During a portion of an interview with the Fox News Channel set to air on Monday’s broadcast of “Hannity,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) acknowledged that California “has not made progress in the last two decades” on homelessness, but he can’t in four years as Governor make up for the historic levels of homeless people that existed in 2005 under a Republican and the “dynamics” in California “are very different” than in a state like Florida, whose homeless population is a fraction of California’s, but stated that “we own” the problem.
DeSantis said, “This state has not made progress in the last two decades as it relates to homelessness.”
After host Sean Hannity asked why that’s the case, Newsom responded, “Because housing costs are too high, our regulatory thickets are too problematic, localism has been too impactful, meaning people locally are pushing back against new housing starts and construction. I’ve been here four years, I can’t make up for the fact [that], in 2005, we had a historic number of homeless under a Republican administration.”
Hannity then cut in to say, “Right now, there [are] 171,000 estimated.”
Newsom cut in to respond, “Disgraceful. Disgraceful.”
Hannity then stated, “I’ll compare to Florida, again, 26,000. Same weather, similar state.”
Newsom countered that Florida has a higher population, and the “dynamics are very different. That said, we own this, Sean, I’m not here defending this.”
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