California's Homeless
There
is little doubt California has a homeless problem. According to recent estimates there are approximately
567,715 homeless persons existing in the U.S. and of that number approximately
20% (151,000) live in California. State
and local governments have poured $-billions into combating the homeless
problem which appears to be getting worse.
Governor Gavin Newsom, in his 2020-21 budget, is proposing another $1.4
billion toward the problem.
One has to
wonder how rental subsidies and tax credits would solve this problem. To subsidize rent for a limited number of
persons merely justifies and holds in place the basic problem of high
rent. To offer tax credits for
affordable housing would seem to apply to builders only if they can develop a
profit which could lead to higher residential prices.
Governor
Newsom has promised to attack California's housing shortage by requiring 3.5
million new housing units be built by 2025 which, of course, is a physical
impossibility and completely ignores the current sense of denial concerning residential growth. As the saying goes, we support additional
housing but not in my neighborhood!
We (as a community) have put up barriers to prevent
population growth. There are endless
requirements to be overcome by prospective builders like environmental impact
reports justifying water use, air quality, additional traffic solutions,
protection of unknown animal species "ad infinitum."
It would appear that offering
rental subsidies and tax credits as some sort of solution is actually a
treatment of symptoms of our homeless neighborhoods and lack of affordable
housing. If a community has a limited
number of residential units and a huge supply of buyers the result is high
prices - this is common sense; moreover, California has a limited amount of
land with what appears to be an unlimited human population. The alarming result is that as more land is
consumed for new housing, there is less agricultural land to provide food.
Possibly, a
reduction in population could help reduce the current high costs of
housing. Incredibly, California
legislators encourage increased population no matter whether it is legal or
illegal which accounts for California's Sanctuary status.
It is
difficult to know how many illegal migrants live in California, but the best estimates in 2014, the year of the most recent data available, California was home to
between 2.35 and 2.6 million undocumented immigrants.
According
to "Fairness and accuracy in
Reporting" (FAIR), illegal immigration in 2018 costs the state of California
some $23 billion. This figure is
probably too low for the current year since the Newsom administration recently
approved health care for illegal migrants of all ages.
The point is that our legislators are spending more than $23
billion on an illegal population and offering a mere $1.4 billion for housing
relief. Accordingly, the movement toward "Sanctuary
Cities," or in case of the Monterey County's efforts to provide a "Welcoming
Community" would appear to be short sighted.
It is
fundamental logic that affordable housing cannot be solved by building a
limited number of homes to resolve unlimited population growth in an area of
limited buildable land.