California Gov. Gavin Newsom and local politicians refuse to declare a state of emergency or employ commonsense measures to combat the destruction created by homeless encampments throughout the county, Los Angeles County’s sheriff told the Washington Examiner.
Sheriff Alex Villanueva sent out letters to Newsom and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors detailing the horrors of Los Angeles’s struggles under the weight of an expanding homeless population. He asked for a state of emergency declaration to free up federal funds to combat the problem, but the politicians rebuffed his request.
“They are ignoring a crisis in our midst, and we need to resolve it,” Villanueva said. His July 8 letter to Newsom was ignored, and several exchanges with the board between June 23 and July 28 had no results.
GAVIN NEWSOM INVITES THE WORLD’S HOMELESS TO CALIFORNIA
Rather than responding themselves, the county supervisors delegated the task to the county counsel’s office, which irked the sheriff. Villanueva paraphrased the counsel’s letter because it was completely redacted:
“The letter basically said ‘mind your own business because there is no emergency here,’” Villanueva told the Washington Examiner. “It said the county has robust outreach programs. But there is nothing you can describe as robust because I’ve seen the problem grow in the past 10 years.”
When Villanueva sent the board a second letter, asking for a personal reply instead of the county counsel, he received another letter from the lawyers.
“We got another letter back even more snitty, stating that it’s privileged and confidential, and we can’t disclose the contents of this,” he said.
Villanueva has taken it upon himself to combat the homeless problem as he sees the influx get worse. Recently, his deputies began patrolling Venice Beach in an effort to curtail assaults, robberies, and fires that plague the area. His efforts were not welcome by city officials, who have contracted LAPD for service.
California currently has 180,000 homeless people, 80,000 of whom live in Los Angeles County, Villanueva said. This is about one-third of the nation’s homeless. Recently, Newsom invited the world’s homeless population to come experience the California dream while dedicating an additional $12 billion in aid.
“Residents are being held hostage in their local communities,” Villanueva wrote in his first board letter. “Residents and business owners should not be subject to walking around piles of trash and feces in their neighborhoods, businesses, parks and communities.”
He credited the homeless with starting massive wildfires with their outdoor kitchens in mountainous regions. Sheriff deputies are unable to patrol these areas adequately because of cuts due to the defund the police movement, Villanueva wrote.
In his second letter to the board, Villanueva said: “It is clearly evident the ‘robust services’ being provided are not working.”
Despite spending $6.5 billion over the last 10 years, nothing has changed, and the number of homeless have reached 80,000 people, he added. Villanueva then quoted a study saying 10% of Angelenos plan on leaving the area, a 40% increase from 2019.
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“Failed policies, self interest groups and political agendas are enabling a national crisis to fester,” he wrote.
The Board of Supervisors did not respond to a request for comment.
