Newsom awards SoCal cities nearly $54.6M to clear encampments

Several Southern California cities and counties were among 18 that will receive $130.7 million from the state to remove homeless encampments with new “robust” accountability measures and expectations for local governments, state officials announced Friday.

A new program involving the state and local communities also aims to streamline encampment cleanups.

The Southern California municipalities to receive funding are the city of Los Angeles, Riverside County, San Bernardino County, Pasadena, Victorville and Redlands.

The state’s new accountability measures require cities that receive homeless funding to comply with all state housing and homelessness laws and stay true to their housing plans — or risk losing funding and face other enforcement actions.

“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,” Gov. Newsom said in a statement. “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.”

The grants announced Friday are part of the state’s $1 billion Encampment Resolution Funds, which help communities pay for efforts to remove “dangerous encampments and support people experiencing unsheltered homelessness,” according to Newsom’s office. The program has provided $737 million for 109 projects, aiding 20,888 state residents transition out of homelessness.

The $130.7 million awarded to the 18 municipalities is projected to assist 3,364 people currently living in encampments and permanently house 1,565.

“These grants will ensure local communities take a person-centered, trauma-informed approach as they help their most vulnerable residents transition to safe and stable housing,” Tomiquia Moss, the state’s Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency secretary, said in a statement. “The Encampment Resolution Fund grants are infusing critical resources in communities up and down California so that unhoused Californians can access the essential housing and supportive services they need to achieve long-term stability.”

According to the state Housing and Community Development Department, the funding will pay for permanent housing, interim housing for people “seeking coordinated entry system resources” or housing vouchers, “housing navigation services and rapid rehousing subsidies,” accessing permanent housing by providing security deposits and moving expenses and allowing recipients to acquire property for housing the unhoused. 

A condition of the funding is recipients must agree to increased accountability and compliance measures, officials said. The new measures build on the current rules that all grantees adhere to state and federal laws, rules and regulations related to construction, health and safety, labor, fair employment practices, environmental protection, equal opportunity, fair housing, and all other matters applicable and/or related to the ERF program.

The new accountability measures specifically require local governments to maintain a compliant housing element, which is a plan detailing a community’s housing needs, and also adhere to all planning, permitting, entitlement, fair housing and homelessness regulations.  

Cities and counties that do not comply with these measures may find the state revoking and clawing back grant funds, according to the governor’s office. Enforcement actions by the state’s Housing Accountability Unit were also a possibility.

Earlier this week state officials revoked Norwalk’s eligibility for homeless funding following the city’s ban of new homeless shelters and emergency housing facilities.

In July, Newsom’s executive order urged local governments to adopt policies and plans consistent with the California Department of Transportation’s encampment policy. 

“Prioritizing encampments that pose a threat to the life, health and safety of the community, Caltrans provides advance notice of clearance and works with local service providers to support those experiencing homelessness at the encampment, and stores personal property collected at the site for at least 60 days,” according to Newsom’s office.

Since July 2021, more than 12,000 encampments have been cleared in the state, and 267,611 cubic yards of debris was cleared from encampments along the state right of way in preparation for Clean California projects. 

To try to expedite cleanups and supportive-services efforts, Newsom’s office also announced Friday a new collaborative program aiming to streamline encampment removals by establishing agreements between the state and targeted local communities. The pacts will lift jurisdictional boundary restrictions, enabling local governments to remove encampments located on state property. Locals would receive reimbursement for cleanup operations. 

The California Interagency Council on Homelessness has produced webinars and provides resources to help local governments address encampments, state officials said. 

“Our team is energized by this opportunity to help bring people-centered, Housing First solutions to Californians who are unsheltered throughout the state,” Gustavo Velasquez, director of the California Department of Housing and Community Development, said in a statement. “Combined with the investments in permanent supportive housing made possible by voter approval of Proposition 1, the state has unprecedented momentum to make monumental progress on a crisis of homelessness that has been growing for decades.”

The state housing department has administered the ERF grant program since the start of the 2024-25 fiscal year.

These are the ERF recipients:

• Antioch – $6,812,686
• Berkeley – $5,395,637
• Carlsbad – $2,994,225
• Los Angeles – $11,351,281
• Palm Springs – $5,106,731
• City of Petaluma – $8,098,978
• Redlands – $5,341,800
• Richmond – $9,336,746
• Sacramento -18,199,661
• San Jose – $4,821,083
• Victorville – $6,365,070
• Visalia – $3,000,000
• Contra Costa – $5,708,516
• Riverside County – $12,612,779
• San Bernardino County – $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

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