A Controversial Crackdown on Homeless Encampments

from The New York Times I'm Sabrina. tavernes and this is the. [Music]. daily in the week since a landmark. Supreme Court ruling opened the door for. cities and states to crack down on. homeless encampments California the. state with the largest homeless. population has taken some of the. nation's most sweeping actions against. it today my colleague Shan Hubler on the.

race to clean up what has become one of. the democratic party's biggest. vulnerabilities before election. [Music]. [Applause]. [Music]. day it's Thursday August. [Music]. 15th so Sean you've been reporting on. this really remarkable moment in the. long story of California and.

homelessness tell me about your. reporting sure so California is in many. ways the nation's biggest and most sort. of wrenching example of homelessness. something like 180,000 people are. homeless in California and most of them. are Living Without Shelter some live in. cars of course some are couch surfing. some are in shelters but a lot of people. sleep outside in California and the most.

visible aspect of homelessness uh in. recent years has become these. encampments people who have pitch tents. in all sorts of places in parks and on. sidewalks and along riverbeds right and. it's a situation that's increasingly. visible here so there are a lot of. reasons behind it poverty there's mental. illness abuse addiction and you know. everybody's story is different but the.

bottom line is that it has become a. really defining characteristic of cities. in. California so that's where things stood. and then came this political season. we've got a major homelessness problem. and the Very left leaning city council. and mayor have the exact wrong. prescriptions for that homelessness. problem which kind of intensified the. challenge because these camps are not. only a humanitarian issue but they're.

also sort of a handy political tool for. people who want to criticize the. governance of California or failed. liberal policies as well as our bad laws. that we've passed recently are just. simply encouraging the situation um I. think and you'll often hear commentators. talk about how San Francisco is poorly. run and here's an example of democratic. governance the homelessness is. completely out of control they were not. going to enforce the law they were not. going to keep the streets clean they. were not going to make itable for me to.

allow my children to play outside of our. front gate without adult supervision now. those cities are kind of hellscapes in a. way and that Democrats are the ones who. are responsible for it city after a city. facing these issues they're all run by. democrats okay so in many ways this. place is really the face of Democrats in. control and the homelessness problem is. right at the center of that so let's dig. into that problem why has homelessness.

become such a big issue in. California first of all homelessness has. been a big problem in California for a. long time I mean it's an extraordinarily. complicated issue it defies simple. explanations but basically it really all. begins in California with extreme income. inequality and a Severe lack of. affordable housing California is one of. the most expensive housing markets. really in the country on top that there.

are no right to shelter laws in. California like there are in the east. coast it's very difficult to force. people into treatment if they're. mentally ill and on the street because. of commitment laws in the state and the. weather is temperate so you can sleep. outside uh local governments have a. shortage of shelter beds so a lot of. reasons but for a long time government. officials in California just generally. have seen homelessness less as a problem. that can be solved exactly than as a.

problem to be managed because solving it. was going to be very very. expensive but in. 2018 I've laid out a detailed homeless. strategy there's been no intentionality. on homelessness in the state for decades. it's not been a focus of the State of. California it is a disgrace it's the. ultimate manifestation of our failure as. a society and that has to change with. the next Administration you may not. Gavin Newsome was elected governor and. and he made homelessness one of his.

Central and signature priorities as. Californians we we pride ourselves on. our unwavering sense of compassion and. justice for humankind but there's. nothing compassionate about allowing. fellow Californians to live on the. streets huddled in cars or makeshift. encampments he called it an urgent moral. issue he said it was a Public Health. crisis no place is immune no person is. untouched.

and he said he was going to really spend. the amount of money that it was going to. take to finally fix it I don't think. homelessness can be solved I know that. homelessness can be. [Applause]. [Music]. solved then the pandemic. hit and the issue that he had brought. all his attention to that and that he. had really promised to make better.

exploded downtowns emptied. out Public Health officials weren't sure. whether it was safe to really bring. homeless people inside they didn't know. how the virus spread. cities more or less stopped sweeping. just adopted kind of a hands-off. policy and when they did that these tent. camps suddenly became a part not just of. skid Rose but of everybody's landscape.

in. California so this kind of split screen. emerged the state was dumping the most. money it ever has really millions and. billions of dollars at this point to get. people into housing to get them support. for all of the various problems that had. put them on the street in the first. place and yet the problem to people who. lived here appeared the worst it has. ever been the upshot was just this.

growing pressure on Nome and on local. politicians to clear these. encampments but until recently there had. been a handful of Lower Court decisions. that limited just how far cities could. go and just remind us what those. were right so this was a ruling by the. n9th Circuit Court of Appeals which. covers the western United States it had. found that if there was no shelter. available it was unconstitutional to. punish people for sleeping outside.

if they didn't have any place else to go. legally and Governor Nome gradually. began to see these rulings as a real. impediment to making progress on. homelessness in California and. particularly on progress in in. encampments because the ruling in his. opinion was so broad that it was. hamstringing cities that they were so. afraid of being sued that health and. safety rules were going kind of. unenforced and that was you know.

creating you know disease and predation. and all sorts of problems for everybody. including people in the encampments and. so the governor through his. political might really into helping to. get the Supreme Court to weigh in and of. course the court did weigh in and as we. now know reverse the status quo what was. the effect of that ruling the outcome of. this ruling is essentially that cities.

can enforce anti-camping restrictions. with less fear of being sued no longer. is their ability to to site people or. issue tickets tied to the availability. of shelter they can issue fines they can. arrest people even who refuse to. comply that decision had major. implications for the whole country but. in California in particular it was seen. as a. GameChanger so on Ju July 25th Governor.

Nome issued a sweeping order it directed. state agencies to start clearing. encampments on the state property which. is vast it includes all the land under. the freeways for example and parks and. so on and the governor also urged cities. and counties to do the same he offered. them guidelines that he said would be. legal and efficient and he said Humane. The Playbook would be to give two days. notice to people who were camped outside. offer them Services connect them with.

Outreach workers and shelters and. housing providers before you move them. gather their belongings offer to store. them for 90 or 60 days so they could. come back and retrieve them later on but. what was unsaid is that in a lot of. jurisdictions if campers didn't comply. they might now be subject to citation. and and maybe even. arrest okay so some pretty tough new. tools especially in a place like.

California that have traditionally been. pretty lenient on this issue Nome orders. this action what happens well for all. the talk of compassion right you know. patience was thin and and gloves were. off some cities announced they were. warming up the bulldozers and San. Francisco mayor London breed who is. facing a very tough re-election in part. because of homeless encampments went. directly to an encampment that was. outside of a DMV office office in San. Francisco and stood there while city.

workers started to clear it uh and she. told local authorities there that she. not only wanted these encampments. cleared she wanted them to start. offering bus tickets to people who if. they had a connection elsewhere like bus. tickets actually literally to ship them. out of the state if they have. connections there yes because as it. stands California still doesn't have. enough beds for all of its homeless. people the shelters are stressed. permanent housing is often full. and so cities are looking for any any.

measure they can take to try to ease. this. situation but not every place in the. state reacted as quickly or as. enthusiastically as Nim's hometown of. San. [Music]. Francisco most notably Los Angeles. County which has a huge homeless. population and tremendous Sway in the. state. and that put the largest Metropolis in.

California and California's governor on. a collision. course we'll be right. [Music]. back so Sean you said that the biggest. city in the state Los Angeles was. skeptical of nome's order tell me about. that. that so Los Angeles county is an.

enormous place the county has 10 million. people roughly and the city of Los. Angeles within it has something like. four million and they are in many ways. as a an electorate more liberal than the. state. overall and the supervisors in Los. Angeles. County react to nome's directive by. saying we're not going to change. anything and by the way we're not going. to criminalize homelessness we're not.

going to put anybody in jail we're going. to continue to do it our way we have a. lot of homeless people here and if we. dismantle these encampments that's fine. but it doesn't do anybody any good to. just move them down the street we are. not going to move anybody until we have. a bed to put them in or a place to send. them or a program to put them in so. their view is that they are slowly but. steadily. going to bring people in inside and they.

have been coaxing people in more with. carrots than with sticks to shelter and. they have made some progress the city of. Los Angeles has made something like a. 10% dent in the number of unsheltered. homeless people over the past year wow. and the county overall has made a dent. of about 5% in the number of unsheltered. homeless people and that's a significant. number of people and it's a significant. dent. but it hasn't happened very quickly and.

that is in direct contrast to what nuum. is trying to accomplish here so what. does Nome do how does he respond to this. kind of In transigence from from La so. last week roughly two weeks after the. order is issued nuum goes down to San. Diego to welcome some pandas to the zoo. and while he's in Southern California a. couple of hours later he. emerges 30 mil up the freeway in Los.

Angeles in a homeless. encampment saying in so many words you. don't want to clean your house I'll come. to your house I'll clean up this. situation for you. H the camp where Governor Nome is coming. today is under a freeway overpass. Interstate 10 so I went to the. encampment knowing that he was going to. be there and we're walking in we are.

looking around there's a trash. everywhere strewn everywhere there's it. was just heartbreaking actually there. was trash everywhere rats junk and I'm. seeing in the corner here a man. who's asleep on what appears to be a a. trampoline there was a man passed out in. a corner and a lying on what appeared to. be a broken uh. that a kid might use remains of.

campfires hello excuse me hi I'm a wow. that is a cool looking car and I spoke. to the neighbors around people who lived. in the workingclass neighborhood kind of. around there uh I know Hess has been. around yeah they've been around since. forever you know what I mean yeah but. and they were really unhappy I was just. I came to work in the morning and then I. just seen a whole bunch of fire and I'm. like w whole bunch of smoke so that's a. c them and then once I was on the phone.

with them they like oh we already have. three four calls already about that. we're on their way they said that the. fire department was there all the time. that the they felt very sorry for the. people who were living in this. encampment but it was just untenable. just kind of like dangerous to walk in. the night time especially oh yeah. because I worked it was hard for them to. feel safe walking down the street or let. alone uh going out with their children. Governor. hello uh Sean will have an audio so be. careful what you say yes I do have.

audio hi so a few hours after I got. there the governor arrived with his crew. of state workers and their orange vests. and their hard hats and he began picking. up. trash hey tell me what you're doing here. uh just part and parcel of the work we. continue to do to try to clean up this. state he said that it was a not just Los. Angeles County but counties all over. California who needed to get serious now. now that he had done on his part they.

needed to be good partners too what I. want now I want to see results it's not. about inputs it's about seeing. physically seen the results and that's. what we're and he said that he was. looking for accountability and that he. wanted to see action he wanted to see. movement no County would be more. determinative and whether or not we're. successful than LA County what do you. want from LA County what what do that. they are not. doing I I think right now it's it's not. an indictment of anyone I think perhaps.

that's the issue there's no one that's. the issue of counties generally uhhuh is. to abuse accountability but for me it's. about urgency it's just a different. level of. urgency and the governor also reminded. County leaders throughout the state that. they rely on the state for many many. billions of dollars of. funding the state can giveth and the. state can take it away the budget will. reflect support for those communities.

that really stepped up and with respect. to the others more support for those. that stepped up and I think that's and. that he was planning to uh reward. financially uh counties who followed his. Playbook and that he was willing to take. money away from counties that weren't. using the funding he was giving them. that weren't enacting his programs to. show progress It's a proxy for our. performance on every other issue we. don't have the luxury of other issues. right now and he also pointed out that.

this had National implications for his. party you heard the president just. mocking KLA Harris in. California it's about this that the. Democratic nominee for the presidency. kamla Harris was already being attacked. about California. Homeless so this is pretty remarkable. you have a Democratic governor going. into La territory to democratic. officials back yard and really pointing.

the finger at them and saying hey you. know some of you aren't getting the job. done and we're going to do this my way. yeah that was pretty radical but you. know it's worth noting that only a. handful of people were living in these. encampments the governor went to two. encampments that day there were. something like I don't know 22 people. something like that and about half a. dozen of them accepted some form of. housing or shelter from local homeless. Outreach groups and the leaders in Los. Angeles County reacted kind of tellingly.

too on background people told me you. know look this appears to be a little. more than a stunt because it's only. proven that this is a long and hard. process look at how hard he worked he. spent the entire day cleaning up. homeless encampments and he got six. people into shelter and he cleaned up. two spots and someone else made the. point that look you know even after you. clean out an encampment the studies show. that they'll just come back unless you.

have everything lined up services and. housing for them and guarantees that. they can transition into a different way. of living and so it's a long and arduous. and tedious process and there's no fast. way of doing it right you know it's. interesting hearing you talk about this. conflict it it strikes me that everyone. involved here the governor local. officials for the most part they're all. Democrats who all want the same thing.

they see this as a problem that needs to. be solved but the question is how. exactly to do that and how fast to do. that that's right and Sabrina it's also. worth noting that the Supreme Court. decision came only about a month and a. half ago so this is really early stages. right of this new era in California when. it comes to dealing with its. homelessness crisis and while we've seen. a huge amount of activity really in the. time since the Supreme Court's ruling. everybody including the governor even if.

he doesn't say so publicly knows that. this is really only the beginning it's. going to take a very long time to solve. this which might not be fast enough for. Democratic officials or for the party's. Presidential nominee yeah exactly. problems like this don't necessarily fit. into Political or campaign timelines. Sean thank you my.

[Music]. pleasure we'll be right. back here's what else you should know. today on Wednesday the government. released inflation data that provided. fresh evidence that the central measure. of American prices is moderating the. Consumer Price Index was 2.9% in July on. a yearly basis down from 3% in.

June the rate was still faster than the. 2% Pace that was normal before the. Corona virus pandemic but it was the. first time since 2021 that inflation had. slipped below. 3% the measure leaves the Federal. Reserve firmly on track to cut interest. rates at its next meeting in. September and Columbia University's. president nimat Shafi. resigned on Wednesday over her handling.

of pro Palestinian demonstrations and. questions over her management of a. bitterly divided campus she was the. third leader of an ivy league university. to resign in about 8 months Shafi an. economist who spent much of her career. in London said in a letter that after. reflecting over the summer she had come. to the conclusion that resigning quote. would best enable Colombia to to. Traverse the challenges.

[Music]. ahead today's episode was produced by AA. chatra Olivia Nat and Eric krupky it was. edited by Liz oalen and Michael benois. fact checked by Susan Lee contains. original music by Dan Powell and Marian. Lozano and was engineered by Alyssa. Moxley our theme music is by Jim. brunberg and Ben Lanser of wonderly.

[Music]. that's it for the daily I'm Sabrina. tavernes see you tomorrow. [Music].