On Thursday’s episode of Newsmax TV’s “The Record,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said the high number of homeless people in California is “a result of our own policies and inaction,” and that the problem is that we haven’t built enough housing for “decades and decades.” He said the homelessness problem is becoming more serious across the country, including in Republican-leaning states.
Newsom said housing affordability and housing are the state’s biggest issues, and that housing has a “byproduct that is the ultimate manifestation of our failure: homelessness.”
“But how did we get to this point? This is an issue in every state across the country, but California is a big state, so it’s obvious how big the impact is. But how did we get to this point with so much homelessness in California?” asked host Greta Van Susteren.
Newsom responded, “It’s because of our own policies and inaction. We’ve rested on our laurels. We’ve allowed NIMBYism to take over our state. We’re not building housing. This is economics 101, supply and demand. We haven’t built enough housing for decades. So cost of living, affordability, is a major challenge in our state. That being said, I can tell you, having traveled across the country, housing and homelessness is becoming a bigger problem. Not just in blue states, but in red states. We were declining. You’ve seen the new numbers in places like Florida last year where homelessness has skyrocketed. States like Florida, the cost of housing, the cost of insurance, in general, is becoming more and more difficult. So it’s not a surprise to me that in the economic plan that Kamala Harris put out, she spoke about affordability and housing, not just from her experience as a former Californian and having served in the state, but also from her understanding of the United States and its challenges as vice president.”
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