On May 12, California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, demanded that cities throughout the state adopt anti-camping ordinances that would effectively ban public homelessness by requiring unhoused individuals to relocate every 72 hours.
While presented as a humanitarian effort to reduce homelessness, the new policy victimizes California’s growing unhoused population—approximately 187,000 people—by tying funding in Proposition 1 to local laws banning sleeping or camping on public land.
In his announcement, Newsom pushed local governments to adopt the draconian ordinances “without delay.”
I have to wonder what the comparative rate is for CA vs other states. If I didn’t have a place and decided to just hop a rail to somewhere, that’d probably be a strong choice. Better weather than someplace like MN and less likely to get just tossed in jail or shot than one like FL/TX.
I couldn’t believe how many homeless people there are in MN. The environment is so harsh in winter, I’m sure some migrate south but many stay.