July 25, 2024

SACRAMENTO – The California State Association of Counties issued the following statement in response to Governor Gavin Newsom’s executive order directing state agencies to clear homeless encampments and urging local governments to take similar action.

“California’s 58 counties will continue to work together with the Governor and share his sense of urgency to make meaningful progress to clean up our communities, support those in need of shelter and to provide behavioral health services to those who need it most,” said CSAC CEO Graham Knaus.

Last month’s ruling in the Grants Pass case provided needed flexibility to protect communities and the unhoused alike by empowering local governments with the tools needed to effectively manage the multifaceted issues surrounding homelessness.

California’s counties are all too aware of the challenges created by a growing homeless population. County governments serve on the front lines, running most health and human services programs on behalf of the state. These programs serve as the social safety net in California.

These safety net programs are critical to the success of encampment cleanups to ensure that people experiencing homelessness are connected with permanent housing opportunities as well as the right level of services to make certain that those housing opportunities are stable and successful.

Making sure encampments don’t come back or move to a new location requires a variety of interventions including: adequate supportive services, increase shelter space, accelerated affordable housing development, investments in homeless outreach teams, and expand rent subsidy programs.  

Despite these challenges, counties are all in on taking swift, decisive action to assist the most vulnerable Californians.  It is what we do.

CSAC continues to call for a statewide comprehensive system to help those who are unhoused or at risk of becoming unhoused in our communities

Having clear responsibilities aligned to authority, resources, and flexibility for all levels of government is critical.

Counties can clear encampments, but we need every level of government to meaningfully address the unhoused crisis. Cities need more transitional and permanent housing, counties need to provide more safety net services and the state must commit to ongoing flexible funding.

Going forward, solving homelessness will also require addressing our housing crisis through continued significant investments in building and preserving more affordable and supportive housing and increasing housing stability by helping individuals and families maintain their housing. Our homeless response systems, meant to be emergency responses to a humanitarian crisis, cannot solve our long-term and growing affordable housing gaps. Given the number of people falling into homelessness, we must continue to invest in affordable housing, particularly for our lowest-income populations.

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