Governor Vetoes Bill Requiring California's Most Populated Areas To Provide Safe Parking Lots For Homeless

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill on Saturday that would require California's biggest cities and counties to provide safe parking lots for those who live in their cars.

Assembly Bill 891 would have required those areas, including Sacramento, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Solano, and Placer counties, to each spend at least $55,000 a year to provide the lots.

In his veto message, Governor Newsom wrote:

"Some jurisdictions have already taken it upon themselves to establish safe parking programs as appropriate to meet their local needs, and I encourage every city and county- large and small- to implement solutions necessary to fulfill their obligation to do more to address the urgent crisis of homelessness. Safe parking facilities may be right for communities. We should leave these decisions up to local government to make right-size decisions to address this crisis. To address the State's homelessness crisis, the state has stepped up, providing a historic $1 billion investment this year alone. California is also implementing new tools to make it easier for local governments to build emergency shelters and supportive housing. Local agencies are, and should continue to be, partners in providing shelter, housing, and supportive services required to end homelessness consistent with the needs of their communities."

READ: Sacramento Considers City-Sanctioned Homeless Parking Lots

The original draft of the bill required all 58 counties in California to participate. The amended version only required cities and counties with a population higher than 330,000.

According to the US Census Bureau, there are 22 counties that would have met that threshold:

1. Los Angeles: 10,105,722
2. San Diego: 3,283,665
3. Orange: 3,155,816
4. Riverside: 2,355,002
5. San Bernardino: 2,121,220
6. Santa Clara: 1,911,226
7. Alameda: 1,629,615
8. Sacramento: 1,495,400
9.  Contra Costa: 1,123,678
10. Fresno: 971,616
11. Kern: 878,744
12. San Francisco: 864,263
13. Ventura: 847,834
14. San Mateo: 763,450
15. San Joaquin: 724,153
16. Stanislaus: 535,684
17. Sonoma: 500,943
18. Tulare: 458,809
19. Santa Barbara: 442,996
20. Solano: 434,981
21. Monterey: 433,168
22. Placer: 374,985

According to the US Census Bureau data from 2015 there are 11 cities in California with a population of more than 330,000 and would have been required to establish a safe parking program:

1. Los Angeles
2. San Diego
3. San Jose
4. San Francisco
5. Fresno
6. Sacramento
7. Long Beach
8. Oakland
9. Bakersfield
10. Anaheim
11. Santa Ana

Several cities in the state already have similar programs, including Los Angeles, Oakland, Santa Barbara, San Diego, and San Jose.

In:
• Homelessness