Good news is, that in 48 states the homeless population is declining.

Bad News is that the homeless population is growing, and they are moving to the two states that are welcoming them with open arms. That is California and Oregon.

If you let them build tent cities, let them call home anywhere they want-in what ever they want, and order police to not enforce any laws against them, more will come.

Bad News, I don't think you've thought through your statement very well. Do you think that all of the decrease of homelesness in other states is due to their moving to CA and OR? How do you explain the overall increase in homelessness? How do the policies of states like UT, where they provide homes for the homeless, lead homeless people to move to CA and OR? Why does the rise in homelessness in CA track our skyrocketing rents if its driven by the policies you cite? Which specific policies were implemented, and when, which you blame for the "open arms"?

@Think,

That story that I refereed to was in the news just this morning.

Not that I think that would matter to someone like you. Think yourslf.

Then provide a link to the story you refer to.

And answer any of his questions about your hazy claims:
- Do you think that all of the decrease of homelesness in other states is due to their moving to CA and OR?
- How do you explain the overall increase in homelessness?
- How do the policies of states like UT, where they provide homes for the homeless, lead homeless people to move to CA and OR?
- Why does the rise in homelessness in CA track our skyrocketing rents if its driven by the policies you cite?
- Which specific policies were implemented, and when, which you blame for the "open arms"?

It is the humane thing to do to provide shelters for our most vulnerable neighbors (new or old neighbors), but I wish the courts did not make it so hard for cities to enforce laws against tents public places, as long as the spaces in shelters are available (which they are not in many parts of CA), there then needs to be more backing of letting cities remove tent cities and reclaim control over their local public and health and safety.

Make sure you vote against the RV ban in November, since Mountain View does not have enough shelter beds, and the anti-RV majority (Margaret Abe-Koga, Lisa Matichak, Ellen Kamei, and John McAlister) explicitly chose to ban RVs knowing that they had already declared a shelter crisis! The moderates on council wanted to tie the implementation of the ban to the city's resolution of the shelter crisis, but the majority went full-steam ahead, leading us to the referendum on the ballot.

Vote No on the ban, and vote out Margaret Abe-Koga and Lisa Matichak!

Sue cities that don't do what? How about sue Newsom? Give his fancy house to homeless.

I saw that story on TV this morning. The reporter interviewed a homeless male who recently came to San Francisco from Seattle. The reporter asked him why he came here, the man said people are more generous handing out money here to homeless than in Seattle. He said he can make the same amount here in 2 to 3 hours and that it would take 3 days to get the same in Seattle.

He looked like a drug addict, IMO.

Newsroom Newsom is just trying to get ahead of a homeless problem that is getting out of control due to weak Dem leadership and the party of one here in California.That $1.4 billion will come from schools and infrastructure. Maybe not directly, but it will. The working and middle class will pay for it. It return more homeless will poor in to MV. And more RVs. Meanwhile, Newsom, Feinstein and Pelosi are all making millions and stuffing it into their mattresses. Meanwhile expect the tent cities to start to appear in MV with our wishy washing city council sitting on their hands.

The lack of substantive responses makes it clear that the anti-homeless, anti-poor side is heavy on rhetoric, but light on facts.

What is the real cause of the problem?

Many states are busing their homeless into the state.

Especially the "RED" states.

bit no one want to discuss that.

So, is the issue really simply that they don't have affordable housing? If so, why are people coming to the most expensive area in the country? If we just provide shelter, how do we know they would actually even go there? So, the bill makes it easier for Sacramento to sue a city but what if they simply won't go?

There is also no mention of providing mental health, substance abuse, job training, etc. that will help people get out of homelessness. It just provides housing paid for by tax payers. So, they're still homeless, you're all just paying for their house instead of helping them become self-sustaining.

Simple solution, send them back to the states they came from or find a relative of theirs that will take them in. Seems like this blue state has their priorities mixed up, with all the anit-business laws and taxes, business are leaving and people are leaving, but at least we have the homeless coming here now.

As an actual case manager assisting the homeless in Mountain View, I can assure you that categorizing "vehicle dwellers", "tent dwellers", and people living outside, even under an overpass, as "Homeless" is perfectly acceptable as defined by HUD (Federal) and the County of Santa Clara. The truth of the matter is that homelessness has increased by over 30% in the last two years in SC County. In the midst of plenty and prosperity for a few, you have a perfect storm of under-funded mental health services, Baby Boomer seniors that are priced out of the housing market, single parents- usually women, often victims of abusive relationships, with no job skills eking out an existence for themselves and their children, a county shelter system with about 1,000 spaces and over 9,000 homeless that have been counted("Santa Clara County officials conducted the biennial homeless census over two days in January 2019 and found 9,706 homeless adults living in the county's 15 cities and unincorporated areas, an increase of 2,312 from the 2017 count"), an influx of undocumented asylum seekers fleeing the cartels and gangs of Latin America where horrific crimes against the innocent go unreported in our media unless it occurs against American tourists. This is the poor among us. Even I, and all other Social Workers, qualify as "low income" based on the County's median income of $123,000/year. It is time for complaining to stop and citizens to step up. Government and faith groups, businesses, large and small. The Great Depression and the Dust Bowl also resulted in displacement and homelessness. Certainly there are solutions from the past that can inform and inspire solutions for our poverty problems of today. See the link below for the Comprehensive County Report.
Web Link

Oops- here is that link:

Web Link

It is amazing how so many of those who want to pour millions of taxpayer dollars into this are unwilling to see how unfair that is to the people who pay for it. No doubt the next thing to happen will be a tax hike because we have (surprise, surprise!) shortfalls in the state's ability to pay its obligations. After all, we wouldn't want those homeless people to have to do anything radical, like getting a job or something like that.

This country has 7 million more job available than people to fill them. If these folks wanted to make an honest living, then they should be given the means to go where they can get a job. They have no business here if they aren't able to support themselves. The working residents of this city shouldn't have to support people who are unwilling to help themselves. That is especially true if they don't even come from here in the first place and are just here because Newsom is promising health care and aid to anyone who manages to get here.

This might be the first time I've agreed with Abe-Koga on anything, but the RVs have to go. As we have seen from data collected, many of those in the RVs are there because they CHOOSE to be there. There are construction workers who, rather than have to spend money renting a room for the week and contributing to the local economy, live in an RV for the price of gas. There are the folks who are saving on rent at the expense of those in the community whose taxes pay the bills for them.

It is not the obligation of the state to house everyone who wants to come here. If you can't afford to support yourself or are unwilling to do so, then responsible people shouldn't be robbed to support you.

The RVs need to be taken off the streets and moved to government funded sanitary parking spots
Vote yes in November on the Mountain View measure to uphold the City Council decision

Here's a solution for the RV parking.
Let's use the Levi's Stadium parking lots. The lots are close to public transit and sit empty most of the time. Then these street campers only need to move for games and events. The City of Santa Clara owns this land. Then California could do the same with all the other Stadium's parking lots.
Then charge each RV $5/day for the spot, to cover trash, water, toilets, and security costs.
Think of all the good press this would generate for the stadium.

“Were the homeless always homeless? If not, what brought them to the state of homelessness?”

Web Link

What we have is an addiction crisis masquerading as a housing crisis. The crisis has been greatly exacerbated by policies that have enabled addicts to continue their drug use. Crime has been decriminalized. Laws regarding vagrancy, camping, and public defecation go unenforced. Compassion is killing the addicted and destroying civil society. As drug use, rats, crime and disease run rampant, Newsome's response is to spend more money on the very policies that created this epidemic. Until we can drop the flowery language of the compassionate and call out the problem for what it is, "homelessness" will only get worse with each dollar spent.

Sam,

Your use of character asssination on all homeless is a clear indication of one with no tolerance of due process.

You make a declaration that ALL homeless are either nuiseance, drug addicts, or criminals. You have to prove that EVERY HOMELESS individual is guilty to base your claim.

This is the same attack used by Trump regarding legal immigrants seeking legal status but are not allowed becasue the system is not funded nor operating efficently. THus by delay they are undocumented. THat is not the fault of those undocumented, but the process being maipulated to [prevent legal immigrtion.

That's All.