{"id":12870,"date":"2019-09-21T09:48:58","date_gmt":"2019-09-21T16:48:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=12870"},"modified":"2019-09-21T09:49:00","modified_gmt":"2019-09-21T16:49:00","slug":"trump-addresses-california-homelessness-local-officials-respond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2019\/09\/21\/trump-addresses-california-homelessness-local-officials-respond\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump addresses California homelessness, local officials respond"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SEPTEMBER 18, 2019 (dailycal.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

WIKIMEDIA\/CREATIVE COMMONS<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BY KATE FINMAN<\/a> | STAFFLAST UPDATED 2 DAYS AGO<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Donald Trump visited California this week with Ben Carson, secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, to discuss the state\u2019s homelessness issue among other topics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to data from the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, California has the highest number and highest percentage of homeless residents of any state in the country. The city of Berkeley alone has<\/a> over 1,000 homeless residents, according to this year\u2019s point-in-time count \u2014 and the number has been rising in recent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump has publicly said he is looking into allocating federally owned buildings to be homeless shelters, among other ideas. He also mentioned changing housing policy. Trump\u2019s federal plans for combatting homelessness, however, were not welcomed by all \u2014 especially in Berkeley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t let Los Angeles, San Francisco and numerous other cities destroy themselves by allowing what\u2019s happening,\u201d Trump said to reporters Tuesday. \u201cWe have people living in our \u2026 best highways, our best streets, our best entrances to buildings.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before the president\u2019s visit, California Gov. Gavin Newsom sent a letter to Trump, asking for federal help with the \u201cnational crisis\u201d on behalf of a bipartisan coalition of local and state officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Newsom specifically asked for vouchers to assist low-income Americans and veterans with paying rent and finding housing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe all agree that homelessness is a national crisis decades in the making that demands action at every level of government,\u201d Newsom said in the letter. \u201cIn California, state and local governments have ramped up action to lift families out of poverty by investing in behavioral health, affordable housing, and other homeless programs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carson denied this request in a letter written to Newsom on behalf of Trump, stating that Newsom\u2019s proposals fail to take responsibility as a state for the issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This disappointed many people, including Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arregu\u00edn, who said he believes the solution to homelessness is increased housing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf the federal government is serious about addressing our nation\u2019s homelessness crisis, they must provide a humanitarian approach that addresses issues such as affordable housing, income disparities, and mental health,\u201d Arregu\u00edn said in an email. \u201cWe stand ready to work (with) collaboratively in developing solutions to fix the safety net and lift up our most vulnerable residents.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arregu\u00edn added that he did not think criminalizing poverty was the answer either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Local homeless activist Mike Zint said he agreed with efforts to provide housing for the homeless rather than shelters. He said services are important for mitigating the homelessness crisis, and added that HUD could help with this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe (homeless people) get wet, cold on warm days, blown by the wind, chased by cops, told to leave, get stepped on by society, and have the richer people crushing us with their unqualified opinions about us,\u201d Zint said in an email. \u201cIf the president was serious about helping poor Americans \u2026 he would start talking to the true experts in homelessness, the homeless.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kate Finman is the lead student government reporter. Contact her at kfinman@dailycal.org<\/a> and follow her on Twitter at @KateFinman_DC<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SEPTEMBER 18, 2019 (dailycal.org) WIKIMEDIA\/CREATIVE COMMONS BY KATE FINMAN | STAFFLAST UPDATED 2 DAYS AGO President Donald Trump visited California this week with Ben Carson, secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, to discuss the state\u2019s homelessness issue among other topics. According to data from the United… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12870"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12870"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12870\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12871,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12870\/revisions\/12871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}