With television cameras rolling and traffic on a busy San Fernando Valley freeway humming in the background, Gov. Gavin Newsom threatened on Thursday to take away state funding from counties that don’t show improvement on homelessness.

“If we don’t see demonstrable results, I’ll start to redirect money,” Newsom said.

“This is a sincerely held belief that we need local government to step up. This is a crisis. Act like it.”

Unbridled frustration from the Democratic governor over the lack of progress on his top issue — homelessness — isn’t new, nor is warning about stripping money from reluctant counties. As he nears the halfway point of his second and final term in office, Newsom is using his soapbox as governor to increase public pressure and lay blame on local leaders for California’s most glaring humanitarian crisis.

Los Angeles County, in particular, has become a frequent target of Newsom’s ire. The governor again criticized the county on Thursday for delaying implementation of a law that expands the criteria for people to be detained against their will.

His trip to Pacoima came after his call to remove homeless encampments also appeared to fall on mostly deaf ears last month in Los Angeles, where elected officials criticized the order, or said it changed nothing in their policy approach. The governor’s executive order requires his administration to remove encampments on state property and urged cities and counties to do the same.

Mayor Karen Bass said “strategies that just move people along from one neighborhood to the next or give citations instead of housing do not work.” Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsay Horvath said the county is already doing “urgent and humane encampment resolution.”

Two weeks later, Newsom arrived in a T-shirt, aviator sunglasses and a baseball cap with a California Department of Transportation crew to clean up encampments near an entrance to the 5 Freeway in Pacoima. The governor said he signed the executive order with “intention.”

“Folks may choose not to do anything differently,” Newsom said Thursday. “That’s a decision that could be made. Here’s what I get to decide. … If that’s the result, I’m going to redirect the money. It’s not complicated and I’m going to send it to people that actually want to get the job done.”

The governor and experts agree that the homelessness crisis is decades in the making, but opinions differ over whether Newsom’s more conservative policy approach and finger-pointing will help fix the issue. A dearth of affordable housing, low wages and the high cost of living are at the crux of a problem that has been exacerbated by mental health challenges and drug abuse.

“If this is not the most important issue, you’re not paying attention,” the governor said of homelessness.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

Advertisement

The Newsom administration has spent more than $24 billion to clean up encampments, move Californians off the streets and sidewalks, and convert hotels and motels into temporary shelters, among dozens of other homelessness initiatives. The state has increased spending flexibility for local governments and given cities and counties more authority to force Californians into treatment under programs such as CARE Court and the expansion of conservatorships.

Proposition 1, Newsom’s ballot measure that voters narrowly approved in March, is expected to deliver more than $6 billion for 10,000 treatment and housing beds and expand care for drug addiction.

But Newsom’s policy approach to encampments and forced care have become points of contention between the governor and advocates for the unhoused, aligning him more with conservatives than progressives in his own party. The governor argues that he’s done his job and given cities and counties more funding, tools and authority to address the problem as they requested.

“There’s no more excuses,” Newsom said. “You’ve got the money. You’ve got the flexibility. You’ve got the green light. You’ve got the support from the state and the public is demanding it of you, and if this is not the most important issue, you’re not paying attention. This is the biggest scar on the reputation of the state of California.”

Los Angeles County released a statement defending its response to the homelessness crisis, describing it as a massive and complex undertaking:

“New bed capacity needs to be built to accommodate a population of patients who will require locked facilities when held for treatment involuntarily. Without first taking those steps, the work of moving people off the streets for their own health and safety would fail. This does not mean L.A. County is standing still. Our Pathway Home encampment resolution program already has moved hundreds of people inside as we have also extensively supported the City of L.A.’s Inside Safe program that has sheltered thousands of others.”

In June, Newsom praised a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that allowed Grants Pass, Ore. to enforce a law that banned camping in public places despite the city not having enough shelter to offer the people living in encampments.

Academics and homeless advocates cast Newsom’s encampment order, which followed the ruling, as a reaction to political pressure that could make the problem worse instead of offering a solution to help California’s most vulnerable residents.

“People can’t disappear themselves,” said Margot Kushel, a professor of medicine and the director of the Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative at UC San Francisco. “There is no easy way out of this. I have deep compassion for everybody’s frustration. I’m frustrated. I want this problem to be over. I understand this is unacceptable, but I think when you’re in a hole, you need to stop digging.”

Kushel and others described California’s fundamental problem as the shortage of affordable housing. The Newsom administration has spent a lot of funding on the problem of homelessness, Kushel said, but the state still isn’t building enough housing as the need continues to grow.

A state audit also found that California has failed to monitor the effectiveness of its costly homelessness programs, which raised questions about whether Newsom’s efforts are worth the price tag as the state grapples with a budget deficit. The governor has pushed for more accountability around how local governments use state dollars.

The state budget enacted in July broadens the responsibilities of a state Housing Accountability Unit to include oversight of state homelessness grants to cities and counties and adds more staff positions for the work. A separate bill, Assembly Bill 3093, seeks to require local governments to plan to build housing for all income levels, including homeless populations.

San José Mayor Matt Mahan applauded Newsom for focusing on improving accountability.

State transportation crews take part in the cleanup.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

Advertisement

Mahan said the development of more affordable housing is critically important, but it takes too long and costs too much to immediately address the problem. San José has focused on using state and federal funding to offer interim and transitional housing communities to provide “a ladder off the streets.”

Last month, Newsom informed San Diego County of the state’s intent to reclaim a $10-million grant to build 150 tiny units for lack of action and redirect the funds to San José.

Mahan said he backs the idea of a statewide framework with set targets and specific goals for local governments to build shelter and treatment for its homeless residents.

“I think it will get us out of the fantasy land of thinking that we can prioritize solutions that will work if we just happen to have another $100 billion,” Mahan said.

Times staff writer Rebecca Ellis contributed to this report.

The 2024 presidential race is a “complete contrast campaign” pitting former President Trump’s record against Vice President Kamala Harris’, senior Trump campaign officials said Thursday, while stressing that the new Democrat ticket is “dangerously liberal,” but that “the fundamentals of the race are the same.” 

“Democrats say, ‘We can’t go back,’ but many Americans like the idea of no inflation, affordable food and gas, and low mortgage rates,” a Trump campaign official said. “Hire Trump, Fire Kamala.” 

TRUMP SAYS BIDEN HAD THE ‘RIGHT TO RUN,’ BUT DEM PARTY ‘TOOK IT AWAY’

The campaign official said Trump is the “change” and Harris is the “status quo.” 

The Trump campaign said Harris is going to make an effort to separate herself from Biden. 

“We’re in a suspended reality for a few weeks,” an official said. “It is like Harris has never met Joe Biden and like she has no responsibility for what happened in the administration. But that is not what the voters think.” 

The official added: “But nothing has changed. The fundamentals of the race are the same.” 

The campaign also blasted Harris’ pick of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, saying he “reinforces the narrative that Harris is a dangerous liberal.” 

“When they start talking about ‘equal outcomes,’ they are essentially talking about communism,” a campaign official said. 

Meanwhile, as the campaign turns into the general election cycle, former President Trump is focused on continuing his efforts to persuade new voters in battleground states—specifically by delivering messages that present the contrasting records and policy stances between Trump and Harris. 

TRUMP STAGES MAR-A-LAGO PRESS CONFERENCE IN ‘STARK CONTRAST’ WITH HARRIS AS SHE AVOIDS MEDIA

Trump campaign officials said they are focused on advertising, direct mail, texting and calling new and traditional Republican voters and more. 

The Trump campaign said that it has made more than 150 million direct voter contacts with prospective voters so far and has mobilized through its “Trump Force 47” effort. 

Fox News Digital first broke the campaign’s “Trump Force 47” grassroots effort to recruit new voters. 

The program, which the campaign says is focused on mobilizing “highly targeted voters in critical precincts across the battleground states and districts,” has already engaged tens of thousands of volunteers. 

TRUMP CAMPAIGN TOUTS ‘TRUMP FORCE 47’ GRASSROOTS RECRUITMENT EFFORT 100 DAYS OUT FROM ELECTION DAY

“Trump Force 47 is highly effective, because it takes traditional voter contact tactics a step further by equipping voters with the skills to persuade their neighbors to vote for President Trump,” Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Digital last month. 

The campaign told Fox News Digital that “Trump Force 47” builds on its early-state primary strategy of organizing volunteers at the precinct level, where each volunteer works to attract several specifically targeted voters. 

Former President Trump said he is ready to debate Vice President Kamala Harris.  (Photographer: Dustin Chambers/Bloomberg via Getty Images | Photographer: Hannah Beier/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The “Trump Force 47” website says it is “the official army of volunteer neighborhood organizers working together to defeat Kamala Harris and the far-left liberal democrats.” 

Potential volunteers can sign up to target voter outreach in their own neighborhoods, call targeted voters, sign up for poll watching, be a “Trump Captain; host a “Trump House Party,” or deliver yard signs to neighbors. 

The Trump campaign said that economic concerns and the border are the issues that drive voters. 

“They are far more sour on the economy,” an official said. “They are more pessimistic about their overall personal finances.” 

As for campaign cash, a senior campaign official said the former president has $327 million cash-on-hand. 

“We never thought we’d have more than Democrats, but we have enough to do what we need to do,” a campaign official said, adding that they “imagine the Harris honeymoon ends soon.”  

Former President Trump said that he and Willie Brown almost crashed in a helicopter and that the former San Francisco mayor told him “terrible things” about Trump’s Democratic opponent, Kamala Harris.

False and false, Brown says.

Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, conducted a meandering 65-minute news conference at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday where he insulted Harris, reasserted false and misleading claims and talked about the U.S. in apocalyptic terms.

He also related the tale of being in a helicopter and facing danger with Brown.

“Well, I know Willie Brown very well. In fact, I went down in a helicopter with him. We thought, maybe this is the end,” Trump said.

“We were in a helicopter going to a certain location together, and there was an emergency landing,” he said. “This was not a pleasant landing, and Willie, he was — he was a little concerned. So I know him pretty well. I mean, I haven’t seen him in years. But he told me terrible things about [Kamala Harris].”

Brown says Trump’s claims are untrue.

“I’ve never done business with Donald Trump, let’s start with that,” Brown told Bay Area TV station KRON. “And secondly, I don’t think I’d want to ride on the same helicopter with him.”

He also denied demeaning Harris to Trump.

“It’s just as accurate as all of the other components of what you’re asking me about,” Brown told the San Francisco Chronicle. “No, not accurate at all.”

Brown told KRON he “could not envision thinking of Kamala Harris in any negative way. She’s a good friend a long time ago, absolutely beautiful woman, smart as all hell, very successful, electorally speaking.”

Brown dated Harris in the 1990s at the beginning of her career in San Francisco. The connection drew backlash against Harris from critics who said she gained politically from the relationship.

Brown did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment Thursday evening.