Spencer Pratt Critiques Democrats on Crime and Homelessness

Spencer Pratt, a candidate for mayor of Los Angeles, has voiced strong criticism against the current Democratic policies regarding crime and homelessness during an appearance on “Fox & Friends.” He expressed concerns over the lack of effective strategies aimed at reducing crime and addressing homelessness, suggesting that the focus should be on compulsory treatment and rebuilding urban areas.

This homelessness issue is often labeled as a housing crisis, but, interestingly, that’s not the whole story. It stems from a significant failure in accountability within the system. California, particularly its capital, Sacramento, showcases the stark consequences of this breakdown.

In 2016, California uniquely adopted the federal “Housing First” initiative for state-funded homelessness programs, funneling billions into offering lifetime subsidized housing without requiring sobriety, treatment, or employment as part of the deal. Following this, Sacramento County embraced a similar housing-only approach in 2017, despite warnings from health professionals that merely providing housing fails to address the underlying issues of addiction, mental illness, and trauma that often accompany homelessness.

Sadly, those warnings proved to be alarmingly accurate.

The problem was never merely about homelessness, and the solution was certainly not just more apartments.

As a result of these policies, there was a nearly 35% national rise in homelessness, with California witnessing an alarming 40% increase. In Sacramento County alone, the homeless population more than doubled.

Even more concerning was the societal acceptance of decline—deteriorating environments, explosive encampments, and rampant insecurity persisted as the system stripped itself of accountability and sets minimal expectations.

This issue is multifaceted. It’s not just about building apartments. The degradation of parks, waterways, and sidewalks wasn’t due to a lack of housing, but rather a policy framework that removed recovery and accountability from the core of homelessness strategies.

The aftermath was, frankly, predictable: encampments turned into makeshift waiting rooms for government-sponsored permanent housing, with discarded needles and shopping carts cluttering public spaces.

When vulnerable individuals are left without treatment or purpose for extended periods, social decay becomes ingrained, and what should shock us starts to feel normal.

The most poignant moment was my walk through Sacramento’s streets. Observing someone visibly unwell—physically, mentally, and spiritually—while people around barely acknowledged his existence—it was both shocking and infuriating.

This is what I, along with my colleagues, experienced last week at the River City Waterway Alliance—a group of volunteers, mainly retirees, striving to protect Sacramento’s waterways from environmental harm. Recently, we collaborated with the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Health Outreach Team to remove about 5,000 pounds of waste from a canal that had been cleared just a month prior.

It became painfully clear: the crisis regarding homelessness is fundamentally a crisis of zero accountability. Sacramento is a testament to the chaos that ensues when accountability erodes, ideology takes precedence over results, and leaders avoid confronting the fallout of their decisions.

The situation in Sacramento is alarming, to say the least.

Over the last three years, volunteers from the Alliance have cleared nearly 4 million pounds of waste from the city’s waterways, including thousands of needles and shopping carts. Unfortunately, the death rate among those experiencing homelessness doubled in that timeframe. In just one year, the sheriff’s HOT team inspected around 4,600 camps, closing over 1,300 and removing millions of pounds of trash. Despite these efforts, the homeless population in Sacramento grew by another 1,000 people or 13% this past year—worsening a crisis that’s already difficult to manage.

The decline is accelerating beyond containment, and the extent of destruction can be daunting to comprehend unless experienced firsthand.

During my walk through Sacramento, I felt a deep sorrow observing how such suffering has now become acceptable in society.

This was never an unavoidable situation.

For years, the River City Waterways Alliance has urged local and state officials to tackle the environmental crisis affecting Sacramento’s waterways. Yet, when Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed legislation to promote sober living environments, it exemplified a disregard for the urgent need for more recovery-oriented options for the homeless.

While it’s encouraging that the city and county are beginning to respond, countless pleas to state-level agencies and influential organizations have often gone unanswered.

Simultaneously, the sheriff’s outreach team is grappling with challenges amidst a staggering $100 million budget shortfall.

This situation reveals much about the priorities of the current system and its elected leaders.

Currently, Sacramento stands as a cautionary tale for the nation regarding the consequences of lacking accountability, leaders shying away from the repercussions of their flawed policies, and the persistence of voting in the same individuals even as human suffering escalates alongside environmental and social upheaval.

The underlying issue is more than just homelessness or housing; it signifies a much deeper collapse—a failure of accountability itself.