FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 25, 2024
Contact:
Tina Pinedo, DREDF Communications Director, media@dredf.org
BERKELEY, CA — Governor Gavin Newsom, emboldened by the Supreme Court’s decision in City of Grants Pass Oregon v. Johnson, has issued an executive order to clear homeless encampments across California.
The order, issued on July 25, 2024, claims that lawsuits and injunctions have hindered state and local agencies from taking action in the past. It states now that there is no longer any barrier to “utilizing the substantial resources provided by the State, in tandem with federal and local resources, to address encampments with both urgency and humanity, or excuse for not doing so.”
These claims and assertions could not be more untrue.
The Grants Pass case focused on a very narrow issue: whether municipalities can fine and jail people for sleeping in public places when they have nowhere else to go, without violating the 8th Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. The case did not address the broader authority of municipalities to clear or reasonably regulate encampments. Those “tools” have always been in the toolbox of state and local agencies.
“This executive order is shameful and misleading,” said Michelle Uzeta, Deputy Legal Director at Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF). “Before the Supreme Court’s decision in Grants Pass, municipalities could reasonably address encampments, they were only prohibited from punishing unhoused people with fines and incarceration for sleeping in public when there was no alternative shelter available. Now, the government can conduct raids without restrictions. Governor Newsom’s order confirms that California’s primary response to homelessness moving forward will be an inhumane and carceral one.”
The order will have a particularly devastating impact on disabled people. As explained in a friend-of-the-court brief filed in April 2024 by DREDF and the international law firm O’Melveny & Myers, people with disabilities are more likely to be homeless due to rising housing costs, inaccessible housing, deep-rooted stigmas, and widespread discrimination. In California, 42% of the unhoused population has a disability, and most housing complaints in the state (56.2%) are based, at least in part, on disability. Yet, the executive order does not mention or address the unique needs of disabled people at all.
“When there is no affordable, accessible housing available, and disability discrimination goes largely unchecked, our community suffers,” said Uzeta. “California must do better.”
###
About Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund: Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF) is a leading national civil rights law and policy center directed by individuals with disabilities and parents who have children with disabilities. Founded in 1979, DREDF works to advance the civil and human rights of people with disabilities through legal advocacy, training, education, and public policy and legislative development. Learn more at dredf.org.