How Newsom's executive order on homeless encampments impacts Santa Monica

SANTA MONICA, Calif. - Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a new executive order urging cities and counties to clear homeless encampments in California. The directive, unveiled Monday, follows a Supreme Court ruling allowing governments to remove homeless camps from state property.

Newsom has instructed state agencies to develop plans for these clearances as part of a broader strategy to address homelessness in California.

FOX 11 sat down for an interview with Santa Monica Mayor Phil Brock, who shared his initial reaction to the executive order. 

"My initial reaction was to contact our city attorney and see what the result is. The reaction right now is it doesn’t do anything in Santa Monica except help clear the I-10. The Santa Monica freeway embankments have homeless people on them. We have to press Caltrans sometimes for two weeks, three weeks, or a month to clear those areas. That’s also where we get arson fires. This ruling, as I understand it so far, doesn’t affect the streets. It doesn’t affect Santa Monica beaches. It doesn’t affect downtown. It only affects State of California property. So in Santa Monica, those are the Santa Monica freeway embankments," said Brock.

Brock noted that while the Supreme Court ruling didn’t require the governor’s endorsement, but the executive order provides additional motivation to act. "We have to deal with people on our streets. And quite frankly, we’re compassionate and humane in Santa Monica. But we also have to be compassionate toward our residents, toward our businesses. And it’s not compassionate to let people die on Santa Monica streets."

When asked about the mechanics of the order, Brock clarified, "The state is responsible for state lands. And what the governor said is they will develop a policy for the state to follow, to clear lands and use the Highway Patrol, use Caltrans, and hopefully use homeless services as well. In Santa Monica, we are looking at the Supreme Court ruling, and it will come on our agenda on August 27th."

Brock emphasized the need for local enforcement while acknowledging the broader challenge. 

"My position is we need to go to the maximum of the law. That doesn’t mean we need to enforce it, but we have to provide our police, our public safety personnel, the opportunity to enforce it, to make sure that we are able to clear people from our streets and our beaches. On Sunday, we had a lady who has been on our beach—south end of the beach. Police had contacted her four times, and she refused housing. We said we have a place right now. They will drive her to Samuel Shell, which is one of our homeless shelters. She refused. ‘I want to stay on the beach.’ Well, at that point, that may be a person who needs to be cited. If she has a tent, legally in Santa Monica, we can remove her tent. And we may have to try and force her into a different living situation. We can’t have our streets and our beaches just taken over every day."

Brock also addressed the challenges of managing homelessness. "I would say we reached our limit several years ago. And yes, it’s hurt the promenade. It’s hurt resident confidence in walking our streets and feeling safe in a beautiful place. So we have to make changes. And the Supreme Court decision will help us. But frankly, I’ve got Metro, who drops off the end of the line 45 to 60 homeless people every night with no place to go between midnight and 2 a.m. That’s abominable. I can’t support that."

He concluded, "This could be just a whack-a-mole, right? So if you take them off of the promenade, maybe then they go to L.A. or Culver City or some other place, and then it’s just moving around. We’re not actually fixing the problem. We need a change. And that has to come from the federal government, the state government, and county aid. Cities cannot do this by themselves. Approximately 96% of our homeless people in Santa Monica are not from L.A. County. That goes for Venice and Santa Monica."