California’s Homeless Housing Scam

[Geee]

American Greatness

Progressive politicians have created the homeless crisis. Their policies have made housing unaffordable, driven away decent job opportunities, and encouraged vagrancy and drug addiction. Their solution—taxpayer subsidized housing, provided free and with no conditions imposed on any homeless person—is a special interest scam, guaranteed never to solve the problem. And nowhere in America is that problem worse than in Los Angeles, California.

Over the past week, two local elected officials in Los Angeles have made public statements on the homeless crisis that grips the region. They represent two completely different perspectives on how to resolve that crisis.

The first came in the form of a thank you letter from retiring Los Angeles City Council member Mike Bonin, sent to those of his constituents who wish him well in whatever he does next. With respect to his legacy, Bonin writes: “By providing housing and services, we are changing lives and providing a pathway out of homelessness. Since the launch of the Venice Beach Encampments to Homes initiative, 76 people have been permanently housed.” 

 

Seventy six people. Remember that number.

Bonin’s philosophy is consistent with what remains of the prevailing progressive doctrine regarding homelessness, known as “Housing First.” It is defined on the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development website as “an approach to quickly and successfully connect individuals and families experiencing homelessness to permanent housing without preconditions and barriers to entry, such as sobriety, treatment or service participation requirements.”

This approach has made Bonin infamous even among the mostly progressive residents of Venice Beach, where an estimated 2,000 homeless have taken over this tiny beachfront suburb of Los Angeles. Only a small fraction of them have been given “supportive housing” or temporary shelter, and only a small fraction are held accountable for using and selling hard drugs, public intoxication, theft, vandalism, or worse.

The other public official who has recently weighed in on L.A.’s challenges is the outspoken county sheriff, Alex Villanueva. In an interview with California Insider, Villanueva describes how progressive policies have combined to “defund, defame, and defang” his department

[SDwaters]

“They think that if we build enough supportive housing we will end homelessness in Los Angeles,” he continued. “But the more you build, the more people will come. Right now we have 25 percent of the nation’s homeless in Los Angeles County. What’s going to prevent more homeless people from coming to Los Angeles if they see someone living in a $500,000 condo with a beach view? They’ll say, ‘hey, I want one too.’ We cannot create the magnet that brings other people here.”

"If you build it, they will come" might work in a fantasy movie about baseball, but it's a formula for disaster when applied to public housing policy!