The Homeless

Homelessness is both a human tragedy and a systems failure.

I have deep compassion for our brothers and sisters who end up on the street. No one chooses instability, illness, or despair. But compassion without results isn’t kindness—it’s neglect.

California spends billions every year responding to homelessness through emergency rooms, law enforcement, cleanup, temporary housing, and overlapping programs. Yet the problem continues to grow.

That tells us something important:

This is not a funding problem.

It’s a systems problem.

I believe the only real answer is a teach-the-man-to-fish approach—one that restores dignity, skills, structure, and purpose while reducing the burden on taxpayers.

The model is simple in principle:

Small, well-designed transitional communities with private rooms, shared dining, and on-site work opportunities. Thrift shops, food services, repair and recycling operations—all run by residents, supported by professional staff. Residents are paid a weekly wage, receive room and board, and are trained to manage inventory, finances, operations, and teamwork.

Crucially, this model includes ongoing mental health counseling and recovery support—not as an afterthought, but as core infrastructure. Many people don’t just need housing; they need help resolving the trauma, addiction, or illness that put them on the street in the first place.

This is not a shelter.

It is not a warehouse.

And it is not a lifestyle.

It is structured, work-based, time-limited, and accountable.

With proper design and governance, facilities like this can reduce emergency costs immediately, move people back into the workforce, and over time become largely self-sustaining—potentially even repaying the public investment that made them possible.

Saving taxpayer money is the same as making money.

And the most humane system is the one that actually works.

We can do better than endless spending with no results.

We owe compassion to people who are suffering—and responsibility to the public funding these systems.