- United States
- Calif.
- Letter
As a lifelong Democrat, I am deeply disappointed and offended by Governor Newsom’s recent threat to cut funding to cities that do not perform homeless sweeps. Homeless sweeps are cruel, violent, harm unhoused people, and frequently worsen their situations by destroying their possessions and documents needed to access programs that actually help house them. Governor Newsom should be ashamed of his position on this issue, and the state legislature should act immediately to ban these attacks on our unhoused neighbors and instead focus our efforts on making shelters housing more accessible and available. At a time when homelessness is on the rise due to high costs of living and price-gouging by corporate landlords, Newsom’s plan is to unleash the police on the victims rather than the perpetrators.