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Newsom tries to shift blame on homelessness to local government

Gavin Newsom stood before the cameras in early March and once again blamed local governments for the state’s spiraling homelessness crisis.

“No more excuses,” he thundered, threatening to strip funding from counties he claims are underperforming while promising to redirect “every damn penny” to those “getting things done.”

Newsom is once again attempting to shift blame for California’s homelessness crisis — the very crisis he has repeatedly pledged to solve, including his 2021 vow to end family homelessness within five years.

Since 2017, homelessness in California has surged by more than 40 percent — from roughly 134,000 people to nearly 187,000 in 2024 — despite an estimated $30 billion in spending he authorized.

His latest tirade against counties ignores the glaring truth.

The problem isn’t a lack of spending. And it isn’t local governments. The problem is the one-size-fits-all policy that has dictated both the spending and the strategy.

Despite data showing that roughly 80 percent of those living on California’s streets struggle with severe mental illness or addiction, the cornerstone of Newsom’s homelessness strategy — Housing First — prioritizes lifelong housing subsidies with no expectation of treatment, sobriety, or work, ever.

The theory is deceptively simple: Give someone housing and stability will follow.

But that theory has collapsed under the weight of reality.

Not only did homelessness surge in California after the policy was mandated statewide in 2016, it also surged by nearly 35 percent once the federal government adopted the approach in 2013 — despite President Barack Obama’s promise that it would end homelessness within a decade.

Instead of ending........

© New York Post