Hello Everyone:
It is a lovely Wednesday afternoon and time for Blogger Candidate Forum. Big news: The Los Angeles Times reported today Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law AB5, granting minimum wage and benefits to gig economy workers. This is a victory for the thousands of gig workers who deliver food and provide rides to on-demand app users. The law goes into effect on January 1, 2020. More news: After Latino-'splaining at a campaign stop in New Mexico, Mr. Donald Trump moved on to Blogger's hometown, Los Angeles, and waded into the homeless crisis. This is where we start.
 |
| abc7.com |
Homelessness is Los Angeles' intractable problem. It seems that no matter what anyone proposes or enacts, it never seems to be enough, to put it mildly. During the now completed two-day visit to California, the president took the time to malign the problem of homelessness in California. The president told a gaggle of reports aboard Air Force 1, "....people living on the streets here have ruined the 'prestige' of two of the state's most most populous cities..." (washingtonpost.com; Sept. 17, 2019; date accessed Sept. 18, 2019). Specifically,
We can't let Los Angeles, San Francisco and numerous other cities destroy themselves by allowing what's happening" (Ibid).
Mr. Trump seemed to suggest that his administration would take unilateral action on homelessness but what kind, if any, of action on homelessness does the administration plan to take.
 |
| Union Rescue Mission Los Angeles, California homelessshelterdirectory.org |
Never one to miss an opportunity to take aim at the state with the largest number of electoral votes, USA Today reported that a new report from the administration concluded that "homelessness could be dramatically reduced by slashing restrictions on housing construction and being less tolerant of sleeping on the street" (usatoday.com; Sept. 17, 2019; date accessed Sept. 18, 2019). The Council of Economic Advisers released their report in time for the president's visit to California for two days of speeches and fundraisers. During the same Air Force 1 gaggle, the president added,
The people of San Francisco are fed up and the people of Los Angeles are fed up and we're looking at it and we will be doing something about it at the appropriate time (Ibid)
What are the chances that nothing will done?
The report, The State of Homelessness in America, lays some of the blame for homelessness at the feet of the shelters. The logic of this argument is "Some people would be able to find their own housing if they were tuned away form shelters" (Ibid). Specifically,
While shelters play an extremely important role in bringing some people off the street, it also b rings in people who would otherwise be housed, thus increasing total homelessness...(Ibid)
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti responded, saying this was not a subject for cable news debates. In a statement,
We don't have time for that,... If the president really cares about solving this crisis, wouldn't be talking about criminalization over housing. He'd be making dramatic increases in funding for this country's housing safety net (Ibid)
 |
| Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson biography.com |
A week before the two-day jaunt through the Golden State, the White House announced it was planning a crackdown on homeless people in California (citylab.com; Sept. 11, 2019; date accessed Sept. 18, 2019)--something that is already raising concern among local homeless advocates and civic officials. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson and a group of officials were dispatched to California, ahead of the president's visit to see what the situation on the ground was.
The Washington Post reported that Mr. Trump ordered administration officials to come up with tangible solutions to the crisis in Los Angeles and other California cities (washingtonpost.com; Sept. 10, 2019; date accessed Sept. 18, 2019). White House, Department of HUD, and related agency officials are examining several options, including razing the encampments and moving the people into federally administered facilities. Yours Truly knows your are all thinking "how is that working for all the migrants in federally administered detention facilities at the border?"
Sarah Holder and Kriston Capps write, "The White House appears to be targeting people living in Los Angeles's downtown Skid Row area, where much of the city's soaring unhoused population [cnn.com; June 6, 2019; date accessed Sept. 18, 2019] is concentrated" (citylab.com; Sept. 11, 2019). This year the number of homeless people spiked 16, according to the annual point-in-time count (latimes.com; June 4, 2019; date accessed Sept. 18, 2019). Officials declined to comment on what plans or discussions were in progress. However, Mayor Garcetti's deputy communications director Alex Comisar said in an email,
We welcome them and look forward to showing them our work to confront this humanitarian emergency (citylab.com; Sept. 11, 2019)
 |
| smartasset.com |
It is no secret that housing costs in California are skyrocketing, especially in the major cities. However, you have to look at the White House's interest in tackling this intractable problem in context to its past comments. One way to look at it is that it comes in the wake of clueless comments the president made on Fox News in July. He told host Tucker Carlson "that homelessness was a phenomenon that started two years ago [nytimes.com; July 2, 2019; date accessed Sept. 18, 2019] and that he may intercede and do something to get that whole thing cleaned up" (citylab.com; Sept. 11, 2019). Both Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti were critical of those eye rolling comments.
Another way to understand the White House's seeming interest in L.A.'s homeless crisis is "in the context of his frequent disparaging comments about American urban areas--particularly majority-black cities such as Chicago and Baltimore, according to Karen Lincoln, an associate professor of social work at the University of Southern California" (Ibid). Although African Americans make up only 9 percent of L.A.'s population, 40 percent of the city's homeless population is African American (Ibid). LatinX make up a similar proportion. A better way to understand the nature of homelessness in L.A. is through the demographics--an Los Angeles and other California cities are led by liberal Democrats. Prof. Lincoln told CityLab,
It seems like the [Trump administration's] approach is going to be more punitive just of the that African-American and poor people and Latinos have been constructed in the current rhetoric of this administration (Ibid).
Strangely, the White House's strategies are not that dissimilar from those being pursued by state and local agencies: removing the unhoused, criminalizing living on the street, increasing funding to permanent supportive housing and shelters.
 |
| L.A.'s Skid Row lamag.com |
Homeless advocates say in San Francisco for example, that, "in addition to disrupting communities [missionlocal.org; Aug. 8, 2019; date accessed Sept. 18, 2019] and destroying personal property [sfweekly.com; June 7, 2019; date accessed Sept. 18, 2019], these sweeps are expensive: In 2015, the San Francisco Chronicle reported [sfchronicle.com; Mar. 6, 2015; date accessed Sept. 18, 2019] the city spent $3 million a year on evicting people from encampments, and Los Angeles is on track to spend $30 million on the practice this year...[laist.com; Apr. 10, 2019; date accessed Sept. 18, 2019], up from $13 million the year before"(citylab.com; Sept. 11, 2019).
As to what type of legal authority the president has to clear the encampments is dubious. A homeless encampment in the park or on the sidewalk is not a violation of federal law. Could the president issue an executive order or declare a state of emergency in order to activate federal law enforcement to police the homeless? No, not really because cities exist to benefit their state. Therefore, if the White House was truly interested in ending homelessness it would target increased investments in homeless services and buttress HUD's affordable housing services. Not likely to happen because the Department of Housing for and Urban Development and the White rejected local requests for help while promising federal intervention (abcnews.go.com; date accessed Sept. 18, 2019). The blame game continues while men and women who live on the streets do not receive the help they so desperately need.
No comments:
Post a Comment