Wednesday, January 31, 2024, 8:57 am | Randy Thomasson
Proposition 1 on California’s March 5, 2024 ballot is another deceptive Democrat Party scheme of imagery over substance that rejects tried-and-true solutions.
And “homeless housing” has already been an abject failure in California’s Democrat-controlled big cities because it’s “free housing without any requirements.” So no “change” required — no wonder transients flock to California. If the transient magnet of Prop. 1 passes, you can bet California will have more “homeless,” not less.
“Despite Spending $1.1 Billion, San Francisco Sees Its Homelessness Problems Spiral Out Of Control,” Hoover Institution, May 10, 2022 It is hard to imagine a more inhumane outcome than watching the train wreck of homelessness evolve in San Francisco, as the city spends billions on flawed policies that facilitate drug abuse and on badly designed systems to carry out those policies. But this is what happens when there is no accountability within government, and with voters who would prefer feeling good about electing progressive politicians to facing the reality of the awful mess that has been created by those they have elected.
California’s ruling Democrats don’t require transients to enter treatment-and-recovery programs as a condition of housing, so these costly programs fail:
“California homelessness: Where are the state’s billions going?,” CalMatters, May 22, 2023 The state keeps spending more to address the crisis, and the crisis keeps getting worse. So where, they ask, is all the money going? The state’s Interagency Council on Homelessness, a state body tasked with overseeing the state’s homelessness strategy and divvying up funding to local governments, issued a report detailing just how much the state has spent on the crisis between 2018 and 2021 — and what it’s gotten in return.
The answer to those questions, according to the report: The state has spent nearly $10 billion and provided services to more than 571,000 people, each year helping more people than the last. And despite all that, at the end of year three, the majority of those more than half a million Californians still didn’t end up with a roof over their heads. The number of unsheltered Californians continues to swell.
Presented at a three-hour joint committee hearing in the Assembly, the report has sent housing policy experts across the state into a twitter. Services for the homeless are so disjointed — split among nine state agencies, hundreds of county and municipal governments, nonprofits and charitable organizations — the 253-page document may be the first statistical birds-eye view of the state’s many-tentacled efforts.
But it also shows just how intractable the problem is. “One of the largest challenges facing the state is the inflow of new people into homelessness, even as efforts to help people experiencing homelessness expand,” the report reads. What the report did not address is how the state can spend its money more effectively. Nor was it asked to. The report comes at the request of the Legislature, which included an ask in its 2021 budget for a “comprehensive view of the homelessness response system,” not an audit nor a list of recommendations.
Why doesn’t permanent housing help people exit from homelessness? A simple reason is that it appears to attract more people from outside the homeless system, or keeps them in the homelessness system, because they are drawn to the promise of a permanent and usually rent-free room.
A recent economic analysis shows that cities have to build 10 PSH beds to remove a single homeless person from the street, since the vast majority of such units go to people who would not have been permanently homeless. Even the removal of that sole homeless individual from the streets seem to fade over time as more people enter the homelessness system.[4]
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Another reason Housing First doesn’t work is that it ignores that the major problems for the chronically homeless aren’t just lack of a home. A recent UCLA study found that more than 75% of this population have a serious mental illness, and 75% have a substance abuse problem, and the majority have both. These individuals are reluctant to accept assistance without mandates and requirements, and a house without such mandates will not encourage use of these services.[9]
There was once some hope that housing alone could help reduce drug use and mental health problems. Yet studies have now shown that simply providing people subsidized housing does not reduce drug use, and often encourages it, which makes sense because there is no mandated treatment in PSH and the free unit provides people with more money to pursue their habits.
More fact-based perspective:
“The ‘Housing First’ Approach Has Failed,” The Heritage Foundation, Aug. 4, 2020 Homelessness has gained national attention with the growth of public encampments and street disorder, particularly in West Coast cities. Over the past decade, the federal government has spent billions on “Housing First” programs, which provide permanent housing for the homeless without requiring sobriety or participation in treatment. Although Housing First programs demonstrate strong rates of short-term housing retention, they do not improve symptoms related to drug addiction, mental illness, and general well-being—and have not reduced overall rates of homelessness.
“To Fix Homelessness, Stop Fixating On Housing,” The Federalist, May 30, 2023 Cities and states, for their part, should stop releasing without bail or jail time drug addicts and mentally ill people who commit crimes, and they need to use the threat of punishment as a way to induce street criminals to accept treatment.
At its core, Prop. 1 is throwing more money away, will make California’s homeless population grow, and will make generations of Californians poorer with the multi-billions in bonds to pay back — all so presidential wannabe Gavin Newsom can say he’s “solved” the homeless problem. Defeat this thieving scam — vote NO on Prop. 1.
If any would not work, neither should he eat. — This is a just maxim, and universal nature inculcates it to man. If man will work, he may eat; if he do not work, he neither can eat, nor should he eat. The maxim is founded on these words of the Lord: In the sweat of thy brow thou shall eat bread. Industry is crowned with God’s blessing; idleness is loaded with his curse. This maxim was a proverb among the Jews. Men who can work, and will rather support themselves by begging, should not get one morsel of bread. It is a sin to minister to necessities that are merely artificial. Adam Clarke’s Bible Commentary on 2 Thessalonians 3:10
Tuesday, December 26, 2023, 10:01 am | Randy Thomasson
As a follower of SaveCalifornia.com, you know all you hold dear is under severe attack. And you also know the fight for your values, your rights, and your family must continue and grow … or evil will win by default.
The good news is, in the midst of the intense war between good and evil, right and wrong, truth and lies, you can make your impact for good with SaveCalifornia.com, serving California families since 1999.
Our mission is to raise the standard of Truth in California. But we can’t do it without you! Please donate today.
As I look back on 2023, I’m thankful for what we accomplished on your behalf, including: • Exposing our domestic enemies– Democrat & RINO politicians, Big Media, Big Pharma, educrats, and union bosses, targeting your rights, values, and everything you own
• Opposing the worst Democrat bills, providing insight and analysis on our Legislation Center, and winning a significant veto of the anti-parent, anti-religious-freedom AB 957
• Warning families how to avoid the harmful AB 659 (pushing Gardasil shots) and anti-family AB 665 (legally emancipating 12-year-olds); showing dads and moms how to rescue their kids from sexual indoctrination laws and take back their parental rights
• Informing and activating Californians up and down the state, on all our platforms, to join us by rising up to protect children, promote moral values, and fight for basic rights
• Helping Californians vote right with our Pro-Family Election Center
• Expertly reporting the facts on issues impacting California families
• Reaching, equipping, and activating more Californians to stand for Truth
• Growing our influence through social media, email, web, and radio
• Working, speaking, and fighting on behalf of your values, rights, and family
And with Gavin Newsom eyeballing the White House as he runs a “shadow campaign,” his long list of devastating failures and harms he has committed must be shouted from the rooftops! Never before has the saying “as California goes, so goes the nation” been more real than now.
Will you help make an impact by giving your best one-time gift or Monthly Warrior pledge today?
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Tuesday, December 12, 2023, 5:17 pm | Randy Thomasson
SaveCalifornia.com provides this solely for educational purposes and does not support or oppose candidates for public office.
So that your GOP representative can’t deceive you, SaveCalifornia.com presents our RINO (Republican In Name Only) report, spotlighting registered Republican state legislators who in 2023 have supported evil Democrat-authored bills.
Our last RINO report was this summer during the California State Legislature’s month-long, paid vacation. This latest update includes the final floor votes from early September.
You’ve got to ask yourself — with “Republicans” like this, do they deserve your support?
9 “Republicans” in the California State Assembly voted for Democrat bills promoting abortion (baby-killing) or the “LGBTQIA+” agenda or both:
• Greg Wallis of Bermuda Dunes: AB 659, AB 5, AB 223, AB 352, AB 443, AB 492, AB 576, AB 598, AB 957, AB 1078, AB 1194, AB 1432, HR 33, ACA 5, SB 345, SB 385, SB 760
• Juan Alanis of Modesto: AB 5, AB 352, AB 443, AB 492, AB 598, AB 1194, AB 1432, HR 33, ACA 5, SB 541, SB 760
• Marie Waldron of Escondido: AB 5, AB 443. HR 33, ACA 5, SB 58, SB 541, SB 729, SB 760
• Laurie Davies of Laguna Niguel: ACA 5, AB 1194, SB 541
• Diane Dixon of Newport Beach: AB 223, ACA 5
• Bill Essayli of Riverside: AB 223, ACA 5
• Josh Hoover of Folsom: AB 5, ACA 5
• Phillip Chen of Yorba Linda: ACA 5, AB 443
• Devon Mathis of Porterville: ACA 5
In addition to Democrat bills promoting baby-killing and the “LGBTQIA+” agenda:
• Voting in favor of the Democrats’ radical “recreational drug” bill, SB 58, were Bill Essayli, Heath Flora, and Marie Waldron
• Voting in favor of SB 596 giving chairpersons of liberal school boards the power to subjectively claim pro-family citizens speaking at public meetings have caused “substantial disorder,” so that you’ll be arrested and charged with a misdemeanor crime, were Diane Dixon, Josh Hoover, and Greg Wallis
• Voting in favor of AB 1352 to permit liberal school board majorities to remove a pro-family school board member from office were Juan Alanis, Phillip Chen, Megan Dahle, Laurie Davies, Diane Dixon, Bill Essayli, Heath Flora, Vince Fong, James Gallagher, Josh Hoover, Tom Lackey, Jim Patterson, Joe Patterson, Kate Sanchez, Tri Ta, Marie Waldron, Greg Wallis
2 “Republicans” in the California State Senate voted for Democrat bills promoting baby-killing or “LGBTQIA+” or both:
• Scott Wilk of Santa Clarita: AB 352, AB 659, AB 1194, ACA 5
• Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh of Yucaipa: SR 33, SB 760, AB 1194
In addition:
• Both Wilk and Ochoa Bogh supported AB 1352 to permit liberal school boards to boot off conservative members
• The sole Republican voting in favor of the Democrats’ SB 274, largely eliminating government-school suspensions or expulsions of disruptive, defiant “students,” was Brian Dahle of Bieber
Conclusion: Of the 8 Republicans in the 40-member California State Senate and the 18 Republicans in the 80-member California State Assembly, unlike constitutional and often Christian Republican fighters of past decades, none today can be counted on to use their most valuable asset — their voice — to consistently stand and speak to expose the harm of immoral. ungodly Democrat-authored bills. It’s a shame, because when you’re in the minority party in the Legislature, your voice matters much more than your votes.
Obviously, with so many Republican legislators supporting anti-family or otherwise harmful bills, and with none of the current crop of California Republican state legislators caring enough to regularly stand and expose immoral Democrat bills, there’s a crying need for concerned citizens and biblical pastors to recruit constitutional fighters, who know their main job in Sacramento isn’t money, popularity, or comfort, but steadfastly, lovingly, and truthfully speaking in committee and on the floor to expose the harm of Democrat Party bills. Stop accepting deceptive crumbs from mute Republicans or from Republicans who vote for harmful Democrat bills!