Despite Uproar, Newsom’s Encampment Order Unlikely to Shake Up Local Policy

News that California Gov. Gavin Newsom had issued an executive order directing state agencies and departments to crack down on homeless encampments last week ricocheted across social and news media, to hyperbolic effect. Depending on whom you asked, Newsom was either finally “saving California” by clearing all of its dangerous encampments, or inhumanely “criminalizing” its most vulnerable population and throwing away their belongings. National media outlets weighed in, taking for granted a narrative that drastic, imminent change had arrived, thanks to Newsom’s “sweeping” proclamation. But in reality, the order itself may change little on the ground, while leaving questions about how state policy might intersect with local protocols....