Gov. Newsom awards million to Bay Area cities to clear homeless encampments
Oct 04, 2024
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Friday that the state will grant 18 cities $131 million to clear homeless encampments and provide shelter, care and support.
The grants are a part of the state’s $1 billion Encampment Resolution Funds. The city of Los Angeles is slated to receive $11.3 million in funding.
“We’re supporting local communities’ efforts to get people out of encampments and connected with care and housing across the state. It’s important and urgent work that requires everyone to do their part. The state has committed more than $27 billion to help local governments tackle the homelessness crisis — and we want to see $27 billion worth of results,” Newsom said in a statement.
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The city of Sacramento will receive the most funding at $18 million.
Award recipients will need to adhere “to all state housing and homeless laws — as well as remain in compliance with their Housing Elements — or risk losing funding and face other enforcement actions,” according to Newsom.
The announcement comes after the city of Norwalk’s compliance with the housing element law was revoked on Thursday, deeming the city ineligible to receive state housing and homelessness funds.
The state Department of Housing and Community Development revoked its compliance after Norwalk City Council decided to extend its moratorium on emergency shelters for the homeless, single-room occupancy and transitional housing, a day after Newsom threatened the city with a potential lawsuit if the ordinance wasn’t reversed.
In July, Newsom signed an executive order, which, among other things, allowed state and local officials to dismantle homeless encampments.
The executive order was issued in response to a Supreme Court decision in late June that granted officials authority to remove the encampments and ticket people for camping in public in Grants Pass, Oregon. While some city leaders applauded the executive order, others, like Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, called the decision “unfortunate.”
Newsom vows to withhold funds from California cities and counties that don’t clear homeless encampments
While Newsom cannot force local authorities to act, his administration can apply pressure by withholding money for counties and cities.
Here’s the full list of cities and communities that received funding:
City of Antioch - $6,812,686
City of Berkeley - $5,395,637
City of Carlsbad - $2,994,225
City of Los Angeles - $11,351,281
City of Palm Springs - $5,106,731
City of Petaluma - $8,098,978
City of Redlands — $5,341,800
City of Richmond —- $9,336,746
City of Sacramento — $18,199,661
City of San Jose —- $4,821,083
City of Victorville — $6,365,070
City of Visalia —- $3,000,000
County of Contra Costa —- $5,708,516
County of Riverside — $12,612,779
County of San Bernardino — $11,000,000
City and County of San Francisco - $7,975,486
Humboldt County — Continuum of Care - $3,784,294
Pasadena – Continuum of Care - $2,772,801