Dr. Wayne Winegarden, senior fellow in business and economics at the California-based free market think tank the Pacific Research Institute, and co-author of the new book on California’s homeless crisis No Way Home, issued the following statement on the Biden Administration new $5 billion initiative to combat homelessness:
“The Biden Administration’s proposal is more of the same type of thinking that we’ve seen from Gov. Newsom’s administration and other California leaders – increased taxpayer spending and a focus on government programs as the solution. As we see in communities across California today, this status quo thinking hasn’t made a difference, and California’s homeless crisis is now worse than ever.
“Instead of just throwing more money at the problem, the Biden Administration should take an honest look at whether government anti-homelessness programs are actually working. If they did, they would see that the priority should be reforming or repealing legal and political restraints that have actually encouraged homelessness on our streets. Funding should be focused supporting non-profit organizations nationwide that are doing a much more effective job of addressing the individual needs of those living in homelessness than government ever can.”
Encounter Books recently published No Way Home, a book on California’s homeless crisis authored by four PRI scholars (Kerry Jackson, Dr. Wayne Winegarden, Christopher Rufo and Joseph Tartakovsky). The authors evaluate the different strategies being used at the city, county, and state levels to prevent or reduce homelessness. There is also a legal perspective to the book, with a discussion key legal cases and constraints that are hindering the ability of local governments to address homelessness. Based on their findings and research, the authors put forward several long-term policy reforms that have the greatest potential to reduce homelessness.
The Pacific Research Institute (www.pacificresearch.org) champions freedom, opportunity, and personal responsibility by advancing free-market policy ideas. Follow PRI on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
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