In a press release Thursday, Stockton Mayor Kevin Lincoln said the city will start clearing homeless encampments in public spaces.
The announcement comes after Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order earlier in the day calling on state officials to start taking down homeless encampments in California. This is Newsom’s first action regarding homelessness in California after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last month allowed cities to enforce bans on homeless people sleeping outside in public spaces.
In the press release, Lincoln highlighted the danger of homeless encampments in public spaces stating that they “pose significant risks to both the individuals living in them and the broader community.”
Lincoln also emphasized the importance of providing support and assistance to those in need.
He highlighted some of the ways Stockton has provided aid to the city’s homeless residents in the past four years, including building 10 emergency shelter projects, nine permanent supportive housing projects, four affordable housing projects, and launched innovative behavioral health crisis intervention programs.
While ensuring that the city will continue to do this good work, Lincoln says that Stockton will be moving forward with initiatives to “Take Back Our Parks” and ensure the community can enjoy public spaces safely.
“The City of Stockton has begun taking action and will continue our difficult but important work of clearing unsafe encampments from our streets,” Lincoln said in the press release.
While this is the first action the city of Stockton has taken after the Supreme Court’s ruling, it is not the first discussion the city has had on the topic in recent weeks.
On June 28, the Supreme Court struck down a lower court’s ruling that found that cities enacting and enforcing punitive measures, such as issuing fines or making arrests, against homeless individuals camping overnight on city land, even when no adequate shelter was available, were in violation of the “cruel and unusual punishments” clause of the Eighth Amendment.
Stockton City Council discussed earlier this month what implications this new judicial precedent might mean for the city.
During the meeting, District 2 Councilmember Dan Wright encouraged the Council to act quickly.
“If we wait too long, we will be reacting,” Wright said. “We’ve done a lot for our homeless community, and we will continue to do it. Don’t say that Stockton isn’t doing anything for the homeless — we’re doing a ton.”
District 3 Councilmember Michael Blower agreed.
“This is an issue we can’t wait to react to. We need to get it right and think it out,” Blower said. “We’ve done a lot to help our unhoused population. With this (Supreme Court) decision, it really opens up some options.”
Vice Mayor Kimberly Warmsley focused on a different issue, highlighting the need to support the nonprofits who have the capacity to house the homeless people being removed from public places.
“It’s critical – vital – in these sessions that unhoused members are attending,” Warmsley said. “We need to ensure we are moving in a robust and quick way.”
Councilmember Michelle Padilla, who represents District 1 and heads the council’s Ad Hoc Homelessness Committee, offered no public comment.
Though the Ad Hoc Homelessness Committee was created specifically to address this issue, it has not been very active, only meeting three times in the last 18 months. It’s unclear if and/or how the committee will address what the Supreme Court decided or its implications for Stockton.
Mayor Lincoln’s press release is the most recent development in both Stockton and California’s reaction to the Supreme Court’s significant ruling, which will likely impact policy surrounding homeless encampments for the foreseeable future.
The City of Stockton will hold a public study session, which will be open to community input, on Aug. 27 from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. to discuss the enforcement of the camping ordinances.
Naomi Jordan is serving a summer internship with Stocktonia. She attends Arizona State University.
I always wonder why it takes a supreme court decision. We have laws such as no camping in public places, no loitering, no littering, theft of shopping carts…use those laws, enforce them. Our public servants are sh!t employees. Fire them and get new ones that will do the hard work of the people who put them in office and pay them.