The Breitbart News reported Sunday, April 18, that California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) boasted Saturday that Joe Biden (D) is using California’s homeless policy as a national model. California’s policy is to allow the homeless to move into hotels purchased by the government.
Many homeless people are attracted to California’s warm weather, lenient law enforcement, generous benefits and drug treatment centers. The drug treatment centers specialized in housing the homeless because of the availability of welfare, and when the welfare expired, the homeless were kicked out of the centers and put back on the streets.
Prior to the epidemic, California had the largest homeless population in the nation, over 150,000, and was one of the top three issues of concern to California voters.
The Breitbart News linked Governor Newsom’s boast to a New York Times article that described Newsom’s government plan to buy hotels to house the homeless population as a “clear success. The New York Times argues that California’s planning and environmental quality regulations have made it very difficult to develop housing in California, with a maximum of 2,000 units of supportive housing per year. Last December, San Francisco’s nonprofit Episcopal Community Services, with the help of a state grant, bought the Diva Hotel from an investment group, providing 130 of the 2,000 units. California’s government program to buy hotels to house the homeless has an official name, Homekey.
The article argues that while 130 housing units is not a lot, it is still a quick way to house the homeless.
The Breitbart News reports that earlier this year, the Biden CCP Viral Relief Act provided $5 billion in funding to state and local governments specifically to address homelessness, including funding to purchase hotels, confirming the California model that has become federal policy.
Few Californians, however, would consider California’s approach a success. Last week, Dr. Drew Pinsky, who was named to the local homeless commission, argued that the problems of the homeless are primarily mental health and substance abuse, not housing issues.
Gov. Newsom could face a recall vote later this year, primarily because of the epidemic policy issue, though the recall vote and California’s homeless crisis are also related.
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