SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – On Wednesday night, the homelessness crisis took center stage during the Governor's debate.
“And over the course of those years, I think we're at the point where we're starting to really see those efforts to pay off.”
The moderators asked each candidate to give the current governor, Gavin Newsom, a letter grade on how he's handled homelessness.
The grades ranged from an A for effort from Xavier Becerra, to B’s and B- from Katie Porter, Matt Mahan, and Tom Styer, a D for implementing some programs to address the crisis from Mahan, and failures from Chad Bianco and Steve Hilton.
ABC 10News wanted to know what local non-profit leaders dedicated to addressing homelessness thought of the state of homelessness crisis and the job done to address it by the state and Newsom.
“I think at statewide Level, I think we've made some great strides,” Teresa Smith, CEO of Dream For Change, said. “And over the course of those years, I think we're at the point where we're starting to really see those efforts to pay off.”
“We've spent a lot more money in recent years on homelessness, but the reality is it's a fraction of what's needed to resolve the decades of neglect,” John Brady, Executive Director of Lived Experience Advisers, said.
They also shared their thoughts on the varying grades from the candidates.
“You have your extremes, you know, the total failures and the total everything is perfect, and those to me right away scream, not so great,” Smith said.
“There was no surprise in how the lines broke between the A's and the B's and the D's and the F’s,” Brady said.
Both say hearing things from the candidates, like prevention funding and temporary housing, was encouraging. But they're still waiting for something else for the candidates to say from the dais.
“So, nobody talked about disabilities, and the reality is the majority of people that have been on our streets over a year are disabled just from the impact of being there,” Brady said.
“For me, I haven't heard so much around how this is going to look and how this is going to go, at least on the front line,” Smith said. “I know that's the things that we're talking about and looking at because as we face both state cuts and federal cuts, is what is going to happen around this state of homelessness, and I don't think anyone's really upset.”
