Governor Newsom releases state model for cities and counties to immediately address encampments with urgency and dignity

Giving locals the tools they need

Governor Newsom has been a fierce advocate for people experiencing homelessness, creating new resources to support local governments to help provide support and care. The Newsom administration has provided local communities with more than $27 billion to address homelessness, created stronger accountability laws and tools to ensure that every community is doing its part.

Today, Governor Newsom is continuing the state’s support by sharing with local communities a model ordinance to help local governments set appropriate rules around encampments and establish effective enforcement procedures that prioritize notice, shelter, and services.  Encampments pose a serious public safety risk, and expose the people in encampments to increased risk of sexual violence, criminal activity, property damage and break-ins, and unsanitary conditions. 

Clear formal guidelines for clearing encampments 

The state’s model ordinance will be provided to every community as a starting point so jurisdictions can create their own policies.  It draws from the state’s proven and workable approach — an approach that, since July 2021, has cleared more than 16,000 encampments and over 311,873 cubic yards of waste and debris from sites along the state right of way. These results demonstrate that the policy is effective and scalable, offering a sound, adoptable framework for jurisdictions to resolve encampments with urgency and dignity.

The ordinance contains key provisions, which may be modified based on local need, including:

• A prohibition on persistent camping in one location
• A prohibition on encampments that block free passage on sidewalks
• A requirement that local officials provide notice and make every reasonable effort to identify and offer shelter prior to clearing an encampment

The ordinance helps ensure that local communities take a balanced approach to address and prevent encampments with compassion and care. 

The ordinance reflects the guidance for local governments created following the Governor’s Executive Order, requiring at least 48 hours’ notice, outreach to local service providers, and proper storage of items when addressing encampments.

Learn about your community’s progress

Visit accountability.ca.gov, which brings together thousands of locally reported data points to provide an accurate picture of local communities’ work to address homelessness, create housing, and create behavioral health supports.  The new accountability tool helps Californians quickly and clearly assess the progress being made by their local governments on these pressing issues and learn more about the process and funding provided to communities by the state.

Reversing decades of inaction 

The Newsom Administration is making significant progress in reversing decades of inaction on homelessness. Between 2014 and 2019, unsheltered homelessness in California increased by approximately 37,000 people, more than double the increase seen during the Newsom Administration.

As states throughout the nation continue to see ever-higher increases in homeless populations, California has dramatically slowed the growth in homelessness and reduced the number of veterans and youth experiencing homelessness — more than any other state.

Homelessness continues to increase nationwide, increasing in 2024 by more than 18%, but California is bucking the national trend by holding the statewide increase to 3%. This is a lower rate than in 40 other states.

California is also one of the few states that have dramatically blunted the increases in unsheltered homelessness, holding it to 0.45%. By comparison, in 2024, nationwide unsheltered homelessness grew by nearly 7%. Unsheltered homelessness growth in other large population states like Illinois, Florida, New York, and Texas surpassed California’s percentage and number. California experienced the largest decrease in veteran homelessness in the nation last year.