Opinion: Storms expose failures of California’s homelessness programs
The spate of heavy rainstorms that swept across California during the early weeks of January exposed a lot of problems: weak bridges, inadequate reservoir capacity, poor drainage on many city streets and helplessness in the face of inevitable mudslides, to name just a few.
One video, shot in the stormy early morning hours of Jan. 5, says a lot about this. You can see it on YouTube:. The tape shows homeless individuals huddled in sleeping bags with water lapping at them. It shows people huddled under soaked blankets and in barely covered alcoves leading to building entrances. Most of all, it shows that in one city with a budget of tens of millions for “homeless services,” no one served the unhoused when they needed it most.
Some of California’s most prominent and powerful politicians often say they recognize this. New Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, whose city contains more than 56,000 homeless, declared a state of emergency over their situation on her first day in office last month. She wants to humanely eliminate some tent cities, but so far has moved only a few dozen persons indoors. Gov.
One state report indicates this year’s $10 billion allocation is a pittance beside what it will cost to house all the currently homeless. That assessment held it will take more than 30 times as much, or $300 billion
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