President Trump warned California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday that he needs to fix the homeless crisis in his state or the federal government will have to step in.
“Governor Gavin N has done a really bad job on taking care of the homeless population in California,” he tweeted. “If he can’t fix the problem, the Federal Govt. will get involved!”
Governor Gavin N has done a really bad job on taking care of the homeless population in California. If he can’t fix the problem, the Federal Govt. will get involved! https://t.co/2z8zM37PUA
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 25, 2019
In an op-ed by the San Francisco Chronicle on Tuesday, the editorial board notes that the growth in the country’s homeless population is a result of California’s problem.
“While the latest counts compiled by the federal government show that America’s homeless population is growing again after more than a decade of declines, the entire national increase and more can be attributed to California alone,” the board writes.
Surprisingly, the editorial board also places the blame on Democrats.
“Although the state has the worst housing shortage on the U.S. mainland, resistance to dealing with it remains endemic among the Legislature’s ruling Democrats and in nominally progressive cities such as San Francisco,” they write.
Based on a January census widely believed to underestimate the true figures, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development reported Friday that the nation’s homeless population grew by about 15,000 people to about 568,000, or 2.7%. The number of Californians without homes, meanwhile, spiked by more than 21,000 to nearly 130,000, or 16.4%. The state’s exploding homelessness was enough to overwhelm declines in 29 states, among them Washington, Hawaii, Massachusetts and other states with substantial housing pressures.
While the nation’s homeless population remains about 10% lower than it was a decade ago, California’s has expanded more than 22% in that time. With less than an eighth of the U.S. population, California is home to more than a quarter of the nation’s homeless people and more than half those who are unsheltered. (SF Chronicle)
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson said last week that California’s homeless problem was at a “crisis level” and “needs to be addressed by local and state leaders with crisis-like urgency.”