Caltrans has removed 1,213 tons of trash — enough to fill 22 Olympic-size swimming pools — while clearing hundreds of homeless encampments in the past year, an achievement hailed this week by Gov. Gavin Newsom despite ongoing criticism of the highway program.
In total, Caltrans has cleared 1,262 homeless camps since September 2021, averaging 100 camps cleared a month, according to the governor’s media office. Newsom personally took part Thursday in an event to “highlight the successful state efforts,” joining cleanup efforts at an encampment along Interstate 10 in Los Angeles.
“Leaving people on the streets and our highways is dangerous and inhumane. It’s unacceptable,” Newsom was quoted in a Friday news release. “California is investing billions of dollars to house thousands of people and clean up our communities and streets. Our efforts are a model for the nation, and more importantly, we’re getting people off the streets and into the housing and services they deserve.”
Among the encampment closures spotlighted by the governor:
Bay Area– In May, Caltrans closed an encampment along State Route 77 near the High Street offramp in Oakland, collecting 1,600 cubic yards of trash, the most of any single encampment in the state. Throughout the nine Bay Area counties, Caltrans closed 283 encampments and collected more than 14,668 cubic yards of trash.
Los Angeles – In April, Caltrans closed an encampment along Interstate 105 near the Central Avenue offramp, collecting 1,250 cubic yards of trash, the most of any single encampment in Southern California. Caltrans closed 321 encampments and collected more than 33,546 cubic yards of trash throughout Los Angeles and Ventura counties.
San Diego – Caltrans closed 281 encampments and collected more than 2,678 cubic yards of trash throughout San Diego and Imperial counties.
Central Coast– Caltrans closed 161 encampments and collected more than 6,672 cubic yards of trash throughout Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, San Benito and Santa Cruz counties. In one encampment that was closed along Highway 1 near the Ocean Street on-ramp in Santa Cruz, Caltrans collected more than 1,000 cubic yards of trash.
Sacramento and the Central Valley – Caltrans closed 121 encampments and collected more than 11,192 cubic yards of trash throughout the Central Valley between Butte County in the north and Kern County to the south. This includes 40 encampments in Sacramento County in which the department collected a total of more than 3,078 cubic yards of trash.
North Coast – Caltrans closed 56 encampments and collected more than 1,176 cubic yards of trash throughout Del Norte, Humboldt, Mendocino and Lake counties.
Orange County – Caltrans closed 22 encampments and collected more than 1,721 cubic yards of trash.
After calling the homeless crisis in California “unacceptable,” Newsom proposed $2 billion in funding for programs to get unhoused people off the street — on top of the $12 billion his administration put up for the state’s 2021-2022 budget.
But efforts throughout his term as governor have been panned by the left and right.
Homeless advocates have at times sued the state to block or delay Caltrans sweeps, arguing vulnerable people can lose their possessions and simply be shuffled to other camps.
In 2018, under the administration of Gov. Jerry Brown, a Caltrans crew killed a woman by crushing her with the bucket of a frontloader while clearing a Modesto encampment.
Caltrans admitted responsibility, but paid no damages in the woman’s death.
Newsom was sworn in as governor in 2019 and he called homelessness “the most pernicious crisis in our midst” at his 2020 State of the State address.
Despite his efforts, the number of unhoused people swelled during the COVID-19 pandemic and homelessness was one of the issues cited during an unsuccessful recall campaign and vote last year. Recall proponents hammered him on the issue, arguing the spending he oversaw had not made a difference in the crisis.
In July, a federal judge extended a restraining order, prohibiting Caltrans from clearing the Wood Street encampment in Oakland. But recently, the order was lifted and that ruling and other steps also were celebrated by the governor.
In a joint statement Friday with Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, the governor’s office said that with the federal court’s green light, Caltrans will “hopefully” be able to clean up the “most dangerous portion of the Wood Street encampment in its efforts to ensure the safety of those living at the encampment and the surrounding community.”
“The City of Oakland will support Caltrans by providing housing outreach and offer available shelter beds to those living at the encampment and we look forward to our continued collaboration,” the governor and mayor said.
California has provided housing or shelter to more than 67,000 people since the beginning of the pandemic and 55,000 more housing units are to come, according to the governor’s office.
“When Governor Newsom took office, California lacked money, coordination and accountability in tackling the state’s homelessness crisis,” Friday’s release stated. “Now, three years later, the state has become a national leader, investing $14.7 billion towards homelessness with a coordinated statewide approach focusing on encampment resolution and housing through the Homekey program.”
