Home California Governor Newsom Calls on Trump Administration to Do More to Address Homelessness and Housing Insecurity

Governor Newsom Calls on Trump Administration to Do More to Address Homelessness and Housing Insecurity

by ECT

SACRAMENTO – In the face of significant cuts to housing and supportive services proposed by the Trump Administration, Governor Gavin Newsom and a bipartisan coalition of California’s elected mayors and county supervisors today called on President Trump and his administration to do more to address homelessness and housing insecurity.

“We can all agree that homelessness is a national crisis decades in the making that demands action at every level of government – local, state, and federal. In California, state and local governments have ramped up action to lift families out of poverty by investing in behavioral health, affordable housing, and other homeless programs,” the letter reads. “In contrast, your Administration has proposed significant cuts to public housing and programs like the Community Development Block Grant.”

“Yet in recent days, you have publicly acknowledged the national crisis of homelessness. On behalf of a broad, bipartisan coalition of California’s elected mayors and members of county Board of Supervisors, we invite you to collaborate with us on solutions – tied to federal investments – to address homelessness and housing insecurity,” the letter continues.

The letter – signed by the Governor, mayors of the state’s 13 largest cities, California State Association of Counties and the California League of Cities – asks the federal government to take the following steps immediately to address homelessness in our state.

  • Provide 50,000 more vouchers, through a combination of Housing Choice Vouchers and Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH) vouchers, two longstanding key programs that provide needed rental subsidies for extremely low-income Americans;
  • Increase the value of those vouchers to account for the high cost of rents in America’s cities and counties; and,
  • Create a program based on best-practices to incentivize landlords to work with voucher holders to find stable housing.

Homelessness and housing insecurity have been a top priority for the Governor. The Governor’s first budget provides $1 billion to help cities and counties fight homelessness, expedited review and approval for navigation centers and emergency shelters to help cities get people off the street faster, and provides $20 million in legal aid to help renters facing eviction. Just last week, the Legislature passed the strongest package of statewide renter protections in the nation – a top priority for Governor Newsom this year. Housing affordability has also been a chief priority for the Governor. The state budget made a historic $1.75 billion investment in new housing and created major incentives – both sticks and carrots – to incentivize cities to approve new home construction.

The high cost of housing and rent has also been the focus of executive action. In the first weeks of his administration, Governor Newsom signed an executive order that created an inventory of all excess state land in order to find parcels to develop into affordable housing, and in April launched partnerships with six California cities to develop affordable housing on that land. The Governor’s Administration has also enforced state housing law – putting more than forty cities on notice that they were out of compliance with state housing requirements and in jeopardy of legal action.

Click here for more details on the Governor’s actions to date on housing and homelessness.

A copy of the letter sent today can be read here.

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7 comments

Larry Sep 17, 2019 - 7:58 am

I really don’t see how people can support Trump anymore. There’s so many more successful, American patriotic, wealthier people you can support. He has the vocabulary of a middle schooler, denies science, incites war even though he’s a coward. He was born with such a silver spoon and out-of-touch with the middle class, asking him for support on the homeless is such a wasteful endeavor. He even made profit kicking people out of their homes. Trump represents the ugly side of the USA— that uneducated douche bag, locker room loser we all went to school with. But instead of working at the movie theater as an adult, he inherited millions and gets to do whatever he wants.

Lenny Sep 17, 2019 - 4:27 pm

Hey man I don’t support any political candidate because the whole system is rigged. There is no left or right, republican or democrat. burger king or mcdonalds. Give me a break.

Come on Larry Sep 17, 2019 - 6:52 pm

Hey Larry!!!
Trump is the president!!
Better luck next time to you and yours!!
Get over it!!

Cynthia Sep 21, 2019 - 12:54 pm

Oh Larry!,I’m such an uneducated douchbag! I suppose that means I should return my two graduate degrees back to the universities which bestowed them on me.

Let’s just put it this way, YOU are insanely envious of people who are successful and voted for Trump as an antidote to your idiotic OBAMA. So, you’re STILL upset that Hillary experienced a CRUSHING defeat. We got rid of her because she would try to finish what Obama had started, the ruination of this country! Next time, Larry, get a better candidate!

Newsom is garbage!! Sep 17, 2019 - 6:50 pm

Newsom is a piece of shit!!
Maybe he should try and address more problems in this infested cesspool of a state. These dems are so focused on the bs fake bull shit with the president.
He is the president!!
Get over it!!
Now work on fixing all the shit that needs to be fixed !!!

Barack Sep 18, 2019 - 8:04 am

It’s a brilliant move by Trump. Because that puts CA Dems, like Pelosi, Feinstein, Newsom, etc. in a box they can’t escape from that will further expose their hate & incompetence. Either they go along with Trump and admit defeat…or reject his plans and piss off the rational voters in CA.

Jg Sep 18, 2019 - 11:19 am

So Newsom sues the feds Fifty times with your money ( costing us plaintiff and defendant costs) for his political views, provides free needles to drug addicts with a place to shoot up, maintains a Sanctuary City to protect illegals, wants to waste money on frivolous pet projects, and turns to Trump for help because he has no balls or public money left to correct the social failing that California has become? California voters need to wake up and vote these idiots out.

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