Newsom Slaps Another Band-Aid on the Homeless Crisis

Leader Jones is skeptical that the new round of homeless spending will achieve the goal

Senate Minority Leader Brian W. Jones (R-San Diego) released the following statement in response to Governor Newsom’s plan to spend another $1 billion in hopes of reducing the homeless population by 15 percent by 2025:

“This is just another band-aid on a crisis that is out of control in California,” Leader Jones said. “We know that throwing money at this problem doesn’t work. California has already spent $20 billion over the last five years on homelessness and the crisis has only gotten worse with more than 172,000 people living on the streets in this state. While I appreciate the governor’s creativity to construct 1,200 tiny homes, that is a drop in the bucket.

“Remember when the governor promised to ‘end chronic homelessness’ in San Francisco within 10 years? Or when he said California must ‘confront’ this urgent issue in 2019?," Leader Jones continued. “Given the governor’s past track record of breaking promises, I don’t have the greatest confidence that California will achieve a 15 percent reduction in homelessness by 2025, which by the way, would still leave almost 150,000 people living on the street.”

California Senate Republicans stand ready to work across the aisle and fix California by passing a comprehensive package to tackle the homelessness crisis with accountability, compassion, and investments in treatment programs.