The people who have been really vocal about getting rid of Newsom and just being really upset about what's happened to California are people all across the political spectrum.
Is that an accurate view in your opinion or is Newsom facing something broader? Is this a dissatisfaction that goes beyond hardcore conservative elements in the state?Įrica Sandberg: It's pathetic, quite frankly. Right? Now, the governor's friends in the press and his political allies have called this a Republican recall led by diehard supporters of Donald Trump and motivated by this anti-scientific irrationality over masks and how Newsom has handled that and lockdowns. So, that means Newsom will probably face this later this year. Supporters of the petitions to recall the governor say they have now exceeded the threshold which is 1.5 million signatures to initiate the recall. Now, speaking of Newsom, there is a recall push which is something California makes possible, and it's taken off. We're seeing a version of that here in New York and it's creating similar problems and similar public complaints. So, it's a combination of factors.īrian Anderson: Governor Newsom, in fact, has proposed Project Roomkey as a kind of national model that other cities should be following the lead of California and San Francisco in this. Instead of just stopping and changing direction, it's doubling down. It has something to do with not wanting to admit that you're wrong. So, yeah, why the disconnect? I'm sure it has something to do with money. And your first reaction would not be, "Oh, if only they had a room to go to." It would be, "Oh, if only they had a place to go where they could get physically and emotionally well." That's where you would go. For the most part, they are just in the worst condition you can imagine. The first reaction that you will have is these are very, very sick people. They refuse to let that go and I can't really get into why they don't want to because I can't get inside their heads because it's so clear if you look at the situation and you look at the people who are on the streets. Yeah, it's the housing first philosophy where the reason that people are homeless is because they do not have housing and they're sticking to that like white on rice. But you're talking about huge numbers of people who have extremely bad substance abuse problems, and the result of just simply putting them inside these rooms has been nothing short of a disaster.īrian Anderson: Well, what do you think explains this strange fact that city and state leaders just won't recognize that homelessness is significantly a phenomenon of addiction and mental illness, often in combination? Why are they so intent on treating this as a problem of housing, insufficient housing, or ?Įrica Sandberg: It's insane. Most of them, I mean, there are a handful of people who were really grateful and it's really been beneficial. And more tragically, it has not helped the people who were designated to these hotels. If the intention was to help people off the streets and that we'll have clearer, better communities after this, that certainly has not happened. We have seen absolutely no difference on our city streets. The crime in and around these hotels and motels is off the charts. But they don't want you to go down and take a look at what actually is happening.
You wouldn't know it if you talked to the politician and anybody else who's involved in the program because they're going to say that it is fabulous. Now, how has that program fared so far? So, let's start with that.Įrica Sandberg: Yeah. Governor Newsom, Gavin Newsom has launched a program called Project Roomkey to relocate the unsheltered, homeless people to hotels and motels that the state is now leasing and turning over to them. As you note, more than 8,000 of those homeless individuals live in San Francisco.
I think statewide, there's something like 90,000 people living on the streets. California now leads the nation and has for some time I think in unsheltered homelessness. Erica, thanks very much for joining us.Įrica Sandberg: Well, thank you so much for having me, Brian.īrian Anderson: Well, let's discuss this recent piece you've done for us which got a lot of traffic, a lot of attention. In her latest article, " San Francisco's Substance Abuse Crisis," Erica reports on the grim state of affairs in the city's sixth district in which thousands of homeless addicts shoot up and smoke unmolested while the city pushes policies that ignore the real source of the problem. Joining me on the show today is Erica Sandberg, a widely published consumer finance reporter based in San Francisco, and she also covers homelessness, crime, and public order in the Bay Area for City Journal. This is Brian Anderson, the editor of City Journal. Brian Anderson: Welcome back to the 10 Blocks podcast.