After Pressure From Trump California CAVES, Makes Long Term Problem New Priority
Back in October, President Donald Trump called California’s out of control problem with homelessness a “disgrace” and “inappropriate.” Lower class citizens of the Golden State, the president declared, are “living in hell.”
On Wednesday, Governor Gavin Newsom caved in. “The state of California is treating homelessness as a real emergency – because it is one,” he finally admits.
Newsom announced he wants to create a “$750 million fund to help house the homeless,” Reuters reports. The money still needs to be approved in the state budget.
Newsom also signed an executive order directing the state’s Department of General Services to “supply 100 camp trailers, along with an unspecified number of ‘modular tent structures’ as temporary housing.”
“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.”
When headlines about Bubonic Plague, Leprosy, and rats running around the police headquarters put California in the national spotlight, progressive politicians immediately applied their favorite tactic. They stuck their hand out for more federal aid — and got it slapped.
In September, when Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson toured the state, he flatly denied requests for more money, “blaming state and local leaders for the homelessness crisis.”
California has been ignoring their own sanitation laws in order to turn a blind eye on the hordes of homeless people living on the streets. Instead of handing out federal tax dollars to fix a problem caused by inept state management, President Trump turned loose the EPA.
The Environmental Protection Agency announced they will take action, file suits, and levy fines until the state comes into compliance with the law.
“We should all work together to clean up these hazardous waste and homeless sites before the whole city rots away,” Trump tweeted in reference to San Francisco. “Very bad and dangerous conditions, also severely impacting the Pacific Ocean and water supply.”
California’s “rivers, beaches and streams are indeed contaminated with levels of fecal bacteria that exceed state limits, threatening kayakers, swimmers — and the state’s reputation as a bastion of environmental protection,” writes California Healthline.
“I’ve carried 5-gallon buckets that were unambiguously being used as toilets,” relates David Gibson, executive officer of the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board. He recently was on hand to help clean up local encampments. “They were taking it to the San Diego River, dumping it there, and rinsing it out there.”
According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, California has the largest homeless population in the nation, estimated at 151,000 people in 2019.
On top of the proposed $750 million, Newsome wants another $695 million “in state, federal and private funds on California’s Medicaid program by 2022 to improve its services for homeless people.”