Quick Take
Gov. Gavin Newsom wants local jurisdictions to "take back the sidewalks" from homeless encampments; leaders in Santa Cruz County have largely pushed back against what they say is mostly talk from the state's top political leader.
Frustration has been the most common reaction among Santa Cruz County elected leaders following the California governor’s push last week to further impel local governments to do more about homelessness and encampments.
Gov. Gavin Newsom published what he referred to as a “model ordinance” around addressing homeless encampments that he wants to see cities and counties throughout the state tailor and adopt. In board strokes, the framework criminalizes sleeping and camping in public spaces such as sidewalks and parks, but mandates that local governments cannot penalize an encampment occupant unless the jurisdiction can offer an alternative place for them to go. The ordinance also lays out which belongings can be thrown away during an encampment sweep, and which must be stored for their owner to later retrieve.
During a news conference last week, Newsom questioned whether communities should be continuing to elect local leaders who are unable to make progress on homelessness.
“It’s time to take back the streets, time to take back the sidewalks, it’s time to take these encampments and provide alternatives,” Newsom said. “It’s time to end the excuses and call the question of accountability.”
Santa Cruz County Supervisor Manu Koenig (District 1) said Newsom’s latest push for greater accountability on homelessness “is not unwelcome” but said the county and local governments throughout the state are about to be hit with “a suite of challenges,” particularly around homelessness.
“In general, it seems like the state is doing so much to push the problem on local jurisdictions,” Koenig said.
On Tuesday, Santa Cruz County staffers told the board of supervisors that the newly revised state budget proposed, among other things, to cut millions of dollars in funding for homeless housing assistance, while the federal government was preparing to slash an important rental assistance program by half. This is all happening as the county is already facing proposed layoffs, the closure of multiple public health clinics and the elimination of local funding for social programs focused on mentally ill adults and formerly incarcerated women reentering society.
Among the local elected officials in Santa Cruz County whom Lookout spoke with, only Scotts Valley Mayor Derek Timm confirmed that the city’s attorney was “looking at options” for adopting Newsom’s ordinance into city policy. The mayor said it could help protect the city from lawsuits if it makes the governor’s best practices into policy.
Timm emphasized that Scotts Valley does not have a major homelessness issue to the degree of places like the cities of Santa Cruz and Watsonville. Still, he called it “frustrating” when the state sends down unfunded mandates.
“It feels like a game of hot potato, it’s just an issue that gets passed around and that’s a local frustration,” Timm said.
In the city of Santa Cruz, Mayor Fred Keeley showed a small smirk when asked about the governor’s push for cities and counties to do more in combatting homelessness and encampments, and echoed a sentiment felt by many throughout California.
“The governor is running for president,” Keeley said. “The governor is no longer doing things to be governor of California, he’s doing things to be president of the United States. That governor has lost any serious interest in homelessness.”
Keeley pointed to the revised budget released by the governor last week, which showed immediate and long-term reductions to homelessness funding. Keeley said he was not interested in trying to fit Newsom’s ordinance into the city’s encampments code.
“Why would we?” Keeley said. “As soon as we stop outperforming virtually every other city in reducing street homelessness, then I will pay attention to what the governor thinks is a good idea.”
The city of Santa Cruz has seen its homeless population decline significantly in the past two years, according to the annual point-in-time count. From 2022 to 2023, the city saw a reduction of 29%, followed by an additional reduction of 36% in 2023 and 2024.
Watsonville has been on the other side of that trend, seeing big jumps in its homeless population: a 15% growth between 2022 and 2023, and then 60% between 2023 and 2024. City Councilmember Eduardo Montesino told Lookout that the city has been taking encampments more seriously in recent years, focusing its efforts on clearing out areas along the Pajaro River levee, Airport Boulevard and the sloughs. However, he said the city has been pressed for resources to offer its homeless population, and has increasingly relied on the county or community organizations.
Montesino said he had not read Newsom’s proposal, but that the city council has been considering a policy direction on how to address homeless encampments.
“I don’t know if we’ll go as far as an ordinance, but the community has made it clear that they don’t want to see encampments,” Montesino said. “It’s hard to punish or remove people when there are so few services to offer them.”
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