California is in the middle of budget season, as the state continues to grapple with a $31.5 billion deficit.

In his May revised budget presentation, Gov. Gavin Newsom prioritized investing in supportive housing and ending the homelessness crisis.

Newsom visited Southern California this week to announce new investments in helping people dealing with homelessness get off the streets. He also attended Disneyland’s inaugural Pride Night to show his solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community.

Spectrum News had an exclusive interview with the governor to go over his vision on how to produce real results to help solve the homelessness crisis — and how California strives to be a welcoming state for everyone.

Homelessness

A stop Newsom made in Southern California was at MacArthur Park in Long Beach. While there, he announced an additional $199 million in grant money for the Encampment Resolution Fund.

MacArthur Park used to be the location of homeless encampment that was cleared out by the city using the $1.3 million from the ERF last year.

“It was clear to me a couple years ago that unless we dealt with the encampments, no one is going to believe anything we’re doing on homelessness," Newsom said. "I can talk about the 68,000 people we’ve gotten off the streets — people literally get angry with me when I say that. It’s actually true. People want to see these encampments cleared up, and they don’t understand why there’s so many tents everywhere."

The $199 million will be split up between 22 different communities across the state, with the goal of getting 7,300 people out from living in encampments and into temporary, supportive housing.

“This has been one of the most successful programs in the state, and I want to specific about that," Newsom said. "We put aside the $750 million — it’s oversubscribed by the cities and counties… In fact, the application requires the direct amount not only of dollars, but the support to be provided with the accountability at the local level in order to secure the grant… You have a specific strategy to help people get off the streets, to get out of the encampments, get out of the tents and to reclaim their community again."

While the governor highlighted the record investments by the state on homelessness, he detailed that the real success is going to rely on cities and counties putting the programs to help people in their communities.

“We need to hold ourselves to account, not just the governor. All of us to account to do better and do more,” he said.

Newsom also rejects a one-size-fits-all approach to solving homelessness. For example, he does not support the idea of banning homeless encampments from being near sensitive areas across the state. Cities such as Los Angeles and Sacramento have enacted such bans.

Democrats in the Senate Public Safety Committee rejected a bill this year that would have banned encampments near schools, parks and libraries.

Newsom maintains it should be up to local governments to decide what plans and strategies they use to clear encampments and get people into housing.

Migrants

On Wednesday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced a busload of migrants have been dropped off at Union Station. LA Mayor Karen Bass quickly responded that she had been preparing for something like this to happen.

A week prior, 36 migrants arrived in Sacramento from Texas on a flight that was chartered by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration. Newsom called out DeSantis for lying to the migrants and using them as political pawns.

“Ron DeSantis hired a firm. They went to Texas. Remember, he’s governor, not of Texas, he’s governor of Florida. That’s how pathetic this is," said Newsom. "A governor going to another state, and then he buses people into another state in New Mexico and then flies them to California, by providing them false representation that they were guaranteed jobs and they could change the court dates for asylum. They knocked on the door, and then they took off."

Newsom added that he met with the sheriff of Bexar County who went through a similar situation with migrants being dropped off in Martha’s Vineyard. He says the two compared notes and found the same game plan was used in transporting the migrants under false pretenses to another state.

LGBTQ+

There have been a number of protests recently targeting LGBTQ+ people throughout the state. In Glendale, a violent protest broke out at a school board meeting over a vote to recognize June as Pride Month.

“All the progress we’ve made in the last half-century, and I’m watching this just full-frontal assault on the LGBTQ community in real time,” Newsom said. “And it’s not just Ron DeSantis, though he’s one of the leaders. I’ve seen it now in this state.”

While in Southern California, Newsom attended the first-ever Pride Nite at Disneyland. He said his attendance was both a symbolic and a substantive show of support of the LGBTQ+ community.

“It’s point of deep pride to support the community, and I’ve always done that," Newsom said. "And they really are under assault right now, and that’s an assault on who we are and our values."

Constant speculation of presidential run

Newsom also recently proposed a 28th amendment to the U.S. Constitution to enshrine gun laws to help end gun violence. He also has started a new "Campaign for Democracy" PAC using the leftover funding he raised running for re-election.

“As it relates to democracy, it’s in peril with authoritarian folks, like Ron DeSantis, that are out there, I think, vandalizing our country in many respects, so I want to take them on. That’s what I’m focused on,” Newsom said.

While moves like this put Newsom in the national spotlight, which fuels speculation he is setting up a run for president in 2024, the governor has constantly shut down this premise, claiming he has a "sub-zero interest" in running.

“I’ve got three and a half years left as governor. I’m putting it all out there, and I’m trying to express myself. We have the resources," said Newsom. "They can sit there in a bank, or I can put the resources to work, and that’s what this PAC is about.”

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