SACRAMENTO – Today, Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher (Yuba City) issued a statement in advance of Governor Newsom’s afternoon media event where he is expected to celebrate his successes on reducing homelessness:
“I think the Governor’s Media Advisory included a typo. California is leading the nation in homelessness, not the other way around,” said Gallagher. “Californians can see with their own eyes the growing homeless camps and filth in their communities. I don’t know who they think they are fooling – there’s not a whole lot for the Governor to celebrate here.”
Today at 4:00 pm, Governor Newsom is holding a press conference to announce funding awards for 2,499 housing units at a “Nation-Leading” Project Homekey site in Los Angeles County.
“Project Homekey is akin to putting a bandaid on a severed limb. Simply providing shelter to someone struggling with a severe mental health illness or drug addiction is nothing to celebrate,” said Gallagher. “California’s approach to reducing homelessness needs to be holistic with more emphasis on accountability and treatment for mental health illnesses and drug addiction.”
It was reported earlier this year that the City of Los Angeles was spending up to $837,000 to house a single homeless person. In the past three years alone, California has thrown a total of $17 billion at the homeless crisis. Yet federal data shows that despite the myriad of available programs, the homeless population actually grew in California.
Senate and Assembly Republicans introduced a package of legislative proposals earlier this year to ACT on homelessness. Nearly every proposal was rejected by Capitol Democrats.