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SLO Mayor, League of Cities ask California for $3 billion for homeless services

April 13, 2023

Erica Stewart speaking in Sacramento

By JOSH FRIEDMAN

San Luis Obispo Mayor Erica Stewart joined the League of California Cities in Sacramento on Wednesday in calling for the state to spend $3 billion on combating homelessness.

Hundreds of city officials gathered outside the state Capitol Wednesday morning to request the $3 billion in funding for preventing and reducing homelessness and jump starting the construction of affordable housing. Stewart spoke at the event.

SLO Mayor Erica Stewart

SLO’s mayor wrote she was “advocating for state funding to reduce homelessness and increase affordable housing,” on her Instagram account. The League of Cities also released a statement issued by Stewart.

“Cities like San Luis Obispo are innovating with on-the-ground programs to address homelessness,” Stewart said in the statement. “In fiscal year 22-23, our city spent over $3 million to address homelessness and invest in preserving low-income housing units in the city. Cities need long-term funding from the state to be able to grow our investment in addressing the homelessness and housing crisis.”

On Wednesday, the League of Cities announced it had recently conducted a survey that found nearly 90% of cities have fiscal concerns over their ability to continue providing existing levels of homeless services in the long term. Of the cities that responded to the survey, 80% are spending general fund money to address homelessness. Nearly 85% of California cities have implemented programs to prevent and reduce homelessness, according to the survey.

The survey found that while cities are accelerating their efforts to prevent and reduce homelessness and create more affordable housing in their communities, the demand for housing and services is outpacing their efforts, straining capacity and draining resources. 

If cities were to collectively receive $3 billion, they would use the state funding to provide additional support services, increase shelter space, accelerate affordable housing development, invest in homeless outreach teams and expand rent subsidy programs, according to the League of Cities survey. 


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What a joke! This not an affordable housing issue, it is primarily a mental illness issue and everyone knows this but for some reason avoids it by concentrating the conversation on housing.


We need to reinstate custodial/residential mental health facilities. And for those few (10, 20, 30 …percent ?) who are not truly mentally ill and capable of work but just want to maintain that lifestyle, just cut them off from any aid. And, in the end if they are non law abiding on the street use the force of law to curb the behavior.


36

When my room was a mess my parents didn’t open my door and just throw some money on the ground. Why do WE continue to do it?


31

When will you realize most of the homeless don’t want to live in a house or shelter ans with the outlandish building fees you could build about 100 houses in maybe 10 yrs if your lucky throw money at it doesn’t make it go away. You will have a lot more homeless soon because no one can afford to live here due to the Dem stupidity.


57

I read that Newsom has spent 15 billion dollars on homelessness and its only gotten worse… so can’t we admit its not a government spending issue?….

Just enforce vagrancy laws and reopen mental health centers….


54

It started here with the peoples kitchen on the Mission Plaza and has grown into a homeless attraction for the country. With another 3 $Billion the homeless attraction will become a homeless destination, with any luck on campus for training.


54

What is needed is a solution not a continuation of a government handout that only increases the problem. A vast majority of the “homeless” are just living off you and me – government handouts are paid for through hardworking people’s taxes. Time to solve the problem – this problem didn’t exist 10 years ago, free money for the lame and lazy is only making the problem worse, those who are medically or mentally unable to care for themselves need our help – those who are able but unwilling to support themselves do not. Rubbing money on the problem is not the answer – before we spend billions of taxpayer dollars we need to be sure that the money spent is spent wisely.


54

Ah yes, the myth of the “lazy homeless” living off the system. Funny how it’s only government handouts to those that are poor that are seen as the problem. Government handouts to corporations and the wealthy in the form of subsidies and tax cuts are apparently just fine. You are ok with hardworking people’s taxes going to pay for some corporate fat cat to get a tax break?


-34

Corporations don’t pay taxes, they only collect them. If you add a tax on a product the corporation only adds the tax to the cost of the product it sells or produces. Spending tax dollars on the homeless issue will not solve the problem it will only make it worse. We need solutions not spending tax dollars giving money to those who are capable of supporting themselves. It is hard working taxpayers that are being asked to support those who are capable of supporting themselves but decline to do so.


19

Actually, a good point that I can see from the other side. Yes it’s kind of like that, a crazy world that we live in with today’s girl face or man face dilemma’s and then there is the lets replace Diane Feinstein with a temporary Democrat, they may well have said, a temporary white person. Stupid stupid stupid, segregation is greater than ever before, people tire of all the BS, being expected to pay for once upon a time and having nothing to do with living happily ever after.


-5

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3c_pJ_CLJQ And as for “… invest in homeless outreach teams…”, you can bet that’s where much of the funding will be spent.


17

“Cities like San Luis Obispo are innovating with on-the-ground programs to address homelessness,”


Really? Then why do I trip over so many homeless people “on the ground” when I am downtown?


It won’t be long until SLO has an San Francisco type incident here.


55

Oh my….the special interests and administrators of all the homeless “help” must be in need of a cash infusion so bilking the taxpayers is in order.


57
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