Under a new executive order issued Wednesday from Gov. Gavin Newsom, cities across California will be able to use vacant state land to open emergency shelters for homeless people.

The order, which comes amid a surge in homelessness throughout the state and growing concern about the issue from residents, will require state agencies to identify by the end of this month empty lots near highways, fairgrounds, decommissioned hospitals and other spaces where cities, counties or nonprofits can provide space for people to live temporarily.

The news, coupled with a new proposal from the governor to spend more than $1 billion on serving homeless people as part of the 2020-21 state budget, marks a significant escalation in Newsom’s attempt to reduce homelessness. And it comes as President Donald Trump berates Newsom and other California Democrats for failing to do enough to address the issue.

In the order, Newsom said the state would distribute 100 travel trailers and modular tents to local partners, and that they would receive help from state crisis response teams, if they agree to provide supportive services and help transition people into permanent housing.

“The state of California is treating homelessness as a real emergency — because it is one,” Newsom said in a statement. “Californians are demanding that all levels of government — federal, state and local — do more to get people off the streets and into services — whether that’s housing, mental health services, substance abuse treatment or all of the above.”

“That’s why we’re using every tool in the toolbox — from proposing a massive new infusion of state dollars in the budget that goes directly to homeless individuals’ emergency housing and treatment programs, to building short-term emergency housing on vacant state-owned land,” Newsom continued.

A map of “excess” state-owned property from the Department of General Services shows a number of Bay Area locations, from Santa Cruz and San Jose over to Hayward and San Lorenzo that could potentially be considered.

The budget, Newsom said, should include a new fund to both pay rent for people facing homelessness and build housing for formerly homeless people. Initially, the fund would be backed by $750 million from the general fund, but the governor will call on nonprofits and businesses to kick in additional money.

The fund would need to be approved by state lawmakers, which wouldn’t happen until later this spring, but the executive order to open up vacant land does not and is more immediate. Still, the order relies heavily on local elected officials and other community leaders being willing to manage the emergency shelters and work to move people into more stable housing, which remains in short supply. And they will be tracked on their efforts. The executive order calls for a system to monitor how many people local jurisdictions help get into stable housing.

“We’re glad to see the governor interested in allocating significantly more dollars to addressing our homelessness crisis,” said David Low of Destination: Home, a San Jose-based nonprofit aimed at eliminating homelessness. “It’s going to be equally important that we look at how we can deploy those dollars in a way that supports our local strategies and will have the most impact possible.”

In the last year, the state moved to distribute $650 million in emergency homeless aid to cities and counties across the state, with the final payments going out this week. San Jose, which has seen homelessness spike 42 percent over the last few years to more than 6,000 residents, was set to receive nearly $24 million. Oakland and San Francisco, which also both saw major increases in homelessness, were allocated more than $19 million each.

Yet despite such efforts, according to data recently released by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, California has more than 151,000 homeless people, including more than half of the country’s unsheltered population — a 16 percent increase over last year.

In addition to the $750 million fund, the governor’s budget proposal calls for boosting Medi-Cal funding to address the healthcare needs of chronically homeless people, particularly where mental health struggles, addiction or other issues that could be addressed with healthcare have led people to the streets. The budget also calls for around $25 million — which would rise to about $364 million over six years — to fund a new pilot program to put people with mental illness into care facilities in communities rather than in big state hospitals.

The executive order and budget proposal surface as a number of lawmakers in Sacramento put forward their own ideas to tackle the state’s persistent housing and homelessness problems. Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) recently brought back a controversial proposal to force cities to build denser housing near transit stops and job centers. And Sen. Jim Beall (D-San Jose) reintroduced a bill that would create a new ongoing funding source for affordable housing.

U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-California) applauded Newsom on Wednesday for treating homelessness “as the all-hands-on-deck crisis that it is.”

“Homelessness will require additional measures from local, state, and the federal government,” Feinstein said in a statement. “I’m heartened that California is stepping up; I will continue to fight for additional tools at the national level as well.”