California’s Homelessness Crisis Under Newsom’s Leadership

The Governor’s National Ambitions Contrast with Failures Here in California

Governor Gavin Newsom. Photo from WikiCommons

California Governor Gavin Newsom and ersatz 2028 Presidential candidate held another press conference today, urging cities to "clean up" homelessness. The script was the same as always: bold promises, good visuals, and a typical free pass from the media. In the meantime, California's homeless crisis gets worse. So, let's recap Newsom's record of all-time high spending, systemic breakdown, and the awkward irony that the left's policies generated this crisis.

Newsom's approach is a master class in spending without results. His administration has poured $24 billion into homelessness programs since 2019, yet a 2024 state audit found no attempt to measure their impact. Homekey and Project Roomkey touted as "national models," have performed below expectations. Homekey has established just 12,500 units since 2020, a minuscule fraction of California's 187,000 homeless individuals in need. The $2 billion No Place Like Home Act saw fewer than 500 units occupied as of 2022. Billions were spent, and homelessness increased by 6% between 2020 and 2022. Fully one-third of the nation’s homeless population is right here in our state.

Nowhere is this deterioration more pronounced than in San Francisco, which Newsom led as mayor from 2004 to 2011. The city has over 8,300 homeless individuals, with tent cities clogging streets such as the Tenderloin and Mission districts. Fentanyl overdoses and open-air drug markets flourish, and sanitation issues mar sidewalks, leaving a once-vibrant city a poster child for policy failure.

There is a trend in the Democratic Party today that favors ideologically progressive solutions over practical or sensible ones. Newsom's entire approach to homeless policy is no exception to this trend, emphasizing band-aid fixes instead of substantive change. His 2024 executive order to clear encampments, upheld by a Supreme Court ruling, gets the people relocated with nowhere to go—shelter bed capacity is far less than the 187,000 homeless Californians in need. His CARE Act and conservatorship push rely on coercion rather than solutions, while housing shortages and soaring rents are ignored. Newsom is scapegoating the local governments, threatening to withhold funding despite his lack of oversight. As Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher said, "He looks bad because of his failures on homelessness, so he does this big PR stunt and blames everybody else.”

The irony is disconcerting. California's homeless emergency exploded under nearly 15 years of Democratic legislative control since Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger left office in 2011. The left's policies— taxation and regulation, environmental bureaucracy, and a bloated welfare state—drive housing costs and trap the vulnerable. Newsom's press conferences and billions that can't be tracked can't hide the truth: his party's failures created this mess, which leaves nearly 200,000 Californians on the streets.

Real, substantive solutions would be deregulating housing, reforming welfare to incentivize work, and reducing taxes to unleash the generosity of the people rather than trying to shoehorn government solutions. Until Newsom sheds the left's playbook, his words are just noise drowning out the cries of people experiencing homelessness.

Meanwhile, Newsom is preparing for a 2028 presidential run by debating Florida's Ron DeSantis on Fox News, running ads in red states against GOP policies, and launching a podcast featuring nationally recognized conservative talk show hosts. Governors, however, are judged on their record. After spending $24 billion and homelessness rising 53% since 2013, is Newsom's record on California's streets one to take to the country? Hardly.