On Tuesday’s broadcast of “NewsNation Now,” Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA) reacted to California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) pushing for bans on homeless encampments by stating that “I don’t think that arresting homeless people is the answer.” And “We need to make sure that we can build the shelters that they need much more quickly, because there’s a lot of red tape there.”
Host Connell McShane asked, “[I]n California, the Governor’s made some interesting comments about homelessness and about the fact that he wants to ban homeless encampments. … [W]hat he says is, it’s not human to step over people on the sidewalks and streets, it’s not human to allow people to live for three or four, five years in encampments, and it’s not human to allow the status quo to continue. And, again, it was just interesting coming from a Democratic Governor of a huge state like California. Is that the way we should be going on an issue like that, or do you think it’s a different direction we should be going?”
Chu answered, “Well, I think that we need to find places for the homeless and we need to make sure that there are ways to service them, because they, many times, have needs that are far greater than just not having a home. They have mental illness and they have substance abuse. So, we need to step that up. We need to make sure that we can build the shelters that they need much more quickly, because there’s a lot of red tape there. But I don’t think that arresting homeless people is the answer.”
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