Trump Orders Crackdown On California Homelessness

Zero Hedge – by Tyler Durden

President Trump has ordered White House officials to crack down on homelessness in California according to an anonymously-sourced Tuesday report in the Washington Post.

#1 on the list appears to be Los Angeles’s infamous “skid row,” where vagrants will be moved into government-backed facilities. Trump is said to be actively involved in the effort, which is currently under discussion by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Domestic Policy Council, and the Department of Health and Human Services. 

One official cited the need to take action due to the “rampant diseases” and sewage problems (a.k.a. so much feces that San Franciscso pays ‘poop patrollers’ $185,000 per year to keep up with their shitty situation).

Among the ideas under consideration is razing existing tent camps for the homeless, creating new temporary facilities, or refurbishing existing government facilities, two officials said. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because the planning hasn’t been publicly revealed. The changes would give the federal government a larger role in supervising housing and health care for residents.

The Post notes that “the talks are fluid and concrete plans had not been reached.”

Given Trump’s recent comments on the “disgrace to our country” of homelessness, along with the “rat and rodent infested” city of Baltimore (represented by House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Elijah Cummings (D) – who’s investigating Trump in several matters), it stands to reason that dinging Democrats for their disastrously run sanctuary utopias will be a key focus going into the 2020 election.

In early July, Trump told Fox News host Tucker Carlson that his administration “may intercede” in cities like New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

“You can’t have what’s happening — where police officers are getting sick just by walking the beat.  I mean, they’re getting actually very sick, where people are getting sick, where the people living there living in hell, too,” said Trump. “We cannot ruin our cities.  And you have people that work in those cities. They work in office buildings and to get into the building, they have to walk through a scene that nobody would have believed possible three years ago.”

And in a late July tweet, the president slammed Democrats for wasting time on “the Witch Hunt Hoax” instead of “focusing on our Country!”

Speaking of failing badly, has anyone seen what is happening to Nancy Pelosi’s district in San Francisco. It is not even recognizeable lately. Something must be done before it is too late. The Dems should stop wasting time on the Witch Hunt Hoax and start focusing on our Country!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 28, 2019

According to White House spokesman Judd Deere, Trump signed a June executive order governing the regulation of affordable housing, while his administration has been drawing up plans to deal with homelessness across the country.

Trump’s executive order created a new White House council on eliminating “regulatory barriers” increasing the cost of building new housing, a move aimed at expanding the housing supply and driving down prices.

“Like many Americans, the President has taken notice of the homelessness crisis, particularly in cities and states where the liberal policies are combining to dramatically increase poverty and public health risks,” said Deere. “President Trump has directed his team to go further and develop a range of policy options for consideration to deal with this tragedy.”

Meanwhile, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti aide Breelyn Pete told Politico that a “very large delegation” of Trump administration officials were in town to discuss the matter.

The number of homeless families in California has skyrocketed in recent years by at least 25%, according to David Garcia, policy director at the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at the University of California, Berkeley, who told the Post “Generally speaking, all the major cities have seen incredible increases. It’s a crisis.”

That said, Garcia also slammed Trump for adding to the homelessnes problem by “tightening immigrants’ eligibility for federal assistance,” which puts more families on the streets.

California also lacks a “right to shelter” law that in other states gives homeless people temporary shelters, meaning a large percentage of California’s homeless population ends up sleeping on the street or in their vehicles, according to Diane Yentel, president and CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, a nonprofit group.

Complicating matters, California has enacted a number of restrictive zoning laws that drive up the cost of housing by constraining the state’s supply, she said, although some state lawmakers are pushing to relax those limits.

Skid Row holds about 5,000 homeless people, an 11 percent increase from last year, according to statistics published in September by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. –Washington Post

If the Trump administration’s endeavors prove successful, poop patrollers may be out of a job.

https://www.zerohedge.com/health/trump-orders-crackdown-california-homelessness