When it came to homelessness, California Democrats have been focused on “empathy,” social programs, and decriminalization.
Now, the new motto is “out of sight, out of mind.”
California Democrats have done a poor job of solving homelessness. Despite shoveling billions toward homelessness programs over the past few years, the homeless population in the state has skyrocketed. So, too, have the health and public safety problems, including homeless encampment fires, homeless people wandering onto roads or train tracks, drug paraphernalia finding its way to school campuses and baseball fields, and human waste in the streets.
Even liberal residents in California’s city are tired of this. The message of empathy has now been replaced by mayors moving homeless camps out of the public eye.
Oakland and Sacramento are increasing their efforts to close homeless encampments, while Gov. Gavin Newsom has (meekly) boasted that the state has cleared 1,200 encampments over the last year.
It isn’t really homelessness that’s the problem for California Democrats, though. They don’t really care whether some 113,000 people are out on the street every night. They only care that some people may notice them, which is why Los Angeles shooed them away from the site of the Super Bowl and the Oscars over the past two years.
Have to make sure those celebrities don’t walk through feces to accept their golden awards, after all.
The Golden State went from inviting homelessness as a lifestyle choice to pushing it into the shadows so people would stop complaining. Actually solving the problem isn’t on the radar — because it never is in California. California isn’t going to solve the homelessness problem until it is willing to punish those who are addicted to drugs. You can try to look on the bright side, but the rolling blackouts will make that difficult too.
