On Sunday morning, a sleeping homeless man in New York City was attacked with fireworks, suffering burn injuries to his back.
&#8220;Earlier yesterday morning, a homeless male was sleeping on the sidewalk in front of 67 Lenox Avenue, in the confines of the 28 pct, when he was attacked,&#8221; posted NYPD Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison. &#8220;The male pictured above threw a lit firework on him, which exploded causing burns to the victims back.&#8221;
The culprit, a black male seen laughing and smiling after intentionally tossing the fireworks at the 66-year-old homeless man, is still at large, according to <a href="https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2020/06/23/homeless-man-attacked-with-fireworks/">CBS New York</a>.
At least two other bystanders appear to be watching and taping the incident.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Earlier yesterday morning, a homeless male was sleeping on the sidewalk in front of 67 Lenox Avenue, in the confines of the 28 pct, when he was attacked. The male pictured above threw a lit firework on him, which exploded causing burns to the victims back. <a href="https://t.co/gUZhbLznGT">pic.twitter.com/gUZhbLznGT</a>
&mdash; Chief Rodney Harrison (@NYPDDetectives) <a href="https://twitter.com/NYPDDetectives/status/1275382978609324035?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 23, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Commenting on the incident, the official Twitter account for the Sergeants Benevolent Association (SBA) blasted those in the area for not stepping up and helping the victim.
&#8220;Homeless man literally set on fire last night on the streets in Brooklyn,&#8221; the SBA posted to Twitter on Monday. &#8220;Take a close look NOT one person can be seen defending this victim.&#8221;
&#8220;Not one person seemed to care no protesters to condemn no news media to tell the story,&#8221; the post added.
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Homeless man literally set on fire last night on the streets in Brooklyn. Take a close look NOT one person can be seen defending this victim. Not one person seemed to care no protesters to condemn no news media to tell the story. <a href="https://t.co/OYlgLJUuis">pic.twitter.com/OYlgLJUuis</a>
&mdash; SBA (@SBANYPD) <a href="https://twitter.com/SBANYPD/status/1275230513402458115?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 23, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Some local residents are displeased, too.
“When you see something disgusting like that, knowing what’s going on right now, that’s crazy,” said Tyreke Cole of Harlem, according to the CBS affiliate.
&#8220;Tyreke and his brother Tyquan told Grymes crimes like this one take away from the ongoing <a href="http://newyork.cbslocal.com/tag/black-lives-matter">Black Lives Matter</a> protests <a href="http://newyork.cbslocal.com/tag/george-floyd">against racism and police brutality</a>,&#8221; the report noted.
“It’s like, what did we go out there and protest for if we came back here and did this to each other?” Tyquan said.
Tyreke added, “When you’re tearing down your own people, it’s like, what example are you setting?&#8221;
As noted by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bill-de-blasio-pledges-to-crack-down-on-fireworks-amid-post-coronavirus-peak-in-violent-crime?%3Futm_source=twitter&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=dwtwitter">The Daily Wire</a> on Tuesday, far-left New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio pledged to crack down on fireworks:
<blockquote>Amid a major increase in violent crime — and particularly gun violence — that has police officials warning of a “storm on the horizon,” de Blasio announced Tuesday that he plans on creating an “illegal fireworks task force,” which, Buzzfeed News reports, will “involve over 40 law enforcement officers conducting undercover buys and sting operations that target people selling fireworks in the city.”</blockquote>
De Blasio made the move soon after protesters showed up outside his home demanding action.
On Wednesday, Chief Harrison posted about a 3-year-old boy who was injured by fireworks while inside of his apartment. &#8220;The victim was in a bedroom looking out of the window at the fireworks,&#8221; he said, &#8220;when one of the shells entered the window striking him.&#8221;
&#8220;The shell blew apart causing a laceration to the left bicep requiring stitches and 1st &amp; 2nd degree burns,&#8221; Harrison added.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
The shell blew apart causing a laceration to the left bicep requiring stitches and 1st &amp; 2nd degree burns.
Anyone with information pertaining to this incident is asked to call NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or DM <a href="https://twitter.com/NYPDTips?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NYPDTips</a>
&mdash; Chief Rodney Harrison (@NYPDDetectives) <a href="https://twitter.com/NYPDDetectives/status/1275849195623256064?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 24, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Anyone with information should please contact NYPD’s Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), visit their <a href="http://nypdcrimestoppers.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">website</a>, or contact them on Twitter via <a href="http://twitter.com/nypdtips" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">@NYPDTips</a>.
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

US-HEALTH-VIRUS-HOMELESS

Disturbing Video Shows Sleeping Homeless Person Attacked With Fireworks By Laughing Man

Crime

homeless

New York City

Well over a month into Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D-CA)  temporary housing plan for at-risk homeless people, California has struggled to fill hotel rooms and individual counties are seeing mixed results.  
<a href="https://www.latimes.com/homeless-housing/story/2020-05-19/newsom-coronavirus-homeless-population-hotel-project-roomkey">The Los Angeles Times</a> reported that the governor’s office has secured over 15,619 hotel rooms across the state as of Monday via the Project Roomkey initiative, which seeks to put homeless people most at-risk of coronavirus complications into hotel rooms. Of these rooms, 7,700 remain empty. 
The Times reported that the program, which operates largely at the county level, has also run into different logistical problems, depending on the region. 
For example, in Los Angeles County, the government hasn’t been able to negotiate room contracts fast enough, prompting activists to call for the county <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/activists-pressure-los-angeles-to-seize-hotels-for-the-homeless">to seize</a> the hotel industry. In the Sacramento area, the project has been slowed due to a lack of providers to help operate the hotels, a problem that could soon reach Los Angeles. 
“Unless we can bring in more human capital to do this work, we’re going to have a hard time continuing to expand capacity,” Heid Marston, interim executive director of the Los Angeles Homeless Service Authority, told The Times. 
As of Tuesday afternoon, San Francisco has procured 3,178 hotel rooms and RV units through its <a href="https://data.sfgov.org/stories/s/4nah-suat">Alternative Housing Program</a>, of which 2,176 are ready to be occupied, but only 1,347 actually are occupied. 
In addition to providing rehabilitation services for homeless people, the San Francisco Department of Health said it would provide free alcohol and tobacco, obtained through private donations, to some participants in the program to discourage them from leaving, according to <a href="https://www.sfgate.com/news/editorspicks/article/San-Francisco-homeless-hotels-drugs-alcohol-15253297.php">SFGate.</a> 
“Managed alcohol and tobacco use makes it possible to increase the number of guests who stay in isolation and quarantine and, notably, protects the health of people who might otherwise need hospital care for life-threatening alcohol withdrawal,” said the health department. 
It’s not clear whether the drugs are only available to people who want to participate in treatment, but the department has said substances are distributed by licensed doctors. 
“Many isolation and quarantine guests tell us they use substances daily, and this period in our care has allowed some people to connect for the first time with addiction treatment and harm reduction therapy,” said the department.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) statistics show that the state of California had <a href="https://files.hudexchange.info/reports/published/CoC_PopSub_State_CA_2019.pdf">approximately 150,000</a> homeless people in 2019, and as recently as 2017, the state was home to one in four of the nation’s homeless people. Approximately 60,000 of those people live in Los Angeles County, and about 8,000 live in San Francisco. 
That said, recent reports suggest that the homeless population in San Francisco has been growing, as people migrate to the city in the hopes of snagging a free hotel room, according to <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/Mayor-London-Breed-s-message-to-out-of-town-15237855.php">The San Francisco Chronicle</a>.
“People are showing up in San Francisco from other places and asking where their hotel room is,” said Mayor London Breed in late April. “That’s a real problem for me.”
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

USC medical staff stay at hotels

Report: California Struggles To Fill Hotel Rooms It Booked For Homeless People

California

San Francisco

The drug-dealing and feces inundating the streets of one neighborhood in San Francisco have become so ubiquitous that the University of California Hastings College of the Law, joined by local business owners and residents, is suing the city to clean the mess up.
The <a href="https://www.uchastings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/UC-Hastings-et-al.-v.-CCSF-Complaint-FINAL-FILED-05.04.21.pdf">lawsuit</a> states:
<blockquote>Even before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the de facto policy of the City and County of San Francisco to use the Tenderloin community as a containment zone had resulted in a dramatic decline in the livability and safety of the neighborhood. The deplorable conditions tolerated by the City in the Tenderloin are not permitted in other neighborhoods in San Francisco. This is a matter of fundamental fairness; what is a city-wide problem should not be allowed to weigh disproportionately on a low-income working- class neighborhood. San Francisco should be prohibited from abandoning a single neighborhood, in an apparent effort to spare other neighborhoods the burdens that confront the city at-large.
Open-air drug sales and other criminal activity, plus crowds of drug users and sidewalk-blocking tents, pervade and threaten the health and lives of all of the Tenderloin’s residents. What has long been suffered in the Tenderloin has become insufferable.</blockquote>
UC Hastings Chancellor David Faigman <a href="https://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2020/05/09/sf-sued-over-nightmare-neighborhood-conditions.cnn">told CNN</a>, “We are suing because our neighborhood has become a pandemic containment zone. Tents are blocking streets, tents are blocking doorways, there are needles in the streets, there’s open-air drug dealing … We need the tents to be removed and we need the drug dealers to be stopped. Leaving them on the streets is no solution.”
“The number of tents and makeshift homeless shelters in the 50-block section that more than 20,000 permanent residents call home has more than doubled from 158 in early March to 391 as of May 1, according to a survey cited in the lawsuit,” <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/05/11/san-francisco-sued-amid-285-percent-jump-in-homeless-camps/?utm_source=maropost&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=nypevening&amp;utm_content=20200511&amp;tpcc=evening_update&amp;mpweb=755-8860539-719690448&amp;fbclid=IwAR3WcFl1i7nBTcIijE">The New York Post</a> reported.
Last week, San Francisco mayor London N. Breed <a href="https://sf.gov/news/san-francisco-releases-tenderloin-neighborhood-safety-assessment-and-plan-covid-19">released the Tenderloin Neighborhood Safety Assessment and Plan</a> for COVID-19, which stated:
<blockquote>The Plan has eight main goals:
<ol>
<li>Address encampments by offering safe sleeping alternatives to unsheltered individuals.</li>
<li>Facilitate social distancing compliance by closing streets and parking.</li>
<li>Ensure that housed residents in the Tenderloin have safe passage and access to their homes and businesses.</li>
<li>Improve access to hygiene station, restrooms and garbage disposal for unhoused individuals.</li>
<li>Address food and water insecurity for housed and unhoused residents alike.</li>
<li>Increase police presence in the neighborhood to focus on public safety concerns.</li>
<li>Increase health services in the neighborhood.</li>
<li>Increased education and outreach to residents and businesses through a ‘care ambassador’ program.</li>
</ol>
</blockquote>
Faigman said the plan was “entirely inadequate,” adding, “It essentially institutionalizes the status quo. It simply leaves everybody in place. It is a Band-Aid when a bandage is needed and is simply inadequate.”
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.  
&nbsp;

Hastings Law School

San Francisco Sued By UC Law School Over Rampant Drug-Dealing, Feces-Filled Streets

Drugs

Residents of the Tenderloin neighborhood in San Francisco, California &#8212; a neighborhood already under seige by a homeless encampment, drug use, and unsanitary conditions &#8212; are suing the city of San Francisco after the encampment grew by 300% during the city&#8217;s coronavirus outbreak.
&#8220;The number of tents and makeshift structures in the Tenderloin has tripled since January, as homeless shelters are forced to operate at low capacity in order to enforce stringent social distancing requirements,&#8221; <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/san-francisco-tenderloin-district-300-homeless-sidewalk-tents-coronavirus">according to Fox News</a>.
The Tenderloin is the epicenter of San Francisco&#8217;s homeless problem and, previous to the coronavirus pandemic, was the part of the city hardest hit by what residents termed &#8220;code browns,&#8221; or incidents of human feces littering the sidewalks. At one point, <a href="https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/streets-in-sfs-tenderloin-district-to-be-pressure-washed-everyday-because-of-poop-problem/">local news reports</a>, the problem got so bad that Tenderloin residents enlisted their own &#8220;Community Benefit District,&#8221; to power-wash the sidewalks once a week.
“Everyday — it’s a common occurrence, seeing a feces every single day, especially the Tenderloin. It’s really bad. You can’t go with about two steps without stepping on something,” one resident told a local outlet last December.
San Francisco, of course, is now famous for its &#8220;poop problem,&#8221; which has already cost the city millions of dollars to handle, including hundreds of thousands of dollars for a &#8220;poop patrol&#8221; tasked with doing nothing but addressing incidents of human feces on city sidewalks. The issue even gave rise to several apps, tracking the number and location of 311 calls reporting dirty streets, drug paraphernalia, and unsanitary conditions.
Now, <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/san-francisco-tenderloin-district-300-homeless-sidewalk-tents-coronavirus">Fox News reports</a>, residents say the problem has gotten so bad, they&#8217;re suing the city government in Federal court to force them to clean up the mess.
&#8220;The federal lawsuit, filed last week in part by the University of California Hastings College of Law, does not seek financial damages but instead demands the city clean up streets littered with drug needles and human waste. The litigants are also seeking help for people living in sidewalk tents, saying  they are at increased risk of COVID-19,&#8221; the outlet said Monday.
&#8220;We are suing because our neighborhood has become a pandemic containment zone,” the Hastings College of Law dean told media. &#8220;The city has basically cordoned off our area. Tents are blocking the streets. Tents are blocking doorways. There are needles in the streets. There’s open-air drug dealing.&#8221;
The complainants say they fear that the &#8220;virus is raging in the neighborhood,&#8221; putting its residents (both homed and homeless) at heightened risk.
San Francisco&#8217;s mayor, London Breed, rolled out a plan for the neighborhood last week, but the plan largely addresses the needs of the homeless, not more permanent Tenderloin residents. The plan &#8220;involves ushering people experiencing homelessness to sanctioned &#8216;safe-sleeping&#8217; encampments and enforcing rules requiring sidewalk tents to be at least six feet apart,&#8221; erecting temporary showers and restrooms for the homeless, and providing them with healthcare services and food.
&#8220;I think the plan is entirely inadequate. It essentially institutionalizes the status quo. It simply keeps everybody in place. It is a Band-Aid when a bandage is needed,” Hastings&#8217; dean said. “It was thrown together in response because they knew the lawsuit was coming, but it clearly does not provide a real solution.&#8221;
The plan, he added, doesn&#8217;t address the other issues, like rampant drug use.
&#8220;I don’t know of any place in America where health mandates are so flagrantly violated as in the Tenderloin,” one Tenderloin resident told media. “It hasn’t sunk in that we’re in danger.”
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

san fran homeless

San Francisco Residents Sue City Over Homeless Encampment That TRIPLED During Coronavirus Outbreak

Coronavirus

The San Francisco Department of Public Health announced that it will provide free alcohol and tobacco through the Alternative Housing Program, a local initiative that temporarily houses people at-risk for coronavirus complications in vacant hotel rooms, trailers and recreational vehicles. 
According to <a href="https://www.sfgate.com/news/editorspicks/article/San-Francisco-homeless-hotels-drugs-alcohol-15253297.php">SFGate</a>, the health department has agreed to provide “limited quantities” of the substances, which were obtained through private donations and not with tax money, to some of the homeless people who participate in the program. 
“Managed alcohol and tobacco use makes it possible to increase the number of guests who stay in isolation and quarantine and, notably, protects the health of people who might otherwise need hospital care for life-threatening alcohol withdrawal,&#8221; said the health department in a statement. 
The news agency reports that the people staying in hotels are screened for drug use prior to checking into the hotels, and that the department asks them whether they would like help with rehabilitation. The department also told the news agency that it has provided medical marijuana in certain circumstances, but doesn’t provide recreational marijuana. 
It’s not clear whether the drugs are only available to people who want to participate in treatment, but the department has said substances are distributed by licensed doctors. 
&#8220;Many isolation and quarantine guests tell us they use substances daily, and this period in our care has allowed some people to connect for the first time with addiction treatment and harm reduction therapy,&#8221; said the department. 
San Francisco has procured 2,482 hotel rooms, slightly less than half of which are currently occupied, according to the Alternative Housing Program <a href="https://data.sfgov.org/stories/s/4nah-suat">data tracker</a>, which the city launched to increase transparency. The housing program focuses on those who are most at-risk for complications from coronavirus, such as people with pre-existing conditions or the elderly. 
During the 2019 point-in-time homeless count, which calculates the amount of homeless people in an area on a given day, <a href="https://sfgov.org/scorecards/safety-net/homeless-population">San Francisco</a> identified 8,000 homeless people in the city, about 3,000 of whom were staying in shelters at the time. 
According to <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/Mayor-London-Breed-s-message-to-out-of-town-15237855.php">The San Francisco Chronicle</a>, the city has been struggling to house the homeless population amidst an influx of new people who heard about the hotel program and want to participate.
“People are showing up in San Francisco from other places and asking where their hotel room is,” said Mayor London Breed in late April. “That’s a real problem for me.&#8221;
&#8220;If you are not in this system, and were not in this system as of the beginning of this pandemic, then we will not prioritize you over people who have been waiting,&#8221; she said.
The San Francisco housing program is part of a larger initiative from Governor Gavin Newsom (D-CA) called Project Roomkey, a plan to pay hotel owners to use 15,000 vacant rooms across the state for homeless people at-risk of coronavirus complications. 
As <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/california-begins-hotel-rooms-for-the-homeless-initiative-includes-fema-reimbursements">The Daily Wire</a> previously reported, the governor announced in early April that local governments across the state “will receive up to 75 percent cost-share reimbursements from FEMA for hotel rooms and motel rooms,” including expenses related to security, maintenance, and food.
“Homeless Californian’s are incredibly vulnerable to COVID-19 and often have no option to self-isolate or social-distance,” said Newsom. “By helping the most vulnerable homeless individuals off the street and into isolation, California can slow the spread of COVID-19 through homeless populations, lower the number of people infected and protect critical healthcare resources.”
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

Tents In San Francisco

San Francisco Providing Alcohol To Select Homeless Guests At Hotels So They Don’t Leave

Back in early April, California Governor Gavin Newsom <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/california-begins-hotel-rooms-for-the-homeless-initiative-includes-fema-reimbursements">announced</a> Project Roomkey, an initiative to use local and federal funds to check homeless people into empty hotels amidst the coronavirus pandemic. But over a month later, homeless activists in Los Angeles, the state’s largest city, have grown impatient with the city&#8217;s slow progress.
According to the Los Angeles Times, <a href="https://www.latimes.com/homeless-housing/story/2020-05-03/coronavirus-homeless-hotel-commandeer-squatting-protest-los-angeles">advocates for the homeless</a> have been pressuring officials to take over some of the hotels in the city, which has lagged behind its own goal of securing 15,000 rooms for about 25% of the area’s homeless population.
“If you can tell the entire city of Los Angeles that we can shelter in place, then you can tell the hotels they are commandeered and they need to open their doors to the residents of skid row,” said Shayla Myers, attorney for the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles.
During a recent incident, a homeless man entered the Ritz-Carlton during a Democratic Socialist of America protest and then refused to leave, reports <a href="https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/homeless-protester-enters-dtla-hotel-to-demand-emergency-shelter/2355801/">NBC Los Angeles</a>. He was later arrested and released.
The homeless man told the LA Times he planned on staying at the luxury hotel chain until government officials forced the city’s hotel industry to house the region’s entire homeless population. According to <a href="https://abc7.com/hotel-ritz-carlton-homeless-project-roomkey/6150911/">ABC-7</a>, the units that occupy the top floor of the Ritz-Carlton are owned by individuals, and cost up to $42 million to purchase.
Los Angeles county, which leads the nation in homelessness everywhere except New York City, currently has about 60,000 homeless people, according to the Los Angeles County Homeless Authority’s <a href="https://www.lahsa.org/news?article=558-greater-los-angeles-homeless-count-shows-12-rise-in-homelessness">2019 count</a>. The county has <a href="https://www.discoverlosangeles.com/media/facts-about-la">approximately</a> 98,000 hotel rooms.
The Los Angeles Times reports that even local officials have balked at the idea of using an emergency order to seize the hotel industry, and might even delay the housing initiative by pressuring hotel owners into court battles.
“Commandeering is very seldom used by government,” David Howard, the county executive in charge of the team that negotiates with hotel owners, told the news agency. “It’s only done in the event of disaster.”
Even before the pandemic officially took hold in the United States, the governor had <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/democrat-gov-gavin-newsom-doctors-should-be-able-to-prescribe-housing-like-medication">been advocating</a> for stronger policies to help the state’s homeless population, and notably proposed a peculiar solution earlier this year.
“Doctors should be able to write prescriptions for housing the same way they do for insulin or antibiotics,” said Newsom during the state of the state address in February.
After Newsom decided to also tweet his remarks, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) slammed him for proposing solutions that require things to “magically appear.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
This is the Leftist mind: write a slip of paper &amp; a house will magically appear. Never mind that the person doesn’t have a job, the contractor can’t get a CA permit to build the house, rent control has caused a housing shortage &amp; homeless people are crapping on the doorstep. 🤡 <a href="https://t.co/giz3z7vHFB">https://t.co/giz3z7vHFB</a>
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) <a href="https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1231996492057063427?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2020</a></blockquote>
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

Activists Pressure Los Angeles To Seize Hotels For The Homeless

Los Angeles

On Tuesday, New York governor Andrew Cuomo made a comment that if made by a Republican governor, would certainly have resulted in getting savaged by the mainstream media.
At his daily coronavirus briefing, Cuomo was discussing the homeless people in the subways and brandishing a copy of the New York Daily News that showed pictures of the homeless, then stated, “That is disgusting, what is happening on those subway cars. It’s disrespectful to the essential workers who need to ride the subway system,” as <a href="https://gothamist.com/news/governor-cuomo-and-mayor-de-blasio-agree-subway-homeless-must-go">The Gothamist</a> reported.
Cuomo added, “We have to do better than that, and we will.”
The Gothamist noted that Transport Workers Union Local 100 President Tony Utano stated, “Mayor de Blasio has to direct the police to escort the mentally ill and the homeless out of the system. This is a life-and-death situation, not a quality of life issue.”
New York mayor Bill De Blasio wants the MTA to close ten subway stations and also close terminals between 12 a.m. and 5 a.m. so the homeless can be transported to shelters and the subways can be cleaned. He stated, “We&#8217;ll devote the police resources, we&#8217;ll devote the outreach workers, we&#8217;ll do whatever it takes, but we need the MTA to agree to this plan,”
On Monday, the interim head of New York City Transit, Sarah Feinberg, wrote in <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/04/27/city-hall-must-not-let-the-subway-turn-into-a-homeless-shelter/">The New York Post,</a> “We are changing our Code of Conduct to make it abundantly clear that the transit system must be used by people for transport only — not for sheltering, sleeping, storing belongings or panhandling. We will enforce these new regulations in close coordination with our NYPD partners and the MTAPD.”
MTA spokesperson Abbey Collins said, “We&#8217;re relieved on behalf of our customers and employees that the City has agreed to do more to provide safe shelter for homeless New Yorkers but it should not have taken a global pandemic for the City to do a job the MTA has called on it to do for years. Happy the city has agreed to do more to provide safe shelter for homeless NYers as we have been asking for months. We thank NYPD for their partnership, and urge City Hall to take additional aggressive actions so we can focus on safely running transit service and not providing social services.”
She added, “The Mayor should get out of his car and into the subways so he can see what is really going on and solve the problem of his own making.”
The Gothamist reported that roughly 4,000 people are homeless on the street.
As far back as 1991, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1991/08/16/opinion/republicans-and-the-homeless.html">The New York Times</a> pilloried Republicans vis-a-vis the homeless, writing, &#8220;The eight Reagan years were dark ones for Federal mental health policy. The homeless &#8212; many of them mentally ill &#8212; became grimly familiar features of city streets. But the Reagan Administration did worse than ignore them; it magnified the problem.&#8221;
But to get a true picture of how the rhetoric regarding Reagan and homelessness was unfair, read <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/2004/06/inventing-homelessness-carl-f-horowitz/">here</a>.
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">subscriber</a>.  
&nbsp;

NY Gov. Cuomo Holds Daily Coronavirus Briefing In Syracuse

NY Gov. Cuomo Calls Homeless Situation In Subways ‘Disgusting.’ Imagine If A Republican Said That.

Andrew Cuomo

California Governor Gavin Newsom (D-CA) announced Friday afternoon that his administration received approval from the Federal Emergency Management Association (FEMA) to start “Project Roomkey,” an initiative aimed at securing temporary housing for homeless people in hotels across the state.
While standing in front of a motel, the governor revealed that the state secured 6,800 hotel and motel rooms, with the goal of increasing the number to 15,000 by an unspecified date, reports <a href="https://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2020/04/03/gavin-newsom-homeless-hotel-motel-rooms-project-roomkey-darrell-steinberg/">CBS News</a> Sacramento.
“This was the crisis that predated the current crisis in the state of California, and we’re doing everything in our power to meet it head-on,” said Newsom, reports the news agency. “What we want to do is relieve the stress in our shelter system, so we can separate individuals and ultimately relieve the impact in our medical care delivery system.”
While it’s currently unclear how long the policy will remain in place, and how much the initiative will cost in total, the governor previously announced he would commit $150 million of the state’s money to homeless aid, reports <a href="https://www.foxla.com/news/gov-gavin-newsom-announces-plan-to-move-thousands-of-states-homeless-to-hotel-rooms-amid-covid-19-pandemic">Fox News</a> Los Angeles.
In a press release, Newsom revealed that local governments “will receive up to 75 percent cost-share reimbursements from FEMA for hotel rooms and motel rooms,” including expenses related to security, maintenance, and food, according to a press release.
World Central Kitchen, a nonprofit organization that provides meals in disaster zones, will be providing meals at select locations. Furthermore, the initiative will also include partnerships with nonprofit and local government organizations to provide “essential behavioral health and health care services” to homeless people.
“Homeless Californian’s are incredibly vulnerable to COVID-19 and often have no option to self-isolate or social-distance,” said the governor. “By helping the most vulnerable homeless individuals off the street and into isolation, California can slow the spread of COVID-19 through homeless populations, lower the number of people infected and protect critical healthcare resources.”
“We’re working hard with our county partners to get these hotels up and running as rapidly as possible,” said Newsom.
According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the state of California had <a href="https://files.hudexchange.info/reports/published/CoC_PopSub_State_CA_2019.pdf">approximately 150,000</a> homeless people in 2019, and as recently as 2017, the state’s homeless population accounted for approximately one in four of the nation’s homeless people. 
As <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ca-gov-newsom-has-magic-plan-to-solve-homeless-problem-ted-cruz-hits-him-with-reality">The Daily Wire</a> has previously reported, Newsom publicly floated a particularly odd vision for addressing the homeless crisis in February, declaring that he wants to live in a world where doctors can “write prescriptions for housing the same way they do for insulin or antibiotics.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Doctors should be able to write prescriptions for housing the same way they do for insulin or antibiotics.
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) <a href="https://twitter.com/GavinNewsom/status/1230889348167434240?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 21, 2020</a></blockquote>
In response to the governor’s statement, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) blasted him for demonstrating the problem with the left-wing mindset.
“This is the Leftist mind: write a slip of paper &amp; a house will magically appear,” said Cruz. “Never mind that the person doesn’t have a job, the contractor can’t get a CA permit to build the house, rent control has caused a housing shortage &amp; homeless people are crapping on the doorstep.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
This is the Leftist mind: write a slip of paper &amp; a house will magically appear. Never mind that the person doesn’t have a job, the contractor can’t get a CA permit to build the house, rent control has caused a housing shortage &amp; homeless people are crapping on the doorstep. <a href="https://t.co/giz3z7vHFB">https://t.co/giz3z7vHFB</a>
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) <a href="https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1231996492057063427?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2020</a></blockquote>

Governor Gavin Newsom

California Begins Hotel Rooms For The Homeless Initiative, Includes FEMA Reimbursements

COVID-19

On the evening of January 4, a family was taking its first trip to the beach in Venice, California, when a homeless man persisted in trying to grab the family’s six-year-old girl from her mother’s arms. That triggered the girl’s uncle, a U.S. Army veteran, to execute a takedown where the two men wrestled until LAPD Pacific Division officers arrived; it took six officers to subdue the homeless man.
Riley Pegram, his daughter Neveah and her uncle Chris were first accosted on the beach by Evan McLaurin-Nelson, whom investigators stated had a “lengthy arrest record in both Las Vegas and California that includes false imprisonment, indecent exposure, battery and disorderly conduct,” according to <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7880887/Shocking-moment-homeless-man-tries-snatch-girl-6-moms-lap-California.html">The Daily Mail</a>, which added that McLaurin-Nelson claimed he knew Neveah and had to “save her.”
The family attempted to evade McLaurin-Nelson by joining Neveah&#8217;s mother getting dinner at a pizza shop, but McLaurin-Nelson followed them, trying to seize Neveah. Chris got a hand on his neck trying to forestall him, but McLaurin-Nelson again attempted to seize Neveah as her mother to shove him away with her leg, prompting Chris to grab McLaurin-Nelson&#8217;s hair and yank him to the ground, where they wrestled before Chris pinned the frenzied homeless man down.
Police stated, “He wrestled with the suspect for several minutes until LAPD Pacific Division officers responded and took the suspect into custody.” Riley said, &#8220;We think he was on something. On some type of drugs or something. I don&#8217;t know if he was homeless but I know he was on drugs.”
McLaurin-Nelson was later charged with one count of attempted kidnap and one of resisting an officer; he pled not guilty to both counts.
Neveah told <a href="https://ktla.com/2020/01/10/video-man-allegedly-tries-to-kidnap-6-year-old-girl-in-venice-family-member-intervenes/">KTLA</a>, “It was so scary. I was bawling my eyes out because I was scared I was going to get taken away from my mommy and daddy.”
As The Department of Housing and Urban Development <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/homelessness-is-on-the-rise-in-the-u-s-and-one-state-is-driving-it">reported</a> in December, homelessness in California has spiraled out of control. HUD <a href="https://www.hud.gov/press/press_releases_media_advisories/HUD_No_19_177">stated:</a>
<blockquote>While the rest of the country experienced a combined decrease in homelessness in 2019, significant increases in unsheltered and chronic homelessness on the West Coast, particularly California and Oregon, offset those nationwide decreases, causing an overall increase in homelessness of 2.7 percent in 2019. Twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia reported declines in homelessness between 2018 and 2019, while 21 states reported increases in the number of persons experiencing homelessness. Homelessness in California increased by 21,306 people, or 16.4 percent, which is more than the total national increase of every other state combined.</blockquote>
HUD Secretary Ben Carson commented, &#8220;As we look across our nation, we see great progress, but we&#8217;re also seeing a continued increase in street homelessness along our West Coast where the cost of housing is extremely high. In fact, homelessness in California is at a crisis level and needs to be addressed by local and state leaders with crisis-like urgency. Addressing these challenges will require a broader, community-wide response that engages every level of government to compassionately house our fellow citizens who call the streets their home.&#8221;
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Venice Beach

WATCH: Homeless Man Tries To Seize 6-Year-Old Girl. Then Her Uncle, An Army Vet, Responds.

On Monday, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson <a href="https://grabien.com/story.php?id=266671?utm_source=cliplist20191231&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=cliplist&amp;utm_content=story266671">appeared on Fox News</a> with host David Webb to speak about homelessness. Carson stated of the homeless, “Some people say it’s compassionate just to let them do anything they want to do. That’s not compassionate at all.  What’s compassionate is helping people who cannot take care of themselves manage. And If we can get them into the right setting so they’re getting proper medications and counseling, many of them become quite functional at that point.”
Carson noted that if California is excluded from the number of homeless people in the United States and one takes an average of the number of homeless people around the nation, homeless is dropping.
Webb remarked, “Let’s talk about resources here; you talk about state and local governments and the resources being applied. Governor Newsom of California has applied over a billion dollars to this issue. Money doesn’t solve the problem. So how do we reconcile money and resources?”
Carson answered, “In science we like to look at the facts; we like to look at the evidence. That’s what I would strongly recommend in this case. Look at other states; we have 50 laboratories, 50 states that do things in various ways. Let’s look at the ones that are highly successful.”
Carson continued:
<blockquote>Look at Texas and how much their homelessness has gone down over the last year and over the last five to seven years. Significant decreases because the policies don’t encourage people to sleep on the streets. They encourage people to go to the places where they can get the kind of help that will get them into the right situation. And then I have to look at the way people treat people who are mentally ill. Some people say it’s compassionate just to let them do anything they want to do. That’s not compassionate at all. What’s compassionate is helping people who cannot take care of themselves manage. And If we can get them into the right setting so they’re getting proper medications and counseling, many of them become quite functional at that point.</blockquote>
Webb said, “Secretary Carson, what’s the correlation between the politics of this, that is a component here as we look at the number of states; there’s also weather and the homeless. You would think that typically in the warmer states this is where they would all be, but in your recent HUD report on the homelessness, the facts actually lead us in a different direction.”
Carson replied, “That is correct; some of the states with the lowest amount of homelessness are quite warm states like Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and Virginia. So that is not the case. What happens is a lot of times the policies are problematic.”
Carson went on:
<blockquote>Now people don’t mean to do bad things; don’t get me wrong. You know, housing first, for instance; it’s meant to be a good thing; just get people off the street, don’t have any requirements of them and you’ve done your job. But I think it should be housing first, second and third. Housing second: you figure why they’re on the street in the first place, and housing third, you fix it. That’s where the real compassion in. The places that are just applying housing first are the ones who’ve resulted over the last five years in a decrement and transitional housing beds of 77,078. At the same time, the unsheltered homeless number has gone up by 35,000. Do the math.
We have the right policies; we may have the number of beds that we need to take care of them, but when you exclude that number of transitional beds, you create a much bigger problem. This is not just necessarily a Democrat problem; there are Republicans also who have been, let’s just say, taken in by the “Housing First” strategy and not really analyzed the complete program and what the outcome is. And you have to really be able to look at all those facts; look at at the data. Then make your decisions on that; not on ideology; that is the key to fixing this problem.</blockquote>
Video below:
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California Begins Hotel Rooms For The Homeless Initiative, Includes FEMA Reimbursements

WATCH: Homeless Man Tries To Seize 6-Year-Old Girl. Then Her Uncle, An Army Vet, Responds.

WATCH: Ben Carson: Letting Homeless Do Whatever They Want To Do Is Not Compassionate. Help Them.

Menu

homeless

Disturbing Video Shows Sleeping Homeless Person Attacked With Fireworks By Laughing Man

Report: California Struggles To Fill Hotel Rooms It Booked For Homeless People

San Francisco Sued By UC Law School Over Rampant Drug-Dealing, Feces-Filled Streets

San Francisco Residents Sue City Over Homeless Encampment That TRIPLED During Coronavirus Outbreak

San Francisco Providing Alcohol To Select Homeless Guests At Hotels So They Don’t Leave

Activists Pressure Los Angeles To Seize Hotels For The Homeless

NY Gov. Cuomo Calls Homeless Situation In Subways ‘Disgusting.’ Imagine If A Republican Said That.

California Begins Hotel Rooms For The Homeless Initiative, Includes FEMA Reimbursements

WATCH: Homeless Man Tries To Seize 6-Year-Old Girl. Then Her Uncle, An Army Vet, Responds.

WATCH: Ben Carson: Letting Homeless Do Whatever They Want To Do Is Not Compassionate. Help Them.

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