentionally invited the encampment to thumb his nose at the city for not giving him the building permits he wanted. Its directly across the street from a school, and now basically the city is going to have to take him to court over it all. I just wish there was actually a safe place for these folks to be, and a place where the school kids don't have to worry about running into dirty needles and other things that kids shouldn't be seeing.

[W_HAMILTON]

12. You mean, like, expanding access to shelter and services?

[WhiskeyGrinder]

13. No. I mean actually providing someone with their own private place without any strings, and then providing wraparound

services -- which means having those services in the housing. There's a big difference between "providing housing" and "expanding access to a shelter."

ETA: This also means skipping the part about bulldozing the places where people are living now and forcing them to abandon their belongings, but I don't have high hopes for that, because politicians *love* that visual because it shows they're Doing Something.

[W_HAMILTON]

15. Letting the perfect be the enemy of the good again, are we?

If you demand free private housing for the homeless and think providing shelter and expanding services isn't (1) better than their current situation and (2) progress in the right direction, you are not helping them -- you are doing them a disservice.

Progressives -- of which I consider myself one, but much more an Elizabeth Wsrren progressive than a Bernie Sanders one -- can't continue to call themselves progressive if they continue to shun actual achievable progress in favor of perfectionist ideals that are never obtained.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

16. No, not at all.

Doing the same thing over and over again without results isn't good. Politically, it's window dressing.

If you demand free private housing for the homeless and think providing shelter and expanding services isn't

Okay but hold up. They're not providing shelter. They're *expanding access to shelter and services.* When it comes to "expanding access to shelter and services" in state responses to homelessness, that usually looks like adding one (1) phone number to existing hotlines, allowing people two (2) bags of belongings instead of one in the underserved shelter that exists, allowing married couples stay together in the shelter, but demanding proof of marriage, that kind of thing. Nibbling around the edges, hardly even reforms. Not building new housing or even new shelters. Not launching entirely new NGOs. Not building and staffing safe-use centers.

you are doing them a disservice

Except that's not what they tell me. What they tell me is they need housing and wraparound services, not another task force, and not another politician making grand pronouncements with various cop agencies standing ready to sweep them out.

Progressives -- of which I consider myself one, but much more an Elizabeth Wsrren progressive than a Bernie Sanders one -- can't continue to call themselves progressive if they continue to shun actual achievable progress

Whew, good thing I don't call myself a progressive. If calling for a task force is seen as progress, I don't want it.

in favor of perfectionist ideals that are never obtained.

They're certainly not perfect. Getting someone who lives outside into stable housing is just the start, and they've got a long way to go. But the results that housing-first nets aren't obtained because few demand that model. They are very achievable. We just have to work for it. But if you don't want to, that's fine.

[W_HAMILTON]

18. Well then while you are working towards all of that, don't hamper actual progress from being made.

And, honestly, most of your goals are not achievable. Providing free housing for the homeless while those even with homes or rent are struggling is not going to happen in our society. Not now, not in the near future, and not in the foreseeable future. If you want to fight for that, be my guest. But as I said, don't stand in the way nor belittle the progress that is being made by getting more people taken care of and in shelters in the meantime.

I would hope that your goals do not involve those currently homeless having to endure worse conditions for longer while you """fight""" for them, in which case, why are you upset with action being taken that will ultimately help at least *some* people? Surely you don't think that this is all that will ever be done to address the homelessness problem, do you? So, why get upset with taking steps in the right direction that will benefit people in the meantime?

[BannonsLiver]

21. Housing first is the strategy in my community

They have achieved some success in housing the most chronically unhoused people who have been targeted. HOWEVER, it's not free housing for life. Able-bodied folks must get a job and keep it to continue receiving the housing benefits beyond a year. As part of the program, they are assisted in finding jobs through placement services. It's an entirely reasonable arrangement, though I doubt it would pass muster with those inclined to make perfect the enemy of good.

[BannonsLiver]

20. 100 percent agree

And this move will have zero impact on my decision on whether to vote for him in the primary.

[haele]

24. Lots of homeless can't just "access shelters" Especially working Homeless and Families.

Or disabled/elderly, or homeless with pets or caretakers/long term companions.
Shelters in California are too often just bunk beds in large warehouse rooms, gendered separately, with communal sanitary facilities and common dining service. And No Drug policy, which includes no Medication, especially psychotropics, or addiction medication. When you actually talk to homeless living in their cars along the main streets or in tent communities, the primary reasons they won't go to a shelter is because of
1. Limited hours, no storage, and first come, first served availability of beds every night.
2. rampant theft and lack of security
3. inability to bring medicine, family members, or companions...

See, most shelters offered are are first come/first served daily only, individuals need to be out by 0800 for cleaning and can't come back until 5 or 6 PM to claim a bed, and access is locked down after 8pm.
Disabled and only upper bunks are left? Work a late shift? Sorry, maybe they'll call around and secure a lower bunk for you at another shelter you're going to have to find some way of getting to.
Sick? You're not going to a shelter, you're going to a ER, and maybe your belongings will be sent along with you. Maybe
Need someplace to store what belongings -like the tools you need to do a job while your looking for work during the day? You're SOL.
Your choices are a bed at a shelter or a job, or live rough while you wait for more individual housing that actually fits your needs to open up on the list.

Individual housing coupled with maintenance and a Social Service component - even if it's just a safe camping/RV location or a lot with Tiny Houses on it, works. Massive warehouse rooms shelters only work for the individuals who have lost everything to keep them off the streets at night.

I have interacted with the homeless more than a few times; most are just people that couldn't afford housing after a bout of bad luck and are trying to keep what few belongings and documents they still have. Whatever the bad luck reason that put them in the situation, they still have some items they're desperate to hold on to, and most shelters offered either aren't safe enough or would let them keep those items
Despite the obvious junkies or mental cases most people notice and assume define the homeless, a majority of homeless are simply poor - retired, or work day jobs or part time low wage.
They have an income, but they're basically the "Two Paychecks Away" folks - who are living that saying "Most Americans are only two paychecks away from homelessness".

[mercuryblues]

27. The housing 1st model improves lives for the long term.

The studies have shown that people are more like to get and stay sober, get jobs and supportive services when they have a permanent address.

Studies have also shown that it costs less money.

https://headinghomeinc.org/housing-first-model/

[Scrivener7]

28. Salt Lake City did this.

They found it cost about half as much as they were spending on social services for unhoused people. It saved them a TON of money.

Housing first. It's proven to work.

[maxsolomon]

9. Did you read the 1st sentence of the snip?

"...expanding access to shelter and services."

Up here in Seattle, we had homeless carving out tent platforms along I-5 and 1 person was run over by a runaway car. Encampments out of the ROW is a 1st step.

ROW means Right-of-way, DU Acronym Patrol.

[obamanut2012]

17. Actually on the shoulder of 5?!

They haven't gotten that bold yet here in Sacramento

[maxsolomon]

19. The east side of 1-5 just north of the Ship Canal Bridge has a wide hillside from 45th St. to 50th St.

Last edited Tue Sep 2, 2025, 01:18 PM - Edit history (2)

The unhoused dug out tent platforms under 60-year-old conifers and camped on the roots. Most of the trees are dead now or burned up from propane tank explosions. There are two 100' tall Sequoias at the Lake City exit that are completely scorched on 1 side.

I have mixed feelings about encampments to say the least.

[haele]

25. There's several pop-up communities at Freeway intersections here in San Diego .

The one at the 94 west to 5 northbound Caltrans large maintenance "triangle" gets cleared out every three months or so; within a week, the regulars start setting back up. I'm pretty sure there's some Caltrans that warn them when a sweep goes through
The regulars are a mix of around three five couples of elderly and vets with pets (after four or five years of using the onramp, I recognize the tents and the dogs); they're pretty good about policing the area and bagging up after themselves, but still - it's a dangerous location.
If there's a large safe camping area nearby with maintained facilities offered to them, I'm sure they'd rather set up there than figuratively in the freeway.
But I guess that's too humane or indulgent for throwaway people.

[DSandra]

14. People need hope and need a better, not cold and brutal society

This world is extremely shitty right now and runaway capitalism has made it much worse than it used to be. I don't take drugs but I don't judge anyone that uses it to deal with being in an incredibly shitty position in life. Poverty is a doom trap that can be extremely hard to get out of, pretty much a nightmare.

[leftstreet]

4. They're just NOW forming a task force?

Were there no unhoused people in need of assistance a year ago, 5 years ago?

[WhiskeyGrinder]

7. When you make a task force BEFORE you sweep out encampments and destroy people's belongings, that's progress.

Or something.

[Johnny2X2X]

22. It's not a broom you need

Homelessness doesn't get solved with blanket ideas, because homeless people are individuals each in need of different things.

So you get people who can help them and house people 1 or 2 at a time. It takes hard work, everyone's needs are unique. And yes, there are some people you cannot reach or help.

The problem with shelters a lot of places isn't their availability, it's the conditions in them. People feel staying on the street is safer and better for them than in a shelter.

The thing about this problem is that I don't think most Americans truly appreciate how close to being homeless they are themselves. Chances are you're a lot closer to be homeless than you are to having anything in common with the billionaires running the country right now.

And the economy is faltering while the GOP is completely dismantling the social safety net, get ready for homelessness to explode. So think about how you want to be treated should you become homeless before supporting policies that will harm the homeless.

[JustAnotherGen]

23. "expanding access to shelter and services"

That's a critical/key element.

That's going to be a herculean task. And NOT temporary shelters - but SHELTER. A place to stay. A home.

[bigtree]

26. statewide task force

...so not merely clearing encampments, but addressing 'unsafe areas' and carrying forth the state's 2024 initiative outlining a "strong, comprehensive strategy for fighting the national homelessness and housing crises.”


Governor Newsom convenes statewide task force to prioritize and dismantle homeless encampments and accelerate care

SACRAMENTO — Just over a year after the Governor issued an executive order directing encampment cleanups and months after providing a new draft ordinance for local governments, the Governor is advancing Californians’ statewide strategy to address the homelessness crisis through a new statewide task force to prioritize and remove encampments and bring services and shelter to individuals experiencing homelessness along state rights-of-way in California’s ten largest cities.

This continues California’s effective strategies, which have led to reductions in unsheltered homelessness in communities throughout the state.

“California has put in place a strong, comprehensive strategy for fighting the national homelessness and housing crises — and is outperforming the nation as a result in turning this issue around. No one should live in a dangerous or unsanitary encampment, and we will continue our ongoing work to ensure that everyone has a safe place to call home. Today I am establishing a new task force that pairs urgency with dignity — restoring safe, usable public spaces while providing care for Californians living in dangerous encampments.”
__Governor Gavin Newsom

California’s State Action for Facilitation on Encampments (SAFE) Task Force brings together expertise and programs from across state agencies to target encampments, with a particular focus on emergency management, social services, health care, substance use support, resource and land management, and public safety. Working together with local governments to provide shelter and social services, the SAFE Task Force will prioritize encampments on state rights-of-way in California’s ten largest cities and assist in finding suitable shelter options for individuals residing there.

Dismantling dangerous encampments

This announcement builds on the Governor’s broader effort to address the homelessness and housing crises affecting the entire nation and reverse a problem that has been decades in the making. Governor Newsom has set a strong expectation for all local governments to address encampments in their communities and help connect people with support. In 2024, Governor Newsom filed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to recognize the need for state and local authority to clear encampments. After the Supreme Court issued a ruling that removed legal ambiguities that had tied the hands of state and local officials, Governor Newsom issued an executive order directing state entities and urging local governments to clear encampments using a state-tested model to address encampments humanely, offer housing, and provide people with adequate notice and support.

A strong strategy that works

Governor Newsom is creating a structural and foundational model that will have positive impacts for generations to come by streamlining and prioritizing building of new housing, funding new shelters, housing, and supports, holding local governments accountable, addressing mental health and its impact on homelessness through voter-approved Proposition 1, and creating new pathways for those who need it most through updated conservatorship laws and a new CARE court system.

SAFE task force

Today’s announcement brings these strategies together by establishing the statewide SAFE Taskforce. California’s SAFE task force brings together state agencies responsible for delivering key components of the Governor’s strategies to ensure that local communities have the support they need to quickly and humanely clear encampments, connect people with housing and care, and prevent repopulation.

Unlike the haphazard strategies employed by the Trump Administration, California’s SAFE Task Force brings together each of the tools created by Governor Newsom to clear encampments and connect people with the care they need. The task force is made up of the following state agencies and departments, who will provide appropriate support:

California Office of Emergency Services (CalOES): Responsible for logistical coordination and procurement, ensuring the efficient deployment of resources.
Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency (BCSH): This agency, including through its Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), will continue to be instrumental in administering and overseeing housing and homeless grant funding that can be used for these efforts, and providing connections to housing solutions and supportive service providers.
California Interagency Council on Homelessness (Cal ICH): Offering vital guidance to local government facilitating homeless outreach coordinating supportive services, and facilitating collaboration with local agencies.
California Health and Human Services (CalHHS): Supporting and monitoring locally-provided comprehensive health care and behavioral health support, including critical substance use treatment facilitated through Proposition 1 funding.
California Highway Patrol (CHP): Providing essential public safety support during encampment operations and monitoring cleared encampment locations.
California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA): Directly responsible for the immediate clearance of encampments located on state rights-of-way, ensuring safety and public access. Since July 2021, Caltrans has removed more than 18,000 encampments along the state right-of-way and collected approximately 334,440 cubic yards of litter and debris — the equivalent of filling 11,950 garbage trucks.

Upcoming encampment operations

Together with local partners, the Task Force will focus on encampment operations throughout the state within the next 30 days. The task force will work in a unified way across state government to clear highly visible and unsafe encampments on state property while expanding access to housing, shelter, mental health, and substance use services. Locations identified include areas with large encampments and high-priority encampments on state rights-of-way in California’s ten most populous cities: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, San Diego, Sacramento, San Jose, Long Beach, Anaheim, Bakersfield, and Fresno.
A strong partnership in San Francisco

This week, Caltrans reached a new agreement with the City of San Francisco that improves coordination on state right-of-ways. This Delegated Maintenance Agreement (DMA) will help the city address sites quickly and work with local partners who are equipped to offer services and housing to people experiencing homelessness.

Kicking off this agreement, in just the first two days, Caltrans and its city partners cleared encampments on state right-of-way at Cesar Chavez Junction and 13th and Van Ness, connecting 12 individuals with social services and shelter, and collecting roughly 90 cubic yards of unsafe and unsanitary waste and debris.





Since July 1, 2024, Caltrans has removed 81 encampments in the city and removed more than 1,150 cubic yards of waste and debris from sites along the state right-of-way, a 58% increase from the previous year.

Caltrans also reached a similar agreement with San Diego in July.

Reducing homelessness throughout the state

These agreements align with Governor Gavin Newsom’s multi-pronged approach that is reshaping how homelessness is addressed in our state. Some of California’s largest communities are already reporting substantial decreases in homelessness numbers – indicating that California’s comprehensive and strategic approach to reversing this national crisis and getting people out of encampments is working. The broad scope of positive reports points to good news for California when the final data in December is counted.

Here’s where California is already seeing reports of reduced homelessness.

Los Angeles County (-9.5% unsheltered homelessness)
Los Angeles City (-7.9% unsheltered homelessness)
San Diego (-6.6% in total homelessness)
San Diego City (-13.5% total homelessness)
Riverside County CoC (-19% unsheltered homelessness)
San Bernardino County CoC (-14.2% unsheltered homelessness)
Sonoma CoC (-22.6% total homelessness)
Contra Costa County CoC (-25.5% total homelessness)
Ventura County CoC (-15.6% total homelessness)
Watsonville/Santa Cruz City & County CoC (-20.4% total homelessness)
Bakersfield / Kern County CoC (-2.3% total homelessness)
Kings County (-26.7% total homelessness)
Tulare County (-7.1% total homelessness)

Reversing a decades-in-the-making crisis

Between 2014 and 2019 — before Governor Newsom took office — unsheltered homelessness in California rose by approximately 37,000 people. Since then, under this Administration, California has significantly slowed that growth, even as many other states have seen worsening trends.

In 2024, while homelessness increased nationally by over 18%, California limited its overall increase to just 3% — a lower rate than in 40 other states. The state also held the growth of unsheltered homelessness to just 0.45%, compared to a national increase of nearly 7%. States like Florida, Texas, New York, and Illinois saw larger increases both in percentage and absolute numbers. California also achieved the nation’s largest reduction in veteran homelessness and made meaningful progress in reducing youth homelessness.

https://www.gov.ca.gov/2025/08/29/governor-newsom-convenes-statewide-task-force-to-prioritize-and-dismantle-homeless-encampments-and-accelerate-care/

[TommyT139]

29. Who here wants all important belongings destroyed?

With no chance to save the few that you have -- photos, writings, whatever is left of the life you had before illness, violence, or oligarchy pushed you out of access to the spaces that kept you passing as respectable?

Who would give up cherished animal companions, watching them be taken away to kill "shelters"?

Taking advantage of a cruel Supreme Court decision -- lauded by trumpists -- says plenty more than I am able to.