A person walks past a homeless encampment along X Street under State Route 99 in Sacramento on Oct. 25, 2024. Photo by Fred Greaves for CalMatters
- The majority of the unhoused are simply too poor to afford rents that have been rising faster than salaries in recent years—and 40% of the unhoused are employed.
Where will these people go once the police destroy their encampment? Ms. Rodriguez doesn’t say.
Let’s not be too hard on Ms. Rodriguez, though—after all, homeless people are at least a sanitation problem. But local governments are not helping there, either. One enterprising citizen paid for porta-potties at a homeless encampment, but local government prohibited that. Apparently, the unhoused must be a conspicuous threat to public health.
Reducing poverty is the key to solving the problem of homelessness. The majority of the unhoused are simply too poor to afford rents that have been rising faster than salaries in recent years—and 40% of the unhoused are employed. Should employers be allowed access to American markets when they employ people at such low rates that they can’t afford life’s necessities? Ms. Rodriguez doesn’t say.
Ms. Rodriguez often states that the unhoused are mentally ill and/or addicted, and that is her excuse for the difficulty in solving this problem. These illnesses should also make them unsympathetic enough that most people will shun them, too…