California Governor Gavin Newsom is coming under increasing pressure to declare a state of emergency over the homelessness crisis in Los Angeles.

The city's County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas and City Councilman Joe Buscaino came up with a proposal to implement the state of emergency due to a growing number of tent encampments in major cities.

Supporters claim that declaring an emergency would free up state and federal funding typically reserved for natural disasters, such as earthquakes or wildfires.

It would also eliminate or streamline bureaucratic red tape that can often delay shelter and housing developments.

California Governor Gavin Newsom is coming under increasing pressure to declare a state of emergency over the homelessness crisis in Los Angeles. Pictured are tents housing homeless people in Downtown LA

California Governor Gavin Newsom recently signed a suite of measures to increase the number of supportive housing units in the state and Los Angeles in particular

Portland and the surrounding Multnomah County in Oregon used such a tactic to cut red tape and relax zoning and occupancy laws so housing could be quickly built.

Last week, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a legislation package to make shelter and housing projects in LA that receive certain public funding exempt from environmental reviews.

The public funding includes a $1.2 billion Proposition HHH that Californina voters passed in 2016.

The primary aim of the proposal is to dramatically improve the number of supportive housing in LA.

Newsom has yet to comment on the current request for a state of emergency declaration.

'There are more questions that need to be worked through before he could support something like that,' Newsom spokesman Nathan Click told the Los Angeles Times.

Gary Blasi, a retired law professor who specializes in homelessness issues, told the outlet: 'The governor should not sign a declaration of emergency until the proponents identify the specific laws and regulations they want to get around, and the resources they believe the declaration would free up.

Supporters claim that declaring an emergency would free up state and federal funding reserved for natural disasters, such as earthquakes or wildfires. Trash is seen lining the street of Skid Row, where homeless people have been camping for years

A homeless man moves his belongings from a street near Los Angeles City Hall, background, as crews prepared to clean the area during the summer

People walk in Skid Row while new school supplies were donated to thousands, including new athletic shoes donated by Foot Locker over the weekend

'The state statutes regarding emergencies were not designed to respond to long-standing political, leadership and moral disasters.'

Ridley-Thomas and Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg are also getting behind another state bill that would make shelter a legal right in the state, according to the paper.

The proposed law would require the state to offer indoor shelter for any homeless person who wants it.

'We have a tacit public policy it’s OK to live outdoors,' Steinberg told the LA Times. 'I am strongly pushing for a clear public policy that says as a matter of right people should be living under a roof.'

Los Angeles City Councilman Joe Buscaino, (left), and County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, (right), came up with the latest proposal to implement the state of emergency

Governor Gavin Newsom has not yet responded to the request to declare a state of emergency

In 2015, City Council members and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced that they would declare an emergency locally.

However the proposal was abandoned because the mayor wanted a statewide declaration from then Governor Jerry Brown, who refused the request.

In 2018, Los Angeles declared a shelter crisis, which reduced construction hurdles around developing emergency beds on public land.

Around 44,000 residents are estimated to live in outdoor tents in LA and require new shelters and housing. Meanwhile there are roughly 55,000 homeless people overall in LA County.

A homeless man is seen sleeping on a sidewalk in Los Angeles earlier this year as the numbers of people requiring shelter continues to climb

The number of homeless people reached 59,000 in Los Angeles this year, representing an increase of 12% on the previous year. The number eight years previously was just shy of 40,000

Joe Busciano said he is more and more concerned that temporary tent shelters on public land are now subject to the same stringent and time-consuming application process.

'We’re stopping for every red light, instead of treating this like an emergency,' Buscaino said.

On September 23, San Francisco's homeless crisis has prompted a group of residents to place nearly two dozen boulders along a sidewalk to keep people from camping outside their homes.

The boulder barrier now sits along a half-block stretch of sidewalk on Clinton Park in the Mission Dolores neighborhood.

People are seen waiting in line to receive new school supplies, including new athletic shoes donated by Foot Locker, at Fred Jordan Missions on Skid Row on September 28

San Francisco has long struggled with problems of human waste and needles on the streets in the Tenderloin district, where many addicts and homeless people are found.

A day earlier, Gov Gavin Newsom and mayors of the state's 13 largest cities sent Trump a letter asking his administration to provide more aid to fight homelessness, including an additional 50,000 housing vouchers for the poor.

But Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson rejected the housing aid request in a letter, saying that California's policies on law enforcement, an overregulated housing market and sanctuary policies regarding people living in the country illegally have driven up housing costs while increasing demand.

'Your letter seeks more federal dollars for California from hardworking American taxpayers but fails to admit that your state and local policies have played a major role in creating the current crisis,' Carson wrote.

Carson said nearly 500,000 California households already receive some kind of federal housing assistance and said 'federal taxpayers are clearly doing their part to help solve the crisis'.

In a recent report, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority claimed the number of people who were homeless countywide in 2019 was 58,936 residents, up from 52,765 in 2018.

In the city of Los Angeles, the homeless population grew 16 percent since last year. LAHSA estimates that 36,300 people are homeless within city limits.