White House vows more federal aid to reduce homelessness in 5 cities and California

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: NBC News/AP

LOS ANGELES — Five major U.S. cities and the state of California will receive federal help to get unsheltered residents into permanent housing under a new plan launched Thursday as part of the Biden administration’s larger goal to reduce homelessness 25% by 2025.

The All Inside initiative will partner the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness and its 19 federal member agencies with state officials in California and local governments in Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Seattle and the Phoenix metro area. The goal is for the federal government to provide “knowledge, resources and elbow grease” to population centers where nearly half the nation’s unhoused residents live, said Susan Rice, President Joe Biden’s domestic policy advisor.

The administration will offer “tailored support” for two years to improve efforts toward housing unsheltered people in the participating communities, including embedding a federal official in each area, officials said. In addition, teams will be deployed to help the communities obtain federal funding, establish a network of resources and identify areas where regulations can be loosened and the process for securing housing can be sped up.

Philanthropic groups and private businesses will be invited to help identify opportunities for support and collaboration, according to the administration. More than 580,000 Americans were homeless in 2022, with 4 out of 10 of them unsheltered and sleeping on sidewalks and in tents and cars, Rice said. “We know we cannot meaningfully address our nation’s homelessness problem without a distinct focus on unsheltered homelessness,” she said during a livestreamed announcement with the cities’ mayors and other officials.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/joe-biden/white-house-vows-federal-aid-reduce-homelessness-rcna85230

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FACT SHEET -

May 18, 2023
FACT SHEET: Biden-⁠Harris
Administration Announces New
Initiative to Tackle Unsheltered Homelessness

Home Briefing Room Statements and Releases

Today, the Biden-Harris administration will announce the launch of ALL INside, a first-of-its-kind initiative to address unsheltered homelessness across the country. ALL INside is a key part of All In: The Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness, which set a bold goal to reduce homelessness 25 percent by 2025 and ultimately build a country where every person has a safe and affordable home.

Through the ALL INside initiative, the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) and its 19 federal member agencies will partner with state and local governments to strengthen and accelerate local efforts to get unsheltered people into homes in six places: Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Phoenix Metro, Seattle, and the State of California.

(snip)

More: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/05/18/fact-sheet-biden-harris-administration-announces-new-initiative-to-tackle-unsheltered-homelessness/

[OneCrazyDiamond]

1. We need help in CA for sure.

It is super scary driving on the freeway, and seeing people who are housing insecure sprinting across.

[McKim]

2. Where is Portland's?

Where is Portland’s help? We have been the whipping boy of Right Wing and police propaganda for three years! Our city is clean and safe but need recovery help. FOX News did a number on our tourism and even convinced suburbanites that downtown was a mess. Lies travel fast! I am downtown every week enjoying new local businesses and events!

[BumRushDaShow]

3. I think they are trying to target the cities with the highest numbers

(per capita) of unsheltered. There was a HUD survey that came out in March and a list of cities here - https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/slideshows/cities-with-the-largest-homeless-populations-in-the-u-s?onepage

I didn't see NYC on this initiative's list but that could be because they might not have had all the partnerships set up and perhaps wanted to go with this to see how it pans out before tackling the largest city in the nation.

But just as a note, every city dweller will tell you (and this is certainly the case here in Philly) that "the media" will declare that their city is - "the worst in the whole wide world and even the worst in the entire universe!!11!1!!!!!). I know I am sick of hearing that bullshit here.

[IbogaProject]

4. They may be targeting swing states

And states with biggest media exposure. While California might be a strong D lean at the state and full state federal level there are lots of swing congressional districts. That might be influencing this imitative a little, even with it being an obvious need.

[BumRushDaShow]

5. Well in terms of sheer numbers of cities with the worst problem

and given they are the largest state by population, California is definitely one that needed help. And this is particularly because of the mild climate that attracts people to try to live there and the very high housing costs versus the relatively low wages that people discover when they do go there to work. The outlier on the list in terms of climate would be Chicago, but then they are the 3rd largest city behind Los Angeles and NYC.

[Sucha NastyWoman]

6. Austin, Dallas And Houston could really use this kind of help except

Texas politicians would probably figure out some way to redirect the money to some other ridiculous use.

[elocs]

7. If you provide aid, the homeless will come. Count on it.

The mayor of my small WI city decided to house the homeless for the winter at a large motel in the city because he had that federal money burning a hole in his pocket and the homeless came from the other side of the state to get it. The result? Sex and drug trafficking and people there living in fear. Plus the motel was trashed and had to close for 2 weeks to clean up the mess.
The sad thing is that the city had no clue as to what to do with the homeless for the coming summer. So they decided to turn over a large city park by the Mississippi for a tent city. The result? The park was trashed with the now familiar squalor and this spring had to basically be bulldozed. The homeless living in that park were also in fear and unless you had somebody to watch your possessions they would be stolen. Again, the city is clueless as to what they will do this summer and next winter, but the homeless are still coming.

An interesting thing is that the homeless problem here is uniting people from opposite ends of the political spectrum who simply have had enough. The problem is that this is a bell that cannot be unrung. The mayor who precipitated much of what happened here is in his first term and frankly I would be shocked if he was reelected and if there are 3 candidates he just might come in 3rd place.