Mayoral candidate Jerry Dyer and a trio of city councilmembers agree on two things about the homelessness issue in Fresno — it is a crisis and the top issue in the March 3 election. But, in a news conference on Wednesday, the councilmembers criticized Dyer's plan for navigation centers —...
California Just Finished Its Homeless Count. It's Sure to Be Inaccurate, and Politically Weaponized
By Manuela Tobias, The Fresno Bee and Matt Levin, CalMatters With yellow vests and flashlights, over 200 volunteers fanned out across Fresno to count homeless people on Tuesday night. Along the railway, one group walked by a freight container with a mattress and shoes inside, and past a dirt cot...
You’ve Been Named California’s Homelessness Czar. What’s Your First Move?
Gov. Gavin Newsom has taken grief for failing to fulfill what seems like a pretty achievable campaign promise: appointing a homelessness “czar” to help the 150,000 Californians living in shelters and on the streets. Newsom’s quest, which at various points had the mayor of Sacramento, the state secretary of health and human services and...
Gov. Newsom Targets Homeless Crisis in Budget, Order
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday that he is seeking $750 million in part to help pay rent for people facing homelessness in the most populous state's latest attempt to fight what he called a national crisis. Newsom planned to sign an executive order Wednesday creating the fund, two...
LA Audit: Homeless Agency Fails to Hit Housing Goals
LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority has failed to meet goals for placing people into permanent housing and for referring them to substance abuse and mental health treatment, according to a city audit released Wednesday. Despite having more than doubled its number of outreach workers over the...
Dyer Calms Protester, Invites Him to Panhandling Discussion
Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer demonstrated his leadership skills Wednesday at a street corner news conference unveiling a plan to discourage panhandling. While city councilmembers Garry Bredefeld, Miguel Arias, and Paul Caprioglio announced their plan, a truck pulled around the corner of Blackstone and Herndon avenues where the news conference...
Nearly 6,000 Abuse Complaints at Migrant Children Shelters
WASHINGTON — Thousands of accusations of sexual abuse and harassment of migrant children in government-funded shelters were made over the past four years, including scores directed against adult staff members, according to federal data released Tuesday. The cases include allegations of inappropriate touching, staff members allegedly watching minors while they...
Detaining Immigrant Children Is a Billion-Dollar Business
SAN ANTONIO — Detaining immigrant children has morphed into a surging industry in the U.S. that now reaps $1 billion annually — a tenfold increase over the past decade, an Associated Press analysis finds. Health and Human Services grants for shelters, foster care and other child welfare services for detained...
Judge: Separated Families Must Be Reunited Within 30 Days
MCALLEN, Texas — A judge in California on Tuesday ordered U.S. border authorities to reunite separated families within 30 days, setting a hard deadline in a process that has so far yielded uncertainty about when children might again see their parents. If children are younger than 5, they must be...