Homelessness – Blame or Solution?

Homelessness in a country of our economic reach seems unforgivable. It seems to impact the most income polarized cities with greater virulence, where high-tech and high-finance jobs consume once downtrodden neighborhoods with skyrocketing housing costs and exploding gentrification. Those who have indeed have more, and they spend increasing amounts on housing. Suburban commuting is increasingly the plight of lower income workers unable to afford living closer to their jobs and preferring not to stack themselves like sardines in very limited space. But some, having faced poor educational standards in subpar inner-city schools, incarceration, addiction or mental illness… perhaps simply being displaced simple obsolescence… are simply pushed out… on to harsh streets.

Homeless camps can also be the scourge of neighborhoods where homeowners fear the accompanying rise in crime, the dearth of sanitary facilities giving rise to sights, sounds and smells they cannot accept, while those trapped in those camps want nothing more than a safe and clean place to live. Dignity. Add a more favorable climate, one where bitter winters do not exist but where at least some social programs exist, and you get California. The state has appropriated funds to build permanent housing for the homeless, a plan that really is not remotely effective to date, versus New York City which simply focuses on getting the homeless with a roof over their heads, however temporary. Did weather dictate that difference? The NYC plan seems to be more effective. Los Angeles and San Francisco, not doing so well.

Enter the Trump administration with its deep hatred of all things California, from too many Latino residents, too many blue voters and too much resistance to most of the President’s policies, from trade to immigration to environment. California is the anti-Trump state to the max. So the Trump administration sent officials from the Departments of Veterans Affairs, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency to Los Angeles to find (i) blame or (ii) a solution? I suspect only the former.

Writing for the September 11^th Los Angeles Times, Benjamin Oreskes, Dakota Smith and James Queally describe the hateful “fact-gathering” effort. “The Trump administration officials who came to town to study homelessness spent Monday [9/9] and Tuesday [9/10] meeting with officials from Mayor Eric Garcetti’s office, checking out the Jordan Downs public housing in Watts and touring the long-entrenched epicenter of the crisis, skid row. There was even a trek to Pomona.

“An administration official said the purpose was to gather information so that President Trump could begin to develop a plan to address the ‘tragedy.’… ‘The president has taken notice of the homelessness crisis, particularly in cities and states where the liberal policies of overregulation, excessive taxation, and poor public service delivery are combining to dramatically increase poverty and public health risks,’ Deputy Press Secretary Judd Deere said.

“Local and state officials were skeptical. The offices of Garcetti and Gov. Gavin Newsom put out statements listing steps they said the administration could take right away if it truly intended to help solve the crisis.

“As he pursues reelection, Trump has used homelessness to bash leaders in California, where he remains deeply unpopular… ‘You take a look at what’s going on with San Francisco, it’s terrible. So we’re looking at it very seriously. We may intercede. We may do something to get that whole thing cleaned up. It’s inappropriate,’ Trump told Fox News in early July.” Does anyone think for a minute that an administration that is hell-bent on eviscerating social “entitlements” – from the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, food stamps, welfare at every level – to cutting taxes for the rich and leaving the rest of us to dangle in a world of skyrocketing costs… has any intention of helping solve this horrible issue?

              I’m Peter Dekom, and the only rational for this foray into poverty is to find liberals to blame for anything Trump can in preparing for his 2020 reelection effort.