California’s homelessness crisis could soon become a serious threat to public health, Dr. Ben Carson warned.
The Housing and Urban Development secretary, who is touring homeless shelters in the state, said that unsanitary conditions among these populations could “foster an epidemic, if we’re not careful,” Breitbart reported. Carson and President Trump visited California this week as officials in the state continue to plead with the Trump administration to intervene in the crisis.
Carson: Epidemic risk is real
Carson spoke with reporters outside of Union Rescue Mission in Skid Row, the “homelessness capital” of the United States. Breitbart‘s Joel Pollak describes a scene like something out of a Third World country: “streets sidewalks surrounding the mission are lined with tents and trash. Homeless families sat on the sidewalks, some in chairs, as cars struggled to navigate the chaos: a homeless pair of lovers quarreled in the middle of an intersection.”
With over 100,000 homeless, California has the largest homeless population of any state in the country, by a substantial margin. In cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco, the homelessness crisis has become a highly visible and troubling phenomenon: tent encampments, streets littered with feces and syringes, and mentally ill people shouting in the streets have become distinct features of the scenery in parts of major urban centers.
Amid this squalor, Los Angeles suffered a typhus outbreak in Skid Row earlier this year that alarmed city officials. Medical experts have warned that medieval diseases such as leprosy and the bubonic plague could soon spread through the city’s homeless population of some 60,000.
“My preference, obviously, is to work with the state,” Carson said. “But what we’re concerned about are the conditions. And these are conditions that … can foster an epidemic, if we’re not careful. And then, after that occurs, what will everybody be saying? How come you guys didn’t do anything? You knew all this was going on?”
The deteriorating conditions in L.A. and San Francisco have attracted the attention of Donald Trump, who cites those municipalities as examples of failed liberal governance. Trump warned that California’s cities cannot “destroy themselves” as he threatened to intervene at the federal level at the start of a two-day fundraising visit to the state this week. Trump was met with protests from lawmakers and citizens who feared that Trump was planning a sweeping round-up of homeless individuals amid reports that federal facilities were being considered as a possible housing solution.
State-level policies to blame
While bemoaning the crisis, the Trump administration has rejected a request from governor Gavin Newsom for federal aid, such as housing vouchers, to get homeless people off the streets. In a letter written at Trump’s request Wednesday, Carson insisted that “hard-working taxpayers” across the country must not be forced to pay for the mistakes of California policymakers. Carson pinpointed a few areas in particular where California has failed — policing, mental health, housing, and illegal immigration — and blamed housing regulations and sanctuary city policies for a shortage of affordable housing.
“If California’s homeless population had held in line with overall population trends, America’s homeless rate would have decreased. Instead, the opposite has happened, as California’s unsheltered homelessness population has skyrocketed as a result of the State’s over-regulated housing market, its inefficient allocation of resources, and its policies that have weakened law enforcement,” the letter continued.
Carson said that California has “undercut the ability of police officers to enforce quality-of-life laws, remove encampments, and connect our most vulnerable populations with supportive services they need,” and that “illegal and inadmissible aliens are increasing housing demand and draining resources.” Carson also emphasized drug abuse as a major factor in the crisis and cited the Trump administration’s efforts to stop the inflow of drugs from the southern border.
Any coherent response to the homelessness crisis must address its deeper causes. Without doing something to fix the housing shortage, drug dependency, mental illness and high rates of illegal immigration, tapping federal aid will just put band-aids on a bigger problem. California officials continue to feed the crisis by encouraging lawlessness, whether by doubling down on sanctuary cities or crafting “safe injection sites” legislation that will only perpetuate drug abuse.
Meanwhile, a wider and potentially devastating public health crisis may well be in the offing.
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