It’s a Right to Have Shelter, says Sacramento Mayor

Posted by Jack

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — Mayor Darrell Steinberg wants to make it a right for every homeless person in the state to have shelter.

“Think about what your life, anyone’s life would be living out in the elements for a long time without protection and without a roof over your head. We gotta do different and better,” said Mayor Steinberg.

He is proposing enough shelters for all the homeless people living on the streets of California.

“Would you be willing to spend a billion five a year from the state including some local resources to clean up our streets and to bring people indoors in a more humane way?” Mayor Steinberg asked.

He went on to say he believes the majority of people would say yes.

Once enough shelters are built, anyone who is still living on the streets could be fined or cited. While the details are still being worked out, some homeless advocates say more still needs to be done.  END

Liberal Mayor Steinberg believes it would [only] cost 1.5B a year to house all the homeless in CA, estimated to be about 90,000 by some, seems a bit low to me.   That is $16,666 per individual homeless…just for housing, then there is medical and rehab costs, police costs, etc.   And what happens if they don’t want to living in a State provided shelter?  Steinberg says we will just have to force them.  

We’ve already spent billions on this problem and all it’s done is attracted more homeless. When will we learn the lessons from the past?