Liberals still don’t seem to grasp that the more they subsidize a problem, the more that problem tends to grow. Nowhere does this seem to hold truer than with the homeless.
There were reportedly over 150,000 homeless people in California last year, according to ABC7 Los Angeles, which cited statistics from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. The city reportedly had 41,290 homeless people, with 66,436 total in Los Angeles County.
On Tuesday, District Judge David O. Carter — a Clinton appointee — ordered the city and county to find shelter for all “unhoused residents” of Skid Row within 180 days, the ABC affiliate reported — the term unhoused residents apparently being the new politically correct term for homeless people.
The ruling came as Carter granted a preliminary injunction sought by the plaintiffs in a sweeping lawsuit about homelessness in Los Angeles, with the judge also calling for an audit of spending related to the out-of-control crisis of people living on the streets.
“All of the rhetoric, promises, plans, and budgeting cannot obscure the shameful reality of this crisis — that year after year, there are more homeless Angelenos, and year after year, more homeless Angelenos die on the streets,” Carter wrote.
Los Angeles has been spending well above $400 million a year on homelessness, and embattled Mayor Eric Garcetti, a Democrat, vowed Monday to up the ante to nearly $1 billion in the coming year to help get people off the streets.
(Ironically, Garcetti’s proposed budget included an increase for the LAPD, allocating $1.76 billion, which is up from the $1.71 billion approved in July.)
Carter ordered “that $1 billion, as represented by Mayor Garcetti, will be placed in escrow,” with a spending plan “accounted for and reported to the Court within seven days,” according to ABC7.
Over the years, the homeless population was largely confined to the notorious Skid Row area in downtown LA, but the ever-growing numbers now spill throughout the city, as the affiliate noted that “rows of tents, cardboard shelters, battered RVs and makeshift plywood structures are now familiar sights.”
And Carter ordered that every homeless person in the downtown area must have a place to stay by mid-October.
Skip Miller, an attorney representing LA County, said the order “goes well beyond” what the plaintiffs asked for in their preliminary injunction.
“We’re now evaluating our options, including the possibility of an appeal,” Miller said.
For what it’s worth, there’s an estimated 1 million illegal immigrants in Los Angeles County — though it’s not clear what percentage are homeless.
Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson said in Sept. 2019 that the state’s policies on illegal immigration contribute to the problem.
“Further, illegal and inadmissible aliens are increasing housing demand and draining resources,” Carter said. “Instead of protecting the most vulnerable Americans from the economic impacts of illegal immigration, California has doubled down on sanctuary state and city policies and provided benefits to illegal and inadmissible aliens.”
The freebies don’t stop with the homeless, either.
The mayor also proposed a $24 million pilot program to hand out no-strings-attached cash to struggling households.
“Los Angeles will launch the largest guaranteed basic income pilot of any city in America,” Garcetti said in his State of the City address, according to KTLA5.
The $24 million in taxpayer money would be used to give $1,000 a month to 2,000 households for one year, “no questions asked, wherever poverty lives in our city,” he said.
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The longest-tenured writer at BizPac Review, Tom grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills.
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