While Officials Point to Thousands Moved from Encampments, Critics Caution the Program May Not Address Long-Term Stability
California Gov. Gavin Newsom is claiming that his new task force to address homeless encampments in the state’s 10 largest cities has been successful. Still, some people remain skeptical that it will help vulnerable individuals find stability after leaving the streets.
In August, Newsom announced that his office was creating a task force known as the State Action for Facilitation on Encampments, or SAFE, to clear encampments and connect residents with supportive services. The task force is staffed by the California Highway Patrol, the Office of Emergency Services, the Department of Housing and Community Development, the Interagency Council on Homelessness, Health and Human Services, and Caltrans.
The task force was launched about a year after Newsom made $750 million of state funds available for local jurisdictions to address encampments. Unsheltered homelessness in California has grown to nearly 124,000 people as of 2024, representing a climb of around 13% since before the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020, according to federal data.
SAFE also operates in the state’s largest cities, such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, San Diego, Sacramento, San Jose, Long Beach, Anaheim, Bakersfield, and Fresno. In its short tenure, the team has claimed to have connected about 3,000 people formerly living in encampments in Los Angeles’ Skid Row with services and interim housing. Another 1,600 people have been placed in permanent housing, according to state data.
“California has put in place a strong, comprehensive strategy for fighting the national homelessness and housing crises — and is outperforming the nation as a result in turning this issue around,” Newsom said in a statement. “No one should live in a dangerous or unsanitary encampment, and we will continue our ongoing work to ensure that everyone has a safe place to call home.”
Despite its initial claims of success, the initiative appears to have divided local leaders and come under scrutiny from homelessness experts.
Trust Among Unhoused People
SAFE has conducted multiple encampment clearing operations in San Francisco and Los Angeles, according to media reports. However, some people experiencing homelessness in these cities have expressed skepticism about the efforts to connect them with services and housing.
Candice Dixon, a 44-year-old unhoused woman in San Francisco, told local news outlet KQED that she thinks the SAFE teams are simply telling her and other unhoused folks to “move” rather than connect them with services and housing.
Dixon said she has been homeless for almost two decades. She added that she has tried living in shelters before, but they didn’t work for her.
“They steal your stuff. They just do you wrong in there, you know?” she told KQED. “They don’t give us the proper care that we need.”
Dixon was one of 18 people contacted by the SAFE task force during an encampment clearing in September, KQED reported. Of the people contacted by the task force, 12 agreed to speak with staff; seven people were offered shelter placements, and one person accepted.
Her concerns speak to the frustrations that many people experiencing homelessness in California have shared about trusting state agencies to connect them with services and shelter that meet their needs. Invisible People has spoken to numerous individuals who have shared similar concerns.
California Secretary of Transportation Toks Omishakin told KQED that state agencies are going to continue reaching out to folks contacted during the operation. The hope is that the encampment won’t reappear after the task force completes its work.
“We clear it, and they come right back,” Omishakin told the outlet. “That’s why this strategy that we’re deploying now is even more important than ever.”
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie has also praised the efforts of the task force.
“The first thing you see when you get to San Francisco should be representative of the clean streets we have across the city,” Lurie said in a statement. “Under my administration, city government will no longer tolerate the conditions we’re seeing on our on-ramps and off-ramps — and now we have the tools to fix it and support from our state partners.”
Embraced by Local Elected Officials
Even though the SAFE task force is still working to build trust with the unhoused community, local politicians have embraced the efforts.
For instance, Bakersfield Mayor Karen Goh celebrated the creation of SAFE as a way of giving her city more resources to address homelessness.
“While Bakersfield’s 2025 Point-in-Time Count showed a 10.5% reduction in unsheltered homelessness, much work remains to be done,” Goh said in a statement.
Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer added that the collaborative nature of the SAFE task force could make a big impact on homelessness going forward.
“When state and local government work together, the community benefits,” Dyer said in a statement. “These task forces will serve to erase geographical boundaries, enabling governmental agencies to eradicate encampments, regardless of their location.”
Business leaders like Jim Wunderman, CEO of the Bay Area Council, have also embraced the framework.
“Street encampments are the most visible manifestations of our decades-long failure to address California’s housing and homelessness crises,” Wunderman said. “For far too long, we have allowed encampments to grow in our cities while telling ourselves that there are no solutions to this problem and that the camps were somehow inevitable or the best that we can do.”
How You Can Help
With the Supreme Court’s gutting of essential protections for homeless people, our work is more critical than ever. Nationwide, anti-homeless laws are gaining ground in legislative committees, fueled by hidden votes, corporate backing, out-of-state lobbyists, and conservative think tanks like the Cicero Institute. We’re fighting a crucial battle against misinformation and the criminalization of homelessness.
The pandemic underscored the urgent need to overhaul housing policies in the United States, revealing that many homelessness initiatives rely too heavily on law enforcement rather than social services.
Stand with our vulnerable neighbors and urge your representatives to take meaningful action to address homelessness. As the first step toward ending homelessness, we must prioritize compassionate solutions over punitive measures.