SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — As cars whiz by, Phillip Banks rests in a tent on a homeless encampment on state property under CA-94, which heads into downtown San Diego.
Banks has lived here for a month, but it soon could become more difficult for him and other homeless people to live here.
That's because Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered state agencies Thursday to start removing homeless encampments on state land in his boldest action yet following a Supreme Court ruling allowing cities to enforce bans on sleeping outside in public spaces.
Banks said the governor is turning his back on the homeless.
"The governor is basically putting his foot on someone's necks that don't have a choice. Their only crime is being alive. They haven't done anything wrong. They are just trying to make it," he said.
Banks, 38, has been homeless off and on since he was a teenager.
He said the governor's order will just force homeless people like him to keep moving around.
"First you could sleep in parks, so we slept in parks. Then the rangers came through and said 'You can't be in parks. You can't sleep here.' So, we went there. They tell us to keep going, and we keep going," Banks said.
The executive order directs state agencies “to move urgently to address dangerous encampments while supporting and assisting the individuals living in them.” It also provides guidance for cities and counties to do the same, which applies pressure on them, though they are not legally bound to the order.
California is home to roughly one-third of the nation’s population of homeless people, a problem that has dogged Newsom since he took office.
There are thousands of tents and makeshift shelters across the state that line freeways and fill parking lots and public parks.
Under Newsom’s direction, state agencies — including state parks and the Department of Transportation — would be required to prioritize clearing encampments that pose safety risks, such as those along waterways.
Officials should give “reasonable” advance notice to homeless people, offer to connect them to local services and help store their belongings for at least 60 days. Local cities and counties are urged to adopt similar protocols.
Last month the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a lower court ruling that said governments could not force people to leave encampments if there weren’t any shelter beds available. The case was the most significant on the problem to come before the high court in decades.
Cities across the country have been wrestling with the politically complicated task of how to deal with a rising number of people without a permanent place to live and public frustration over related health and safety issues.
Newsom’s administration wrote in support of cities’ arguments that previous rulings, including one that barred San Francisco from clearing encampments, have prevented the state from solving a critical problem.
“There are simply no more excuses. It’s time for everyone to do their part,” Newsom said in a statement Thursday.
Newsom’s decision garnered praise from some local elected officials, including San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, and business groups, who said they were left with no options to address homeless encampments before the Supreme Court’s ruling.
"San Diegans are very familiar with the fact that there are large encampments on our Caltrans right of ways up and down our county. This direction to his departments will be helpful in making sure we align," Gloria said. "San Diegans don't like encampments and that is why we have passed unsafe camping ordinance that has successfully reduced the number of encampments in downtown San Diego."
Meanwhile, San Francisco Mayor London Breed recently said the city will start an “aggressive” campaign to clear encampments across the city in August. Her office noted that the governor’s order does not affect the city’s operations.
“I applaud Governor Newsom’s emphasis on urgency,” Kathryn Barger, a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors said in a statement. “He rightfully points out that local government remains at the helm of homeless encampment removals. Cities have an obligation to develop housing and shelter solutions in tandem with support services provided by county government.”
Even Republican lawmakers, who have repeatedly blasted Newsom over his handling of the crisis, are rallying behind the order.
“It’s about damn time! Letting people live and die on the streets or in our parks is unsafe and unsanitary,” Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones said in a statement. ”I am cautiously optimistic that the governor has finally taken note of the urgency of this problem, albeit many years later than needed.”
Homeless people and advocates say the sweeps are cruel and a waste of taxpayer money. They say the answer is more housing, not crackdowns.
“You get your highway off-ramp clean for a moment only,” Democratic Assemblymember Alex Lee said on social media. “Without meaningful services and housing, all sweeps do is making a prominent inequality less visible.”
While Newsom cannot order local authorities to act, his administration can apply pressure by withholding money for counties and cities. In 2022, he threatened to withhold $1 billion in homelessness spending from local governments over the lack of progress.
Newsom touted that his administration has spent roughly $24 billion cleaning up streets and housing people but acknowledged the persistent issue. Newsom’s administration has also come under fire recently after a state audit found that the state didn’t consistently track whether the huge amount of public money spent on this actually improved the situation.
In San Diego, Banks, who has been living under the freeway, said he and his girlfriend finally got a spot in San Diego's Tent City and will soon be leaving the state land.
He said others are not as fortunate.
"Not everyone is a bum. Some people just don't have a place to stay," he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
