Gavin Newsom’s order to clear more homeless camps won’t affect Sacramento much. Here’s why

Gov. Gavin Newsom made headlines Thursday with an announcement ordering for more homeless camps to be cleared on state property. It likely won’t make a significant difference in Sacramento.

In Sacramento, the main state-owned land with camps is Caltrans land, mostly around the freeways. Caltrans for years has been clearing many homeless encampments on that land.

From July 2022 to July 2023, Caltrans removed 50 camps from its land in Sacramento, costing about $2 million, Caltrans spokesman Edward Barrera told The Sacramento Bee in an email last year. The agency spent $21 million in the same timeframe removing camps from its land statewide.

Thursday afternoon, Barrera stated “Caltrans will continue to follow state guidelines regarding encampment removals, and the Governor’s Executive Order will not affect Caltrans encampment removal operations.”

Mayor Darrell Steinberg said the directive, which follows the U.S. Supreme Court Grants Pass decision, will not significantly change the way the city handles homelessness. He pointed out a new homeless census found Sacramento has about 6,600 homeless people, but saw a 41% reduction in people living outdoors since 2022.

“It’s less about the executive order than Grant’s Pass,” Steinberg said during a news conference Thursday, praising Newsom’s record on addressing homelessness overall. “I don’t think it’s going to change what we do dramatically. Why should it? We had the biggest reduction in unsheltered homelessness of any other major area of the state.”

Despite the decrease, there are thousands of homeless people in Sacramento who cannot get a shelter bed. There are roughly 2,500 people and an additional 820 families on the waitlist for one the city’s 1,300 shelter beds.

That means that when police and deputies clear camps, there is not always a shelter bed to offer. Sometimes they clear the camps anyway, and they’re increasingly writing criminal citations for camping.

Theresa Rivera, who uses a wheelchair, is facing a $233 fine for camping in March on a River District sidewalk, according to court records. She now camps a block away and was never offered a shelter bed, she said.

Similarly, Carol Dutcher was given a criminal citation for camping by Sheriff’s deputies and park rangers. She missed her court date and now likely has a warrant for her arrest.

Steinberg said while he supports “compassionate enforcement,” he does not support those types of citations.

“I don’t support making anybody pay hundreds of dollars who can’t afford it,” Steinberg said. “And I would be against jailing people for camping.”

Steinberg wants the city to open more shelters, and hopes to win a roughly $12 million state grant to add many more beds to its Roseville Road shelter. Without that grant, however, the city is facing a fiscal deficit and lacks funding to open shelters without cutting other areas of the budget. The county, which is not facing a budget deficit, has fewer shelter beds than the city, at about 870.

The city of Sacramento’s attorney’s office agreed with the mayor that there will be no significant changes for the city, city spokesman Tim Swanson said.

“The City of Sacramento has reviewed Gov. Newsom’s executive order and believes our current enforcement protocols are in alignment with his direction to local jurisdictions,” Swanson said. “The city will continue to offer a balanced and compassionate response to the homelessness crisis by providing intensive outreach to unsheltered individuals while also enforcing our laws and ordinances.”

Asked if the Newsom directive will affect how the county handles camps, Sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Amar Gandhi replied “While we applaud the Governor’s announcement, it does not change much on our end. Our Homeless Outreach Team will continue to contact individuals in these camps and offer them services while still enforcing the law.”

Sacramento regional parks spokesman Ken Casparis said his agency is still reviewing the announcement.

The announcement also requires state agencies to provide 48-hour notice when they are going to clear a camp. The city typically does that, but on July 16 for a camp downtown at 5th and F streets it did not. On the green sticker notices, on the space where it typically gives a future date where crews would be back to sweep, it says “immediately.” Dozens of people frantically moved their items out from under the shaded overpass in the 91-degree heat. Police towed six vehicles.

“There was no advance notice,” said Jonathan Nelson, who was evicted from his apartment during COVID and had been living at the camp. “I lost everything, including my fridge and phone.”

Sacramento large homeless nonprofit Loaves & Fishes criticized Newsom’s announcement.

“The instruction for localities to sweep encampments arms law enforcement with a much larger shield than ever before, and threatens the lives of our unhoused neighbors,” the nonprofit said in a statement. “Being unhoused is traumatic. Being swept is traumatic. Living in near constant fear that you will be moved, in the midst of record breaking and life threatening heat, is traumatic. Addressing the crisis of homelessness begins with more permanent supportive housing and services, not disbanding the life saving communities built in encampments.”