Clearing an encampment is one of the most complicated and fraught tasks any California city can take on when responding to homelessness and how they handle that challenge varies widely.

Calmatters asked nearly three dozen cities and counties throughout California for copies of their encampment management policies, responses span a wide range, highlighting the lack of a unified strategy to address street homelessness across the state.

Even as Governor Gavin Newsom is pushing for more cohesive rules.

Cities across the state have passed new laws banning encampments, which may or may not include provisions that require the city to give advance warning before clearing a camp or store people's possessions.

Both the governor's office and the legislature have signaled that the next round of funding, which won't come until the 2026-27 budget year, will require cities and counties to adopt encampment policies in order to qualify.

There is one thing that tends to make encampment policies more binding when they're written in court.

That often happens after a group of homeless residents sued the city, as happened in San Diego and San Bernardino.

When the two sides settle, they may agree on new rules to govern encampment removals in the city, and the city is then legally bound to follow them.

But that can also lead to drawn out courtroom battles.

Legal battles can also influence how cities handle personal belongings, taking from a homeless encampment.

Most jurisdictions lack the resources to respond to all the encampments on their streets, so some have drafted policies that help prioritize which camps to clear first.

While Newsom's efforts to get cities on the same page seem to be having some effect, tying those rules to state funding is far from a perfect solution, said Robert Ratner, director of Santa Cruz County Housing for health.

Smaller cities that don't receive homelessness funds directly from the state have no incentive to adopt rules, he said.

For Calmatters, I'm Marisa Kendall.