Newsom’s executive order on homeless encampments cities like Watsonville are ahead of the new law

WATSONVILLE, Calif. (KION-TV) — Today's bill signed by Governor Newsom will impact local homeless encampment cleanup along the central coast.

Some cities, like Watsonville, started ahead of the new law.

This comes as the city of Watsonville began clearing out homeless encampments along the Pajaro River Levee on Monday.

"The cleanup efforts are part of a city project that's going on right now," Michelle Pulido Watsonville City PIO said. "Our public works crews who are out there clearing the area, mowing the lawn." "They're going to be assisting with some of the repairs. and we also have our police department out there."

The city said that they issued notices to about one hundred people out there last week. But, then the city was notified that the homeless encampment quadrupled in size since the start of the year.

That number has doubled.

“We provided information that included shelter information, meals, access to, you know, legal services, a whole list that provides resources for these individuals," Pulido said. Aside from that, we also had our police service specialist, that person has been out the entire time during the encampment cleanups."

The city of Watsonville is working to find ways to help support the homeless crisis overall, and is committed to making progress.

“We are going to continue to work with our regional partners, our local partners, to find ways to improve our homelessness prevention programs, to work with the community and really hear what it is that they want from us as a city, and how we can all work together to find a solution and help these individuals find permanent housing," Pulido said.

The city’s priority is to ensure a clean and safe environment while addressing the concerns of residents in the area.

Watsonville started the cleanup efforts after the supreme court made their decision to ban outdoor sleeping last month.

“The governor's order from today is really just supporting what the us supreme court had already ruled in June," Pulido said. "Based off of that, we've been able to go in and start some of our homeless encampment cleanups.

The city said that they created the police service specialist to help people during this cleanup effort.

Clearing the homeless encampment along the Pajaro River lLevee is expected through August 2nd.