California Governor Gavin Newsom lends a hand to clear a homeless encampment in Los Angeles

Newsom was photographed and videoed working alongside Caltrans employees under a freeway during which he claimed over 1,400 encampments have been removed since January. Newsom said, “We have thousands and thousands of additional encampments that have not been attended to all throughout the region, not just here in Los Angeles County, but in every part of the state of California.”

He added, “The state has provided unprecedented resources for cities, municipalities large and small to address the encampment crisis,” and called the problem “the biggest scar in the reputation” of California.

Newsom continued, “We’ve been providing the support, local government embraces those efforts, focuses a sense of urgency. We’re going to double down. If local government is not interested, we’re fine. We’ll redirect the money to parts of the state, cities, and counties that are.”

He claimed he came to the cleanup on behalf of the 40 million “fed-up Californians.” According to the New York Times, Newsom visited two homeless encampments on Thursday, but did not inform city or county leaders he was coming.

Last month, Newsom signed an executive order directing state agencies and departments to develop “clear policies” to clear the thousands of homeless encampments across the Golden State that have sprung up during his time in office.

He claimed that the courts previously prevented local governments from cleaning up the encampments, but in the Supreme Court decision in Grants Pass v. Johnson, the high court ruled cities can ticket homeless people for camping in public even when there is no alternative shelter available.

Newsom noted, “We had a simple executive order, do your job. There’s no more excuses. You got the money, you got the flexibility, you got the green light, you got the support from the state and the public is demanding it of you. And if this is not the most important issue, you’re not paying attention.”

According to The Hill, California has blown over $1 billion in encampment resolution grants to clean up homeless encampments and address the underlying issues, but the problem has only continued to grow as the Golden State has approximately one-third of the homeless population in the US. Newsom’s office claimed the administration has spent over $24 billion cleaning streets and housing people.