CALIFORNIA FOCUS
FOR RELEASE: TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2019, OR THEREAFTER
BY THOMAS D. ELIAS
FOR RELEASE: TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2019, OR THEREAFTER
BY THOMAS D. ELIAS
“CAN MONEY, NEW DWELLINGS STEM HOMELESSNESS?”
Californians are about to find
out whether money and new apartment-style dwellings can do much about the
state’s expanding and seemingly intransigent problem with homelessness.
As ad
hoc encampments proliferate, featuring everything from small pop tents to
excrement in the streets and chop shops where parts are taken from stolen
bicycles and sold, politicians have begun throwing money at the depressing
scene.
The
newest state budget allocates $650 million to local governments for helping the
homeless, while another $1.7 billion-plus is earmarked for drug and mental
health treatment and other homeless services. Los Angeles alone has more than
10,000 new rooms under construction or in the planning phase for use by the
currently homeless.
There’s
little doubt about the severity of the problem or its causes, ranging from job
losses to recent prison releases, low wages, drug addiction, alcoholism, family
disputes, rent increases, domestic violence and mental health issues including
post-traumatic stress disorders affecting war veterans.
The
scope is enormous. Of the more than 570,000 people sleeping in American
streets, cars or other places unsuited for human habitation, more than 114,000
are in California. That puts one-fifth of homeless Americans here, while the
state has only a bit more than 10 percent of the national populace.
So far,
providing small dwelling units for them has not solved the problem. Said one
city official in the homeless Mecca of Santa Monica, “For every one we manage
to house, two more will arrive shortly after.”
Or, as
a member of the state’s new commission to investigate homelessness remarked in
a radio interview, “If we house 33 people in new units, another 150 will arrive
on the streets the next day.”
The
problem drew tweeted attention from President Trump, who caught sight of a
couple of homeless encampments as his motorcade drove last fall from a
helicopter at the Santa Monica Airport to several Los Angeles fund-raisers. He
saw others on a fund-raising visit to San Francisco.
Trump
blasted state and local officials, mostly because almost all are Democrats who
usually oppose him. Meanwhile, he proposes reducing the federal investment in
housing vouchers which are probably the foremost tool cities and counties can
use to provide private space for the unhoused, many of whom shy away from mass
homeless shelters lacking privacy or partitions.
And
yes, California’s state and local investment in fighting homelessness amounts
to more than one-third of the $6 billion the federal government spends on the
problem. City and county officials here say their problem could be eased
considerably if Trump and Housing secretary Ben Carson provide 50,000 new rent
vouchers through two existing programs. A letter to Trump from Gov. Gavin
Newsom and other California officials after Trump’s blast at the state’s
homelessness also suggested the value of vouchers should be upped because of
high rents.
Newsom
asserted those vouchers could “eliminate veteran homelessness in the state,”
where about 15,000 former military personnel sleep outside or in cars every
night.
So far,
no response from Trump, who appears preoccupied with staving off impeachment.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development also did not respond.
So as
winter approaches, there is no significant relief in sight for the homeless,
despite all the state tax dollars being spent and a new state law exempting
proposed developments to house the homeless from environmental reviews until
2025.
Lest
Californians rely on the urban myth that most of the homeless prefer to stay
that way, one recent study showed that 34 percent of them say their problem
would be solved with employment assistance and another 31 percent say all it
would take to get them inside is substantial help paying rent.
Without
doubt, some state money now going to cities and counties will go to rent
subsidies. But it’s uncertain that will be enough. No one knows how many of the
homeless will want to move into new housing if it looks like dormitories or
barracks. No one knows how many will agree to drug or mental health treatment,
problems that together afflict almost half the current homeless.
Which
suggests all the new money may help a bit, but probably won’t rid the landscape
of many current scruffy encampments.
-30-
Email Thomas Elias at tdelias@aol.com. His book, "The Burzynski Breakthrough: The Most Promising Cancer Treatment and the Government’s Campaign to Squelch It," is now available in a soft cover fourth edition. For more Elias columns, go to www.californiafocus.net
Email Thomas Elias at tdelias@aol.com. His book, "The Burzynski Breakthrough: The Most Promising Cancer Treatment and the Government’s Campaign to Squelch It," is now available in a soft cover fourth edition. For more Elias columns, go to www.californiafocus.net
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