California's Homeless Crisis: Controversial Solutions or a Growing Problem?

Gov. Newsom and Mayor Bass - Solutions or a different kind of problem

Homeless tents in San Francisco - The number of homeless in SF is now over 8,000.Photo bycdn.vox-cdn.com

On the 25th of July, Governor Newsom issued EXECUTIVE ORDER N-1-24, having state agencies begin the removal of all homeless encampments on state-owned land and encouraging local California governments to do likewise.

Karen Bass, Los Angeles’s Mayor, began the Inside Safe program to temporarily move people out of encampments and into motel and hotel rooms, which has made a measurable difference in the size of street homelessness.

LA reports that the number of unsheltered homeless people in the city dropped by 10.4 % - while the number living in shelters rose by 17.7%. However, Bass also threatened to arrest the homeless as a way out and said she would use it as a tool if necessary.

Last week, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors rejected any attempt to criminalize homelessness in rebuke to Newsom’s directive. They voted last week saying that no one should be jailed simply for camping outdoors.

London Breed, Mayor of San Francisco has chosen to follow a “very aggressive” plan when clearing out encampments. The police may cite and move people along if they don’t take an offer of shelter on the spot.

Breed also gave the order to outreach workers to offer bus, train, or plane tickets out of town to homeless individuals — as long as they have a connection to the destination — this is before offering any services such as shelter.

Unfortunately, someone forgot to mention to the Mayor that 8,300 homeless people are living in SF and yet, the city only has 3,600 shelter beds - all of which are nearly spoken for.

Editorials have been written in the LA Times and SF Chronicle about the homeless issue and the problems California is facing. Some say the Governor is doing the right thing about being aggressive - while others criticize his actions as being just the creation of a different kind of homeless problem.

This is not an opinion story - these are the facts regarding the indigent issue plaguing our country primarily California because it has the highest rate of homelessness in the US.

As other cities and states face these same problems dealing with the homeless, California will be the state other states will look to for guidance. Either they will see how to handle the situation correctly or it will be a roadmap on what not to do.

Peace, Love, and Unconditional Happiness!

References:

LA Times - https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2024-08-08/editorial-newsom-h

San Francisco Chronicle - SF Mayor Breed’s ‘aggressive’ homeless camp sweeps in August (sfchronicle.com)

I'm Done!Photo byH. Mikel Feilen