the city of san diego just delayed the
homeless count because of omicron but
the last
figures tell us there are about 8 000
people experiencing homelessness here in
san diego county when we drive by and
see these encampments your heart goes
out to people
i have a friend who used to be homeless
and he says a lot of people who are
homeless don't want the help they don't
think they need the help how are you
going to get to them well i mean that
was the case for 10 people that were in
this encampment eight of them eventually
agreed it took a few weeks you got to
meet people where they are i think this
notion that we just give up on people
because the first interaction
they say no
is getting in the way of real progress i
don't think anyone wants to live out in
the streets and sidewalks or next to a
freeway we saw rats all around here
needles all around feces right here no
one wants to live in these conditions no
one does truly but a lot of people are
service resistant for many different
reasons some that are self-medicating
with drug or alcohol addictions with
bipolar disorder schizophrenia paranoia
some that had terrible experiences in
the shelters or have a spouse and the
shelter doesn't even allow a spouse or
have a dog or a cat and they don't allow
pets to the point being you got to be
creative meet people where they are you
have to be stubborn and we were stubborn
three weeks of outreach three weeks not
three
times in three weeks dozens of times and
we got here and now gives us the
opportunity to clean things up
and to do what people demand and that is
to deal with what we see all throughout
not just san diego but the state because
it's unacceptable
so when you talk about specifics where
do these eight people go how do you help
them and who's following their path well
we so we this case we have a non-profit
a local nonprofit brad and his team are
remarkable well established here in san
diego and they are providing a list of
options for folks we have all kinds of
new state programs states never been
involved in homelessness in the past
i mean i think people need to understand
that
and as a former mayor i deeply
understand it because when i was mayor
we were on our own it was the cities in
the counties the state didn't invest
that's changed in the last couple years
but what i recognize is not everything's
gotten better in fact coven make things
worse particularly relates to
encampments so let me be specific the
state put up
half a billion dollars in this year's
budget half a billion for
resolution grants for cities to address
the specific and unique issues and
encampments to address the underlying
issues to provide temporary shelter to
provide rapid rehousing provide drug
treatment supports at the same time
provide resources to clean the areas up
as one of many interventions 14 billion
dollar multi-year investments so we have
the people who have been living in
encampments there are also a number of i
believe the figure has doubled the last
count people who are experiencing
homelessness for the first time because
perhaps they lost their job they can't
make their rent payment and affordable
housing
is behind that wave of i think
first-time
homeless people how are you helping that
well in real time 5.2 billion dollars
has been distributed to pay 100 of
people's back rent as a prevention
strategy
145 000 households
have had all their back rent taken care
of and water and electric utilities
we're putting more money in the budget
there'll be more uh money coming out of
the legislature and announcements just
in the next few weeks specifically
our 14 billion dollar multi-year
homeless plan again
four years ago it wasn't 14 dollars let
alone 14 billion
multi-year efforts are short-term medium
and long-term but they're focused on
underlying issues including prevention
dollars
subsidies to help people that are on the
margins that may end up homeless and
then an unprecedented investment and
this is i know these numbers mean
nothing to anybody they want to see
results but 10.3 billion dollars in
grants and tax credits on affordable
housing construction and starts and and
forgive me again
decades of neglect on housing and
homelessness but now focus and intention
in ways we've never had in the past
people want to buy homes they want to
live in apartments
it's impossible to find affordable brand
i know that california is doing some
things to control rent is there any more
talk about preventing foreign investors
or
capping the rent
i mean california the most expansive
renter protections during covet of any
state in america and those aren't my
words that's been well established from
a national frame
for pundits across the country that said
yeah we have to do more to build more
housing look i don't think this is very
complicated
i remember i think it was seventh grade
and i was reminded something
the other day it's econ 101 supply
demand
the demand is so great costs go up when
there's constrained supply we've got to
build more housing at all income levels
and that's why we're doing more with
adus that's why we're doing more and low
income tax credits that's we're doing
more on medium income tax credit what we
call workforce those in 50 to 120
percent of ami technical term but the
bottom line is we're doing what we can
to help support cities and counties but
the state doesn't build the housing has
to happen at the local level but here's
what's changed we did this on
homelessness and we did this in housing
a new housing accountability unit that
has overseen cities and counties to make
sure they're meeting
their prescribed responsibility for
housing construction because the biggest
impediment on housing
i think it's the lack of desire
for us in our own backyards to see more
housing constructed in so many ways
we're our own worst enemy in terms of
the opposition locally to so much of the
new housing and so we want to drive
an appropriate response to that by
supporting the cities and counties in
those efforts so we don't see so many
projects killed no housing produced and
cost of living continuing to rise why
did you decide to come to san diego
specifically to talk about trying to
make a dent in the homeless crisis
because we've got a great partner in
todd gloria
and it's not surprising he comes
with so much experience in the
legislature so he knows how to ask the
right questions
and he he demands more from the governor
and the legislative leaders and he's
getting more than ever and we're just
here to support and we're here to
highlight this is a statewide problem
it's not unique to san diego i was in
the central valley yesterday
in lamont california i mean in every
part of the state i have governor's
calls all the time they're seeing
starting big increases all across the
country is your goal to see no homeless
encampment and are you a supporter of
mandatory rehabilitation programs well i
i support what works i mean coerced
treatment i i've read a thousand studies
on this all right i've read two or three
studies on this and the studies are not
inconclusive they overwhelm and they
suggest when you coerce someone against
their will to do something the long-term
benefits of that are pretty pretty small
so i want to be pragmatic a lot of tools
in the toolkit
we have
more treatment programs we can have more
conservative focus
literally
one of the biggest impediments we have
right now is people that are incompetent
to stand trial because they have
decompensated they're in and out of the
criminal justice system they have severe
drug addictions and they can't help
themselves and yet our rules are such
that we have to step back and maybe
that's the most well that's the least
compassionate thing we can do because
then these people deteriorate many are
dying on the streets so we have to
redefine compassion and that's why we're
going to redefine our conservatorship
laws in this state i know hotels are a
big part of the program to get people
off the streets there was a lot of
mismanagement during covid on getting
people who are homeless isolated in the
hotel management program i know that
happens more at the local level not at
the state level but how are you working
to make sure that things are managed
properly
in just 12 months we got 58 000 people
off the streets because of our expansion
of this
hotel program it's remarkable in just a
year 58 000 people do you know how many
of those in suny uh the mayor will be
previewing that tonight and i don't want
to share it uh but specific partners i
mean not only will those short term
under room key
but six plus thousand units have been
drawn down permanent under something
called home key
and every week now we're putting out
more grants for more home key
acquisitions we want to take those six
thousand we want to quadruple that
specifically for home key and our new
budget is for 55 000
new units including the largest
expansion of mental health housing in
our state's history what do you say to
people who are moving out of california
saying that too much money is being
spent on well your plan for university
well i mean we're running unprecedented
record budget surpluses unprecedented
job growth five years we have the
fastest growing economy of all western
democracies
of all western democracies 21 gdp growth
of the last five years outperforming the
uk germany france outperforming the
united states
more entrepreneurs and more scientists
engineers researchers san diegans
understand this any other part of the
globe more opportunities here than any
other part of the globe i say to them i
think twice about leaving the golden
state where the dream is still alive and
well and we're doing things we've never
done in the past including creating
record investments in addressing the
most stubborn and vexing issues in the
state affordability housing and
homelessness
critics will say that this will draw
well critics sit on the sidelines point
fingers we're actually doing the work
they're welcome to come out here the
critics and do what we just did
as long as i'm here you're going to see
a lot more of this we're just winding up
boy you ain't seen nothing yet
unprecedented investment multi-year and
i'll hold folks accountable that's why i
was out here cleaning things up myself
thank you one last thing for us was
nathan fletcher supposed to be out here
with you today what's that was nathan
fletcher supposed to be out here uh no
he was not able to and i know and
obviously i talked to him this morning
and i'll leave it at that but he wasn't
gonna be able to make it even if that
didn't occur
all right thank you so much appreciate
your time thank you thank you so much