'No More Excuses': Newsom Pressures Cities To Ban Homeless Encampments

CALIFORNIA — Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a stark directive to cities across California on Monday: ban homeless encampments.

His Monday announcement marks a dramatic departure from the state's recent strategy for addressing homelessness — one that leaned on incentives, hotel vouchers, tiny home villages, and emergency shelters to coax people indoors. Instead, Newsom unveiled a model ordinance that urges cities to outlaw encampments in public spaces and to clear them with urgency.

The move builds on an executive order Newsom issued last summer, which required state agencies to clear camps from state property. Monday's rollout goes further, pressuring local governments to follow suit.

"The time for inaction is over," Newsom said. "There are no more excuses.”

While the governor can't compel cities to adopt the ban, he has provided a template and tied it to $3.3 billion in voter-approved funding that cities can use to expand behavioral health housing and treatment options. That money is not tethered to adopting municipal bans, but the new funding adds to the $27 billion the state has already doled out to cities to tackle homelessness.

Under the model ordinance, cities are urged to:

• Prohibit prolonged camping in one location
• Ban encampments that block sidewalks
• Require advance notice and a good-faith effort to offer shelter before clearing a site

The announcement comes amid a deepening crisis. More than 187,000 people were unhoused in California last year, up from roughly 181,400 in 2023, according to federal data. The state is home to nearly one-third of the nation’s homeless population.

As Newsom enters the final stretch of his two-term tenure as California’s liberal leader, the crackdown on encampments signals a political pivot — and perhaps an eye on national ambitions.

“There’s nothing compassionate about letting people die on the streets," he said Monday. "Local leaders asked for resources — we delivered the largest state investment in history. They asked for legal clarity — the courts delivered."

Last year, theU.S. Supreme Court reversed a decision by a San Francisco-based appeals court that had blocked cities from banning outdoor sleeping, ruling that such bans do not constitute cruel and unusual punishment.

SEE ALSO:

• CA Can Ban Homeless Encampments, Supreme Court Rules
• CA Cities Increase Crackdown On Homeless Encampments

But critics — including advocates and some policymakers — have argued that enforcement without adequate shelter is neither humane nor effective. In many cities, beds remain scarce.