Gov. Newsom Rejects Sheriff’s Claims His Homelessness Plan Isn’t Working

PARAMOUNT, Calif. (AP/CBS13) — Gov. Gavin Newsom connected Wednesday rejected claims by the sheriff of California’s astir populous region that grounds spending connected homelessness initiatives isn’t putting a dent successful the occupation of radical surviving successful the streets and the authorities isn’t held accountable for wherever the billions of dollars go.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva criticized Newsom’s announcement this week that helium would adhd $2 cardinal nether his latest fund connection to an existing $12 cardinal program to trim the fig of stateless Californians.

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“It’s going to the aforesaid stateless concern complex, and there’s nary accountability,” Villanueva said. “There’s nary results that we’re seeing, there’s nary vision. What is that success?”

Newsom changeable backmost during a halt successful the Los Angeles County metropolis of Paramount. The politician pointed to authorities helium signed past July that specifically requires cities and counties to travel strict accountability measures successful bid to person authorities wealth to combat homelessness. Each section jurisdiction indispensable taxable an “action plan” by mid-2022 that includes data-driven goals. If the goals are met, the jurisdictions tin suffice for further resources.

“So determination is simply a caller model astir accountability, caller readying metrics that see region sheriffs,” Newsom said Wednesday. “And I look guardant to the sheriff’s elaborate strategy connected however champion to usage the resources that he’s been provided arsenic well.”

Before visiting LA County, Newsom helped cleanable up a stateless encampment on a San Diego freeway to item the fund connection that helium said would physique connected erstwhile efforts to extremity homelessness. In 2021, the authorities invested $50 cardinal successful encampment removal and this twelvemonth helium has projected expanding that fig tenfold to $500 million.

“These encampments successful California are unacceptable. The soiled streets successful the authorities are unacceptable,” helium said. “We person to bash more. We person to bash better.”

Newsom tweeted this week that, successful the past year, “California has gotten 58,000 radical disconnected the streets and into lodging and attraction programs.”

In the past year, California has gotten 58,000 radical disconnected the streets and into lodging and attraction programs.

Now, we’re doing adjacent much — with $2B focused connected clearing encampments and providing much lodging for radical with intelligence wellness and addiction issues.

— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) January 10, 2022

The authorities enactment 50,000 radical who were stateless into edifice rooms that were turned into impermanent shelters. On apical of that, immoderate 8,000 radical were moved into hotels converted into imperishable lodging facilities that connection services specified arsenic intelligence wellness attraction and occupation placement.

The governor’s connection calls for an further 55,000 much units, including tiny homes, to beryllium made disposable to determination radical disconnected the streets.

Villanueva, who’s moving for reelection, has fashioned himself arsenic a brash outsider. Last summertime helium veered extracurricular his accepted jurisdiction and showed up astatine LA’s Venice Beach wearing a cowboy chapeau and promising a cleanup of stateless encampments. Villanueva has dubbed metropolis and region leaders “architects” of the stateless occupation and rejects taking a much measured approach.

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The sheriff, whose section is nether probe by the authorities for excessive unit and different alleged misconduct, faced crisp disapproval from the section governmental constitution for wading into metropolis turf.

A homelessness occupation erstwhile mostly constricted to the Skid Row conception of downtown has dispersed to virtually each parts of Los Angeles. The nation’s second-largest metropolis besides has the second-largest unhoused colonisation successful the state — 41,000 among the wide metropolis colonisation of 4 cardinal people, according to the astir caller survey conducted earlier the pandemic.

Villanueva claimed occurrence successful Venice Beach and connected Wednesday helium acceptable his sights connected different tourer destination: Hollywood. He said it should beryllium the extremity of each metropolis officials to “regulate nationalist space” and marque it charismatic for out-of-towners to travel walk money.

“Because tourism is $18 cardinal dollar a twelvemonth manufacture successful Los Angeles County,” Villanueva said. “We person to enactment and support our tourism industry.”

Newsom’s cleanup connected Wednesday comes amid increasing vexation with the proliferation of stateless encampments nether road overpasses and adjacent freeway exit and introduction ramps passim California.

An estimated 161,000 radical are experiencing homelessness successful California, much than successful immoderate different state. Advocates accidental they can’t location radical rapidly capable with a shortage of lodging units and precocious rents.

Newsom declined to accidental whether the stateless concern has go amended oregon worse since helium took bureau 3 years ago, though helium noted the pandemic has lone accrued the challenges.

“The 58,000 radical (moved disconnected the streets) volition archer you their lives person improved,” Newsom told reporters aft shoveling trash with workers from the California Department of Transportation, known arsenic Caltrans, which has been spearheading cleanups astatine akin sites statewide.

Newsom has said that 4,200 tons (3,810 metric tons) of trash has been collected since the programme was launched.

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“Since we made those investments, we’re dealing with unprecedented economical contraction, worst successful our lifetimes, induced by a pandemic,” helium added. “There’s not a politician oregon authorities that’s not suffering from those realities and those challenges.”