An in-depth look at CA’s encampment sweeps

Eight months ago the U.S. Supreme Court granted cities more authority to clear homeless encampments and arrest unhoused people for sleeping in public spaces. Since then, several cities across California have been ramping up efforts to sweep encampments, or pass more punitive anti-camping rules.

But for those who have little say in high-profile court cases and city council meetings, what is it like to have your dwelling and belongings uprooted and cleared away? 

In the first installment of a multi-part, multimedia series, CalMatters’ Marisa Kendall and KPBS’ Katie Anastas, spent four months interviewing experts, requesting data and visiting encampments to document enforcement efforts and follow the unhoused people displaced in the aftermath.

In San Francisco, at the edge of the city’s Tenderloin district, sweeps at one encampment occur regularly twice a week. Linda Vazquez, a 52-year-old California native, tries to avoid citation or arrest by moving around the corner, waiting until police leave and then returning. 

Vazquez doesn’t prefer shelters or transitional housing programs because they typically don’t allow dogs. She has three, and says she can’t leave them: “I’ve had them since they were the size of my hand.”

In Fresno, 39-year-old Leron Bell said California Highway Patrol officers make him move every few days. So far, he’s lost a tent, his ID, his birth certificate and a bicycle during these sweeps.

• Bell: “I hate having to start over. But, it’s like, I’m doing my best as I can being homeless.”

In some cases, cities try to offer shelter beds when enforcing camping bans. But there’s generally not enough beds to go around, even when, in San Francisco for example, only between 20% and 30% of people accept a bed when offered, according to the city. 

A CalMatters investigation published Tuesday found that when unhoused people do accept shelter, these facilities can be dangerous and ineffective at finding people housing.

Read more here.

Let’s get into some wildfire news:

• State Farm meeting: Following California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara’s rejection to allow “emergency” rate increases from State Farm due to the Los Angeles County wildfires, the two parties, along with a consumer advocacy group, met Wednesday in Oakland to revisit the request, writes CalMatters’ Levi Sumagaysay. The closed-door meeting lasted nearly an hour and a half. Afterward, Lara told reporters he would carefully consider the company’s request, look at more data and pledged to make a decision within two weeks. Read more here.

• Wildfire mitigation: This session, legislators introduced nearly two dozen bills related to mitigating wildfires, reports CalMatters’ Sameea Kamal. Mitigation measures, such as clearing vegetation or constructing buildings with fire-resistant materials, can reduce wildfire damage, experts say. But bills aimed at protecting homes from fire have failed in the past — either due to costs or a conflict with environmental rules. Read more here.

From CalMatters Capitol reporter Alexei Koseff:

Do Californians blame Gov. Gavin Newsom for the L.A. fires? That’s what the proponents of a new recall campaign — which formally launched Wednesday in front of a burned home in Altadena — are counting on. 

Led by Randy Economy, one of the organizers of the unsuccessful 2021 gubernatorial recall, the latest effort argues that Newsom did not sufficiently prepare for the deadly January fires. “California deserves leadership that doesn’t wait until it’s too late,” the actor and director Mel Gibson, who lost his Malibu mansion last month, said at the event.

Mishandling a crisis can sink a politician, a risk that Newsom has seemed profoundly aware of as he has sought to take ownership of the recovery. At a conference across town on Wednesday, where the governor was rolling out a statewide economic plan, Newsom touted rapid debris removal that he said is allowing some homeowners to already start rebuilding. “It’s mesmerizing what we can do when we have to do things differently,” he said. 

So far, Californians are responding to his approach; a new Public Policy Institute of California survey found that 52% of adults statewide now approve of the governor, up from 44% last fall.

In other Capitol news: A CalMatters analysis by Ryan Sabalow and Sameea found that an initiative from top Democratic legislative leaders to address the state’s affordability issue appears to be very much a work in progress.

After the November election, Republicans in the state Legislature flipped three Democrat-held seats. Voters were also frustrated with the rising cost of living and economy, according to most election experts.

So on the first day of the latest session, Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas of Salinas urged his colleagues to draft legislation with the issue in mind. Meanwhile, Assembly Republicans unveiled Wednesday their own bill package tackling affordability. Read more here.

Federal immigration enforcement agents in January conducted a nearly weekslong raid in Bakersfield, rounding up day laborers and field workers in one of the first large-scale operations in California after President Donald Trump’s victory for a second term. 

Now the United Farm Workers union and five Kern County residents, represented by the ACLU, are suing — arguing the operation unlawfully targeted “people of color … regardless of their actual immigration status.” Find out more from CalMatters’ Wendy Fry and Sergio Olmos.