SAN FRANCISCO — California’s homeless crisis came under a federal magnifying glass Tuesday, with President Donald Trump bemoaning conditions in San Francisco and Los Angeles as HUD Secretary Ben Carson downplayed fears of a law enforcement crackdown.
As the numbers of people sleeping on California streets have soared — helping to push issues of housing and affordability to the top of the state’s political agenda — Trump has pointed to the growing crisis as evidence of failed leadership in a state that prides itself as a liberal counterweight to the president’s agenda.
He reprised that theme before journeying to fundraisers in California, whose robust Republican presidential donor network belies the GOP’s gradual electoral collapse in California.
“We can’t let Los Angeles, San Francisco and numerous other cities destroy themselves by allowing what’s happening,” Trump told reporters after touching down in Mountain View, bemoaning “policemen that are on the beat are getting sick” and “foreign tenants” being driven away.
Reports that the Trump administration was formulating a sweeping action on homelessness in California, including potentially prodding homeless people off of streets and into federal facilities, set off a backlash from the state’s Democratic elected officials. On Monday, Trump administration officials said policing could play a role in ameliorating the crisis, though they eschewed details on what that could look like.
Mayors denounced the administration for stressing enforcement rather than augmented spending. Sen. Kamala Harris denounced the White House’s effort to” enlist the help of law enforcement to address homelessness” in California as “counterproductive.” Protesters in San Francisco greeted Carson with chants of “house keys, not handcuffs.
”But Carson, after touring a San Francisco housing facility that received federal assistance, told reporters that “No one’s forcing homeless people into federal facilities.” Pressed for detail on what types of changes to law enforcement practices might help, Carson suggested that local elected officials stop letting police officers be “demonized.”
“The local government should back the police up,” Carson said, adding that “people can make it very clear without having a big policy change whether they support law enforcement.”
The secretary’s response underscored a central dynamic of homelessness: cities and counties tend to shoulder a great share of the responsibility for both policing and housing policies that can affect how many people have homes.
Pressed on that point, Carson said the federal government’s role could be cooperating with state and local governments, particularly by enlisting nonprofit and for-profit housing organizations.
“Federal government is designed to facilitate, not to solve all the problems…cities and localities are the ones who solve the problems. The federal government supports them in doing that,” he said, suggesting that federal money should be attached to the “ability to work together.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom had made a specific request for federal aid, writing Carson to allocate 50,000 more housing vouchers and increase their value. Carson told reporters that cities and states should instead be working with the federal government to claim vouchers that remain available.
But Carson did point to specific local decisions that have worsened a housing shortfall, including overregulation, a “not in my backyard” attitude against publicly supported housing and the “erroneous thinking” of landlords resistant to tenants who receive housing vouchers. He also embraced an idea increasingly advocated by California elected officials: "by-right" zoning, removes some local barriers to new projects.
“In San Francisco a single individual can protest and stop an affordable housing development. That’s a big one,” Carson said.
Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine