Newsom threatens to take money from counties that don't reduce homelessness

gAlienLifeform@lemmy.world to News@lemmy.world – 199 points –
Newsom threatens to take money from counties that don't reduce homelessness
latimes.com
77

This is fucking insane. He wants them to create housing immediately, as if building things like apartments doesn't take time.

Bad enough that the camps are being broken up. They literally have nowhere to go but prison. Oh well, at least the private prisons are making their slave quotas.

He wants them to create housing immediately, as if building things like apartments doesn't take time.

He says that occasionally, but that's not really what he wants, he just wants homeless people gone out of sight and out of the minds of his donors and their customers. If they disappear into housing that's fine, but he's ok with other solutions too so long as they happen now now now

Los Angeles County, in particular, has become a frequent target of Newsom’s ire. The governor again criticized the county on Thursday for delaying implementation of a law that expands the criteria for people to be detained against their will.

Absolutely. He's not an idiot. He knows he's asking the impossible when he says shit like this.

When is the cocksucker up for relection. We need to Primary him and remove him from politics at least as a Democrat. He fucking DINO and horrible human being. He should join the GOP because everything he does reminds me of them.

Welp, buy them all involuntary bus tickets to South Park then... that'll solve the issue permanently. /s

it would be impolite to say so though. 🤷‍♀️ sorry. can't listen, you're rude for accusing someone of doing something only a total piece of shit would do, implying that he's a total piece of shit. what kind person would even DO that?

maybe we could listen to you if you also said it was fine and good?

Especially if it doesn't hurt his electabity. I think he's quite ambitious and that motivates him.

Besides, what does a career politician do after governorship?

Corporate boards?

Forced prison labor is determined by state, not by ownership. There are Federal prisons in many states that use slave labor, socialized by our tax money.

Your point still stands though.

Apartments take a few months to build. There are standard designs they build over an over again in different locations. I realize CA has earthquakes and maybe cannot take a design from Ohio (though I wouldn't be surprised if they could), but there should be plenty of designs that meet codes. If they cannot build thousands of apartments in a year the problem isn't the time it is they are doing something to make it not possible to build that fast.

Building should be by right - no need to ask the neighbors for permission or get a review (for a standard design that doesn't do anything unusual), just half hour to get the permit and then a few routine inspections along the way.

You read what he's saying in the article, because the implication is pretty clear that he's saying, "you house these people right now or else" as if that's possible.

He has been threatening for a while now. If they haven't made significant progress it is because they are not trying to.

If they haven’t made significant progress it is because they are not trying to.

Bullshit. They have to deal with a bunch of NIMBYism.

They refers to the people of the county in question - which is where those NIMBYs live and thus those who are not trying.

Wow. My building was finished 6 months ago after a 3-year process.

I envy your comparatively-overnight build. Pouring the foundation (parking) alone is a month for 5 storeys for the new one going in next door, and then concrete for each level is at least another fortnight. That's like a year alone just for the concrete skeleton, let alone the infrastructure and then build of the units.

maybe California shouldn't have a 3-5 YEAR waitlist for section 8/Housing Choice Vouchers housing?

maybe they should force all those empty retail/commercial/industrial/residential properties to be put to use or forced to hand over to the state.

maybe the church of scientology shouldnt be allowed to own thousands of buildings in california with no stated purposed or published staff?

Maybe they should also start building more apartments at rent controlled rates?

Its not just about the empty spots. Those are owned.

Its about the rich people denying apartments to maintain the clean skyline.

Edit: added also

Nah, I'm with Num10ck. There are more than enough houses with existing infrastructure to utilities. Putting up more homes is wasteful and adds carbon into the air.

The state has the power to levy a heavy vacancy tax on unoccupied spaces. I think thats the best route to getting people housed.

Oh I also agree we need to tax unoccupied housing. On a sliding scale too since there are land barons rampant in our nation.

This would force real estate companies to fill homes that costs them loads to keep empty. Instantly increasing supply and thus cost of rent goes down.

Oh OK I must have misunderstood you. I'm all about rent stabilizing and taxing the rich.

Carry on.

Rent control disincentivizes building new apartments though. That is, if I take out a load of debt to build a $10M apartment, and due to rent control my profit is going to be capped at levels that are probably below what I could get through low-risk treasury bills, why would I build anything? Sure, you can get it built by the state, but states have a distressing tendency to stop adequately funding required infrastructure and not do necessary maintenance in a timely fashion (more so than most shitty apartment complexes even).

I entirely agree that NIMBYs need to be steamrolled though. High-density housing is far, far better than sprawl.

My wet dream is dead malls converted to indoor cities. Turn old shops into efficiency apartments, the huge end cap stores like Boscovs into grocery stores, food court into cafeteria-style dining. Hell, even keep some food places or shops if you want to get some capitalists hard. Just charge them rent out the ass in exchange for a nearly captive consumer base and use the funds to improve the place.

maybe California shouldn't have a 3-5 YEAR waitlist for section 8/Housing Choice Vouchers housing?

I live in a deep red state and it's that wait, or more, here, and I believe it's a lottery system, at that.

Maybe Newsom should focus on NIMBY laws that prevent affordable housing.

He has done that. Not defending his homelessness position. Only saying he's mandated housing creation.

Breaking up homeless encampments doesn’t fix the fact that these people have nowhere to live! What a cruel policy.

Why not emminent domain overpriced apartment buildings owned by the Saudis, Chinese, and Russians, and give the apartments away the homeless. Problem solved.

Yeah, so simple!

Those apartments world devolve into a human trafficking, crime ridden drug overdose havens in no time. Mental health support for them is needed first.

You get them in a stable living arrangement first, and then that makes mental health support exponentially easier.

Housing first policies work everywhere they're tried.

Please link the studies to change my mind. Otherwise, apologies for sounding rude, but you are full of bullshit lies.

I never understood people like you. That the moment you help someone, the result will obviously be the worst outcome? So better not help them at all?

You don't understand because your never consider the consequences of your actions.

Providing shelter for everyone is a basic human need.

But forcing mentally ill people mixed together with financially downtrodden unhoused people into a Kowloon City type environment without considering their ability to maintain their cleanliness and safety without imposing jack-booted level of policing is another level of stupid I can't force out of you without an hours long face-to-face lecture where you and I can discuss like two friendly normal people.

"force your opinion out of you over an hours long conversation like a normal friendly person"

time for some self reflection there, baroque

i happen to agree with you too, as would i think anyone who has spent time in an american projects or shelter system, but youve so thoroughly poisoned the argument i cant take it up here.

Providing shelter for everyone is a basic human need.

I agree. So let's start with the basic human need. Nobody suggested we stop there and wash our hands of it saying "problem solved."

The safety net has people-sized holes in it. I nearly became homeless in June, and it wasn't the state that came through for me, it was a relative. Even though I'm stll sleeping on a porch, I count myself lucky.

The programs that are supposed to help people stay housed are failing: not enough funds for housing vouchers, restrictions too high for enrollment, and waiting lists too long for practicality.

And Gavin is a wannabe autocrat. If it weren't for him and his vetomania, we would have legalized natural psychedelics in CA by now. But no, instead we have people out there getting sick from sketchy products. And it seems like it's the same with everything: do the exact opposite of helping while making it look like you care.

Edit: there are decent leaders out there though, such as this mayor who lived as a homeless man for a week to gain some insight on the matter.

A large number of the homeless people in L.A. have jobs. It's just ridiculously expensive to live there, so they end up living in their cars or a tent.

Most homeless people are invisible ie you can't tell they are homeless.

They got work, they get by as hard as it is.

But fake teevee always showing junkies on teevee, and act like they all deserve it.

🤡

That's what I've heard as well. Passing them on the street you'd probably think they weren't even homeless at all. Not everyone finds it possible to get their life together that much, though :/

I don't know about L.A. in specific, but-

a 2021 study from the University of Chicago estimates that 53% of people living in homeless shelters and 40% of unsheltered people were employed, either full or part-time, in the year that people were observed homeless between 2011 – 2018.

https://endhomelessness.org/blog/employed-and-experiencing-homelessness-what-the-numbers-show/

And that was all pre-COVID and housing bubble, obviously.

There are over 650,000 homeless in America now. So even if it's only 40% of those...

650k is the visible homeless, my understanding there is another million of people who are not visible homeless.

We need real leadership when it comes to affordable housing, instead we get this.

I am so, so glad that Newsom wasn't seriously in the running to be VP. This will hopefully tank his chances of ever running for president.

Send them to the conservative states like they sent immigrants via bus and plane to liberal states. Seeing as they say they have low homelessness problems it must mean they have a solution that will help these people, right? Prove those lib states wrong.

I lived in peace and humanity first Berkeley, Ca for 10 years a bastion of liberalism taken to the extreme. For 10 years I voted repeatedly in local elections for more affordable housing and zoning changes to make it easier to develop taller buildings and rezone areas for housing development. In the time I was there I think I can count on 1 hand the number of apartment and housing developments I saw being erected. Every damn election people voted against zoning changes and shot them down. We eventually had kids and guess what, there was no place for us to raise a family. So we moved out of state. Californians have nobody but themselves to blame for the homelessness problem the NIMBYism there is to the stratosphere. They shit talk about places like Texas, but guess what? At least there people have a place to live, which is more than I can say for the majority of cities in California.

They shit talk about places like Texas, but guess what? At least there people have a place to live, which is more than I can say for the majority of cities in California.

Texas busses their homeless to Cali. Also, good luck surviving winter in Texas if a power outage is enough to kill people lol

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Good for him. Homelessness was out of control when I visited San Francisco and LA a few years ago.

This just moves the issue somewhere else. How the fuck is this a solution?