Bay Area leaders, homeless advocates react to Newsom order to clear encampments
After Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order for state agencies to clear encampments on state land, communities across the Bay Area are scrambling to figure out what the order means for them.
The order lays out guidelines for outreach services, including giving people two days' notice before encampments are cleared and collecting, labeling and storing property for at least 60 days.
Newsom's order also recommends -- but does not require -- that cities and counties take the same action.
"I don't have a problem with moving people from encampments if they have a place that is provided for them to go," said Sandy Perry with the Affordable Housing Network of Santa Clara. "But the cities have not enough shelters, not enough housing."
The executive order to remove encampments across California has made headlines across the country. Though it is still not at all clear what, exactly, the order means for encampments that are not on state property.
"He's authorizing various state agencies to dismantle encampments," Perry told CBS News Bay Area. "He's encouraging them to follow the model of Caltrans, which does dismantle encampments."
"Our goal is to begin, this early August, and to move as quickly as we can to clear encampments," San Francisco Mayor London Breed said Thursday.
When asked about the subject, Breed described her own efforts in San Francisco. She did not address the governor's order but those familiar with the city's response say the only difference it might make would be situations involving state property.
The city is now finalizing its own new policies based on recent court decisions.
"When we go to various encampments, we at least have enough shelter options for the people that we are offering shelter to," she added.
