Abode’s Response to Gov. Newsom’s Executive Order on Encampments
At Abode, we are concerned that Governor Gavin Newsom’s executive order today regarding the removal of homeless encampments will fail to reach its goals and yield negative results for those who simply need a home.
We believe today’s announcement is a call to action for our state and local leaders to redouble our efforts to end homelessness.
Our stance on the issue of sweeping encampments is clear:
Homelessness is not a crime, it is a crisis – one that is a result of systemic failures that have produced fewer than 24 affordable units for every 100 people who need them.
In the Bay Area, some would have to earn as much as $78 per hour to afford a modest, two-bedroom apartment. (For low-wage workers, that would mean working up to five full-time minimum-wage jobs.)
We believe this nation’s laws should protect the most vulnerable people in our community – not threaten them.
Criminalizing homelessness is wrong. It is cruel, ineffective, and costly.
It worsens cycles of homelessness and makes it more difficult to find real solutions.
That is why we condemned the June 28 Supreme Court ruling on Grants Pass v. Johnson, which makes it easier for authorities to punish people for experiencing homelessness, even when there is no adequate shelter.
Instead of punishing those in need, we would like to use today’s announcement as an opportunity for a call to action. Newsom himself called on local governments to house people and provide services. It is our hope that state officials and local governments will do just that – find and fund sustainable housing solutions.
As a region, we long ago moved away from the tepid goal of merely “managing homelessness.” Instead, we must keep taking steps to actually end the problem.
We must urge leaders – nationally and locally – to accept the idea that just moving people around isn’t going to solve homelessness. Sweeping an encampment is no solution, if the individuals living there have nowhere to go.
The solution to homelessness is housing.
Today, we call on local leaders to continue to work on that real solution, so that someone experiencing homelessness today will soon have a dignified place to live.