B. Lee announced her new “strategic action plan” for ending homelessness and it’s like watching Groundhog Day for the 47th time.
It would cost $3.2 billion, according to Oaklandside, which is almost twice what Oakland spends annually on everything else. Predictably, the plan also calls for keeping “equity at the forefront of all programs and policies.” For instance, the plan’s Racial Equity Impact Analysis recognizes that “African Americans are severely overrepresented in the unhoused population” and therefore calls for “work[ing] with the impacted community to deepen understanding of the problem [and] identify barriers and root causes that limit access as the impacted community experiences them.”
So we’re back into “root causes” territory.
Repeat: “as the impacted community experiences them.” Not as we, the taxpayers, see things. After all, we’re just the ones who end up paying to support homeless people “in permanent supportive housing” for the rest of our lives. No, what we see and understand is irrelevant, and besides, we’re all racists anyway, so we can go off and sulk.
And, as always happens when the “root causes” hobgoblin rears its ugly face, this means that actually addressing the problem is postponed indefinitely. This is because, according to the Racial Equity Impact Analysis, in order to “address systemic causes of disparities,” the city must “remove barriers to access,” which obviously will take decades. And if this doesn’t work, “Repeat Steps as needed…until the desired future condition is achieved.”
“Remove barriers.” Of course, anytime someone isn’t successful, “barriers” have got to be found—and the most convenient “barrier” Oakland’s woke administrators always find is—yes, Racism.
Ahh…got it! The “desired future condition,” as the strategic plan calls it, is to have Oakland’s 5,485 homeless people living happily ever after, in “permanent subsidized housing.” Throw in their food, healthcare (including mental health), childcare, clothing, household supplies, and everything else that is defined as “simultaneous investment across interventions,” and that’s where you get the $3.2 billion required.
As Homer Simpson might say, Doh! Why didn’t someone come up with this genius idea years ago? Well, of course, they did. A generation of “progressive” Oakland mayors and City Council members have devised a dozen plans, and as each fails to have any impact, they come up with a different one. With no accountability for where the money goes. With no results. Just continued metastatic growth of the bureaucracy (who in turn get their own job benefits) and it’s easy to see why (1) Oakland is bankrupt and (2) homelessness is worse than ever. It’s the perfect example of Ronald Reagan’s quip that “government programs are the nearest thing to eternal life we’ll ever see on this earth.”
Oddly, the Analysis concludes that “unsheltered homelessness will exist in California, the Bay Area, and Oakland for the foreseeable future.” That might sound pessimistic, but it’s actually good news for the woke politicians who got us into this mess: it means they can continue to pretend to be solving homelessness, while holding on to their salaries and power. They can continue to raise every form of tax known, and to invent new ones, in order to drain us of whatever disposable income we have left. And then they’ll tax that, and call us “cruel racists” if we object. For, in the end, equity is the gift that keeps on giving to unscrupulous, dishonest “progressives.”
As for particulars, here are some of the report’s main recommendations:
Permanent subsidized housing — 3,650 additional “deeply affordable housing options” to cut unsheltered homelessness in half over five years.
Lots more “low-sensitivity” zones where unhoused people can generally live without being rousted. This would consist of most of the city’s acreage. Let the word go out on the homelessness telegraph: We’re welcome in Oakland! We can set up our slums just about anyplace we want!
Increase the number of units with deep affordability to people without income (!?!?!)” In other words, if I’m unemployed, totally broke and living on the street, the way for me to get a free place to live is to remain unemployed and broke! How’s that for another motivation to move to Oakland if you’re homeless (and move out of Oakland if you’re not).
You think I’m exaggerating when I say Oakland government is inviting homeless people to relocate here? From the 3/17 Oakland Report
Alameda County’s homeless population decreased 3%. Oakland’s went up 9%
There’s a simple explanation: homeless people keep drifting to Oakland from other cities because they know Oakland is soft on homeless people. This crap has been going on since disgraced Mayor Libby Schaaf publicly invited our homeless brothers and sisters to move to Oakland because “we love you.” The drifters and bums dutifully packed up their tents and came. We’re still paying the price, and the wokes that run our town are still inviting these idle, indigent drug addicts to come here.
Steve Heimoff