Do you support California’s new statewide push to clear homeless encampments?

👍 Yes (57%) – "Government funding isn't a bottomless pit; if local government cannot deal with the issue with the money and time that they receive and have received so far, maybe that money is best spent on another cause that is equally needy and is now missing out."

• "I've lived in Seattle with homeless people camped and wandering outside the door to my kids' preschool and all potentially responsible parties just pointed fingers at each other and said "it's not my problem." Too many agencies are spending money on homelessness with the problem mostly just getting worse. Previous efforts have encouraged homelessness rather than discouraging it. Simply having homeless shelters isn't enough. There needs to be comprehensive reform to help our most vulnerable populations and get them the help they need, including drug treatment, mental health treatment, and places for those populations of homeless people to be segmented apart from families and others without those issues."

"I support this move, but we also need to have a pathway to assist and house the complexity of our homeless population. We should not place mental illness or drug using homeless in with homeless family facilities. This is simply an example and the complexity is even beyond my range of thought on how to handle this. This would certainly take a number of parties, organizations, etc. to bring solutions to this growing concern."

• "I am a liberal living in a liberal town. We like to think we're helping people live their best lives by letting them live freely on the street and not insisting they get treatment for their mental health conditions or ask them to change. What this means is feeling like I can't walk alone on certain streets, which are blocked off by tents, because my homeless neighbors aren't always the most innocuous in behavior."

"If you want to camp, do so, but if you are homeless the government needs to help you find proper shelter. Right now you are hurting other citizens as well as yourself. According to The Constitution, our government exists for the welfare of its people. CA is trying."

• "Is it a perfect answer? Nope. Do they need to do SOMETHING different to address this problem? Yup. Stagnation and spinning their wheels wasn't working, so now they're trying something different. Whether it works as envisioned or not, at least they have the momentum to make a change."

👎 No (21%) – "Most people do not choose to live outside, they are there because of some circumstance. Encampments happen because there is safety in numbers. How are those in need being connected to the supports they require? We give a lot of lip service to “all the services we provide” but how are the services and the recipients being connected?"

• "I've said it before and I'll say it again, kicking homeless people out of spaces is just sweeping the dust under the rug and ignoring the bigger problem: a rising cost of living in tandem with stagnant wages. I'm tired of governments both federal and local treating the homeless like second-class citizens simply because they don't possess property."

🤷 Unsure/other (22%) – "Yes, I agree that the homeless need to be housed. However, I feel it is a band-aid for a much bigger issue. More important is addressing the reason why there are so many who have to live on the street there. The cost of living in California, and in the cities there, is absolutely phenomenal. How can that problem be addressed?"

• "Clearing homeless encampments is needed for many reasons, but it must be done with extreme care for the humans living there. And just because homeless shelters have the funding necessary to meet those needs doesn't mean they yet have the resources developed. I would be most concerned about personnel. People I know who have worked for homeless shelters say it is a very tough job. Finding good, quality personnel to really assist those large numbers of people moving into the shelters is probably very difficult."