Homeless encampments

When it comes to clearing homeless encampments, California cities are governed by a patchwork of very different policies.

Grants Pass police cleared homeless encampments Tuesday morning at Baker and Kesterson Parks, directing residents to leave public property.

The tentative agreement requires the city to ensure space for campers and fund some homeless services.

For several years, there’s been a large homeless encampment on a hill behind the Siskiyou Behavioral Health Services building in Yreka. Locals have debated what to do about it for just as long. That ended this week as authorities cleared the camp.

Siskiyou County is adding options, slowly, for homeless adults.

President Donald Trump wants cities to force treatment on people with severe mental illness or addiction who are living outside. An executive order signed late last week aims to remove “vagrant” individuals from streets across the country and place them in long-term institutional settings to “restore public order.”

Trump’s call to enforce bans on encampments echoes Newsom’s policy. But the president wants to upend two other core tenants of California’s homelessness response.

This year’s tally of homeless people showed declining numbers in Southwestern Oregon and far Northern California, but service providers aren’t convinced the problem is actually getting better.

In Los Angeles, Sacramento and San Diego, homeless Californians describe their experiences over the past year as camping ban enforcement has increased.

If approved, the deal would ban camping in seven more parks, some near schools and in residential neighborhoods.

Governor Gavin Newsom has been noticeably frustrated over homelessness recently, and a lot of that frustration is being directed at local governments.

In his latest push to crackdown on homeless encampments, Gov. Gavin Newsom urges cities to make certain camps illegal.