California: Governor Newsom expands statewide partnerships with additional cities to clean up encampments on highways

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Jul 28, 2026

Governor Newsom expands statewide partnerships with additional cities to clean up encampments on highways

New agreements announced with Ontario, San Bernardino, and San Diego

What you need to know: Governor Gavin Newsom continues to work with local communities across California to improve public safety and clean up homeless encampments along highways. The state's new agreements with Ontario, San Bernardino, and San Diego bring California's total number of city partnerships to 13.

SACRAMENTO – Helping address homeless encampments along sections of the state highway system, Governor Gavin Newsom today announced continued new partnerships with the cities of Ontario, San Bernardino, and San Diego. Under these agreements — called Encampment Delegated Maintenance Agreements — the state offsets the cost for local agencies that work with the California Department of Transportation to remove encampments.

These three new agreements build on 10 previously executed agreements throughout California, supporting Governor Newsom's ongoing effort to unify state and local governments to address homelessness with compassion, results, and accountability.

Our partnerships must continue delivering results – helping keep roadways clean and addressing the very real issues of homelessness in our state. By pairing historic state investments with local-level coordination, we are helping communities across California create safer, healthier places for everyone.

Governor Gavin Newsom

While homelessness remains a nationwide challenge, California is achieving results that outpace the rest of the country, recording its largest reduction in homelessness in more than 15 years. These results stem from the Governor's strategy to pair historic investments with stronger accountability, expand behavioral health and treatment services, increase safer, more permanent housing and shelter options, and help local communities move people from encampments into housing and care.

"California's solutions to more effectively and compassionately address encampments are strengthened by working together across all levels of government," said California Transportation Secretary Toks Omishakin. "Governor Newsom has challenged state and local agencies to build partnerships that improve safety while expanding pathways to housing and supportive services."

Addressing encampments and improving safety

Under these agreements, cities can perform encampment removals on the state right-of-way, provided they follow state policies and reporting requirements to ensure eligible reimbursable costs are used effectively and transparently.

Encampments that threaten public health and safety remain the top priority in cleanup operations. Maintenance tasks under these agreements include the removal of encampments, litter and debris collection, vegetation management, and graffiti abatement. Caltrans has signed similar agreements with several cities, including the City/County of San Francisco, Claremont, Commerce, Fresno, Paramount, Riverside, Santa Ana, Santa Fe Springs, San Jose, and Santa Monica.

Since July 2021, Caltrans has removed nearly 26,500 encampments along the state right-of-way and collected approximately 457,000 cubic yards of litter and debris.

"Caltrans understands the vital importance of local partnerships as we remain fully committed to our role of providing a safe transportation system for all Californians," said Caltrans Director Dina El-Tawansy. "These latest agreements combine the department's best practices with regional expertise to deliver safer outcomes for people experiencing homelessness and the traveling public."

"Keeping our freeway corridors safe and clean while helping people move off the streets and into shelter is a top priority for my administration," said San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria. "I'm grateful to Governor Newsom for his support and to our partners at Caltrans for renewing this agreement so we can continue this important work together, build on the progress we've made, connect more people experiencing homelessness with shelter and services, and deliver safer, cleaner freeway corridors for everyone who lives, works, and travels through San Diego."

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"Keeping San Bernardino clean, safe, and welcoming takes strong partnerships and a shared commitment to our community," said San Bernardino Mayor Helen Tran. "This agreement with Caltrans strengthens our ability to address encampments and remove debris along our freeways while ensuring outreach teams continue connecting individuals with shelter, supportive services, and pathways toward long-term stability. Together, we're improving public safety, protecting our environment, and enhancing the quality of life for everyone who calls San Bernardino home."

"The city of Ontario is pleased to enter into an Encampment Delegated Maintenance Agreement with Caltrans. This new agreement will allow the City's public works department, police department and housing services personnel to address ongoing homeless encampments and debris more quickly in the Caltrans easements throughout the city," said Ontario Public Works Executive Director Tito Haes. "Through this collaboration, Ontario is exhibiting our commitment to connecting those experiencing homelessness with our housing services staff to provide these individuals with housing and essential services."

Strategies that work

Governor Newsom is the first Governor to make addressing homelessness — an issue decades in the making — a top priority. Since taking office in 2019, the Governor has created unprecedented policy and structural changes in state government to help California better address its housing and homelessness crises, including additional and unprecedented support for local governments, stronger accountability and enforcement, transformational changes to mental health services and state government, and groundbreaking reforms to create more housing, faster than ever before.

Increasing housing and support options

California is creating more housing and support than any other state. According to newly published federal data, from 2024 to 2025, California's calculated total year-round bed inventory increased by 15,013 beds, from 208,794 to 223,807 — the largest increase of any state and greater than the nationwide net increase. Recently, Governor Newsom announced $109.6 million in voter-approved Proposition 1 funding for 278 new permanent supportive homes in four California communities.

California also ranked first in the nation across all shelter types — including creating permanent supportive housing, emergency shelter, and permanent housing. This adds to years of investments that have created more than 87,000 beds since 2019.

Reversing decades of inaction

This work has created immediate, measurable results and the critical foundation necessary to finally solve California's housing and homelessness crisis. Governor Newsom's policies have had a significant impact, as indicated by new federal data:
  • Historic drops in homelessness — California achieved the largest statewide reduction in unsheltered homelessness in 16 years. New federal data also shows California last year saw:
    • Largest reduction in unsheltered homelessness in the nation. California reduced unsheltered homelessness by 8,391 people, or 6.8% — more than any other state. That decline is more than twice the national reduction of 2.9% and significantly exceeds that of the next-largest state by population, Texas, which saw a 1.4% decrease.
    • Total homelessness declined. California's overall homeless population dropped by 2.8% — the state's largest numerical decline since 2009.
    • Leading the nation in reducing homelessness in key populations. From 2023 to 2025, California ranked first among all states and the District of Columbia in reducing the numbers of veteran homelessness, chronic homelessness, homelessness among young adults ages 18-24, and homelessness among parents under 25.

In addition, Governor Newsom is addressing a housing shortage that has been decades in the making. Since 2019:
  • Building is happening faster. Annual residential construction has increased by 59%, from 70,000 homes built in 2018 to about 111,000 in 2024.
  • Multifamily construction has reached its highest level in decades. Over the last five years, more multifamily housing units have been built than in any five-year period in over 30 years, and more than 682,000 homes overall have been built statewide since 2019.
  • Approval times have been slashed. Streamlining laws enacted since 2019 have cut the average time from development application to entitlement by 57%, from 160 days to 68 days in 2024. The time from entitlement to permit also dropped by 9%.  
  • Communities are ready to build more. Through Governor Newsom's work to ensure all jurisdictions do their part, communities throughout the state have laid the groundwork and have planned to accommodate at least 3.6 million new homes, including 1.4 million affordable units, moving California closer to meeting its long-term housing needs.

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