Tom Campbell: Armories can be full-time homeless shelters

The United States Supreme Court ruled last June that state and local governments can close homeless encampments.

Gov. Gavin Newsom, and many of the mayors of California cities, embraced the ruling, noting that state and local governments now had the authority they needed to clear the settlements. It is not compassionate, healthy, or progressive to allow these encampments to continue. California Highway Patrol officers, county sheriffs, and city police can move these individuals away from the highway underpasses, roadsides, and canal embankments where we see them daily. But — where do these people go?

In 2019, Newsom ordered an inventory of all state property, requiring the identification of sites appropriate for short-term shelter, to be offered by local governments and charities. The order, however, did not lead to an increase in the stock of available shelter because local government officials, responsive to natural concerns of their constituents, largely do not want new homeless shelters within their boundaries. Unsatisfactory as it is to tolerate street living, city councils have preferred it to building shelters that would anger the residents living nearby.

Newsom was right to order the inventory of excess state property five years ago, but he has not (yet) chosen to include National Guard Armories in that compendium. There are 54 California National Guard armories throughout the state, located in every major urban area. Their primary use, of course, is for the mustering of the California National Guard, during weekend drills, summer training, and when they are responding to natural disasters and other emergencies. Military equipment is stored at most of these armories. No use as homeless shelters should compromise access to, or the state of repair of, that equipment or the armory buildings themselves.

Despite all these factors, many California National Guard armories have for decades been successfully used as homeless shelters during the winter months, with accommodations so as not to interfere with the primary purposes of the armories. In November, California will renew the use of armories for homeless shelters as the winter months officially begin. It makes no sense to end this use when the weather turns warm next spring. The primary uses of the armories can be accommodated then as much as they are in the winter months; and the need for shelter for the homeless will not have disappeared simply because the weather is warmer.

The California National Guard armories are state property. As such, their use takes precedence over county and city zoning ordinances. That is a huge advantage in overcoming local resistance. Gov. Newsom can tolerate the political heat of armory use for homeless shelter much more than a city council member can because Newsom’s constituency is not localized to the neighborhood of the armory.

The armories are far from ideal as solutions to homelessness. However, unlike a vacant Caltrans lot or other “excess property” identified in Newsom’s inventory, their winter use over the past decades shows their feasibility as part of the solution. They are safe from the elements. They include bathroom and shower facilities. They have kitchens that can be used by local charities. They can provide storage for homeless persons’ belongings. They are already located in population centers, and their residents can more easily be reached by services than they can on the street.

When I was a state senator, I authored a bill to require the use of our state’s National Guard armories for homeless persons, year-round. The bill passed both houses of the Legislature, but it was vetoed by Gov. Pete Wilson. Newsom does not need a new law to allow him to take this necessary step. He can order this directly as the Commander-in-Chief of the National Guard without anyone else’s permission.

Tom Campbell is a professor of law and a professor of economics at Chapman University.