California Republican leaders seemed to scoff Governor Gavin Newsom fiery response to critical analysis of his handling of the Golden State’s homelessness crisis, saying any increase in homelessness is not admirable.
State Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones criticized Newsom, calling the end of the year for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Homelessness Assessment Report an indictment of his abilities.
“Gavin Newsom has literally lost track of the $27 billion he’s spent on the homeless crisis,” Jones said, citing a report that California topped the homeless population, with a 3% increase to 187,000.
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“Today’s HUD report makes clear that, rather than solving the problem, Newsom’s ‘solution’ to endless spending has only made the problem worse,” said Jones, R-San Diego.
The report, however, also notes that Illinois, Wyoming, Hawaii and Colorado are states where family homelessness has doubled or even worse.
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The statement from the Republican caucus in the California State Assembly is central to Newsom’s recent thorough defense against op-ed at the CalMatters outlet that made similar criticisms.
“In case you missed it, Gov. Newsom’s office sparked outrage over a column … that broke his history of failure on homelessness,” the club, led by Assemblyman James Gallagher of Yuba City, collectively wrote.
The CalMatters commentary argues that Newsom’s handling of the homelessness crisis will be a key point of attack for his potential Democratic presidential candidates in the 2028 presidential election if he decides to seek higher office then.
The column quoted Newsom as saying that “what’s happening on the streets has to be a top priority,” and reported that he has shown a willingness to hold local officials accountable as well.
“People need to see and feel progress and change…” Newsom said, according to the column.
Gallagher’s club then cited Newsom’s response to the column, which consisted of a series of scathing remarks.
“Given California’s large population, talking about homelessness without any broader context or comparison of this administration’s efforts to previous ones is a disservice to Californians, plain and simple,” Newsom’s office wrote on X.
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“As the governor has said many times, the work is far from over and urgency and results at the local level are needed more than ever. That’s why new accountability tools are in place, for faster results. It’s also a longer-term effort — through the implementation of Prop 1 , CARE Court, guardianship reform, the just-approved BH-Connect exemption, all of which are aimed at solving the systemic problems of homelessness, but not yet fully online.”
Newsom’s office also announced that unsheltered homelessness rose four times faster during the final years of Gov. Edmund “Jerry” Brown’s administration than under his own.
“The number of unsheltered homeless people increased by 13.83% during the Newsom administration (2019-2023), compared to a 51.79% increase in the five-year period before the administration (2015-2019),” the post said.
California’s 14 percent increase in homelessness also fell below the national increase of 21 percent, the governor’s office added.
Assembly Republicans responded to Newsom’s comments.
“Since the governor is committed to shedding light on this matter, we will state the obvious: a 20% increase is not progress,” their statement read.
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San Francisco city workers remove a homeless encampment in San Francisco’s Bayview neighborhood on August 1. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Jones, the Senate minority leader, was cited Friday as co-sponsoring bipartisan legislation to change California’s homeless policy and focus on “compassionate enforcement” of encampment violations.
One of his proposals from last term, which did not make it to Newsom’s desk, focused on an existing state law that considers “accommodation” in a public or private place without permission to be disorderly conduct.
The bill would delay any charges on that count for 72 hours after the initial notification and impose a “state local program” for homeless people in such situations.
Fox News Digital reached out to Newsom for further response to the criticism, but did not receive a response by press time.
