Public Safety

Newsom’s plans to eliminate family homelessness, spend Calif. surplus are depressingly clueless

California Gov. Gavin Newsom recently concluded a five-day road show in which he illustrated, for his pandemic-weary constituents, how he plans to distribute an unprecedented $75 billion state budget surplus, plus an additional $27 billion in federal stimulus funds. Flanked by legislative leaders in Oakland, Newsom presented a $12 billon package he said would house an additional 46,000 homeless individuals in...

June 15, 2021

Public Safety

‘Safe’ injection sites won’t solve California’s homeless and drug abuse crises

In San Francisco in 2020, the number of opioid overdose deaths, 697, was more than twice as high as the city’s COVID-19 deaths, 257. Yet California lawmakers, so quick to lock down the economy, issue stay-at-home orders and mandate masks, are taking a very different approach to the opioid epidemic – giving people with drug addictions a so-called...

June 4, 2021

Public Safety

The Alarming Absence of Accountability in the Homelessness System

Federal prosecutors filed charges against the recently terminated CEO of one of New York’s largest homeless shelter networks. They allege he pocketed hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks from contractors hired by the nonprofit organization he led for two decades. These charges were in addition to the sexual abuse and financial impropriety charges that...

April 20, 2021

Public Safety

Austin’s Homelessness Policies Making Matters Worse

Three campfires in one evening sounds like an awful lot of fun, unless you are a firefighter like Austin Fire Department Battalion Chief Thayer Smith. In the wee hours of April 2, his unit battled fires at three homeless encampments. What is happening in Austin is nothing short of a humanitarian crisis. It threatens the...

April 7, 2021

Local Government

A Roadmap for Austin’s New Homelessness Czar

The city of Austin recently announced a new homelessness “czar,” a position that had been open for more than one year—the first “czar” lasted only a month. As a first course of action, we hope she will advocate for the reversal of a recent decision by ECHO (Ending Community Homelessness Coalition) to skip a full...

February 23, 2021

Local Government

The ‘Inspirational’ Golden State

President Joe Biden appears to be looking to California for policy inspiration. This bodes ill for Americans. California, a beautiful land graced by mild weather, lost population last year for the first time in its 170-year history as a state. That 80,000 residents are fleeing annually to Texas, where summers are markedly less enjoyable, speaks volumes about California’s craptacular governance....

February 9, 2021

Family

Family homelessness in D.C. is growing

The 2019 Point in Time (PIT) Count in D.C. revealed a welcome drop in the number of homeless families — a nearly 45 percent decline since its 2016 count. Unfortunately, this count grossly underreports the numbers of women and children experiencing homelessness. The Department of Housing and Urban Development mandates that every community receiving HUD funding perform...

December 18, 2020

Family

When it comes to homelessness, Austin continues to follow in California’s failed footsteps

On Aug. 27, Austin launched a campaign called, “a week of action to support ending homelessness.”  It admittedly sounds wonderful… something around which all should be able to coalesce.  Instead, we should heed the lesson from Hans Christian Andersen’s fable, “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” Austin’s efforts to address its spiraling homelessness crisis are clothed in...

September 8, 2020

Family

‘Housing First’ approach won’t solve homelessness crisis

In the weeks since the Texas Department of Transportation began clearing homeless encampments that have become an unofficial and unwelcome symbol of life in Austin, the homelessness crisis has shown few signs of slowing down. A five-acre temporary campsite established by the state has seen little traffic while tents and makeshift shelters continue to pop up beneath overpasses almost...

November 30, 2019