Former San Francisco mayor criticizes London Breed's approach to solving homeless crisis

HOMELESSNESS CRISIS. ONE OF SAN FRANCISCO'S FORMER MAYORS SAYS THE CITY IS SPENDING WAY TOO MUCH MONEY ON THIS PROBLEM. HE SAID DESPITE THE MAYOR ACCORDING BILLIONS OF DOLLARS TO TRY TO FIX THINGS, CONDITIONS ARE NOT GETTING ANY BETTER. ABC7NEWS REPORTER SUZANNE HAS MORE. >> FORMER MAYOR FRANK JORDAN SPENT YEARS TRYING TO CRACK DOWN ON THE HOMELESS PROBLEM IN THE 1990'S. HE WAS MAYOR BETWEEN 1992 IN 1980 SIX AND THIS WEEK HE TOLD CALIFORNIA INSIDER THAT MAYOR LONDON BREED'S EFFORTS ARE SOMETHING NOT WORKING. >> WHEN YOU LOOK AT OUR HOMELESS ISSUE IN THE LAST SEVEN YEARS, $2,800,000,000. THAT'S IN SEVEN YEARS. WE ARE AVERAGING NOW $700 MILLION A YEAR JUST ON THE HOMELESS. BUT WHEN YOU BREAK THAT DOWN, NOBODY SEEMS TO KNOW IF IT'S 7000 HOMELESS VERSUS 17,000 HOMELESS. >> JORDAN CRITICIZE THEM TO PUT THE HOMELESS AND LOCAL HOTELS FOR HOUSING. HE SAYS 70% OF HOMELESS HAVE MENTAL HEALTH, DRUG PROBLEMS AND NEED ROUND-THE-CLOCK SUPERVISION. >> THEY START FIGHTING PEOPLE IN THE HALLWAYS OR LIGHTING FIRES IN THE ROOM, SO WE HAVE TO TAKE 30 OF THOSE 70 HOTELS THAT ARE NOW SUING THE CITY BECAUSE OF THE DAMAGE THAT'S BEEN CAUSED IN THOSE HOTELS. AMA: JORDAN SAYS WE NEED TO TRY SOMETHING NEW. >> YOU NEED MENTAL HEALTH WARDS, GROUP HOMES AND JUDGES WHO WILL MANDATE 60, 90 DAYS OF CARE, NOT TO 72 HOURS AND PUT THEM BACK OUT ON THE STREET. >> IN THE 1990'S, JORDAN INTRODUCED THE CONTROVERSIAL PROGRAM, USING POLICE TO CRACK DOWN ON THE CRIMES THAT HOMELESS PEOPLE ARE COMMITTING. MORE THAN 20,000 CITATIONS WERE ISSUED, BUT CRITICS SAY THE PROGRAM DID NOT PROVIDE ALTERNATIVES. >> I HAVE FOUND THAT NO MATTER WHAT POLICY I HAVE TRIED TO BE SENSITIVE AND HELP TO THE HOMELESS, THERE ARE ALWAYS DETRACTORS THAT WILL FIND SOMETHING WRONG WITH THE SYSTEM. >> HE CRITICIZES HER APPROACH TO GET ON HOUSE PEOPLE OFF THE STREETS. HE SAYS TOO MUCH MONEY HAS BEEN SPENT IN THE PROBLEM ONLY SEEMS TO BE GETTING WORSE. THE MAYOR DID NOT RESPOND TO THE COMMENTS BUT TODAY WE HEARD FROM THE SAN FRANCISCO COALITION ON HOMELESSNESS. >> WE TRIED IT, IT WAS AN ABJECT FAILURE. WHEN JORDAN WAS MAYOR WE HAD WAY MORE HOMELESS PEOPLE THAN WE DO TODAY, SO THAT'S IN A WORK, WE TRIED TO, FAILED TH

Channel: ABC7 News Bay Area

Views: 20,555

Keywords: news, abc, abc7news, Former Mayor Frank Jordan, San Francisco mayor, san francisco homeless, San francisco london breed, sf homelessness, sf unhoused community, homeless crisis, frank jordan California Insider, frank jordan The Epoch Times, SF Coalition on Homelessness

Id: zMOQSJx_Ws4

Length: 2min 27sec (147 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 22 2023