Over the last year, California Gov. Gavin Newsom has been increasingly critical of how cities and counties in his state address homelessness, and his outburst Wednesday afternoon during a press conference announcing May revisions to his proposed state budget is the capper.

As activist Kevin Dalton described, Newsom “went on a completely unhinged rant wondering how politicians get reelected that leave homeless people out on the street to die.”

Newsom, who famously proclaimed in 2008 as Mayor of San Francisco that he had a 10-year plan to end homelessness in the city, now presides over the state where half of the nation’s homeless live. He’s repeatedly said that “fixing” homelessness is his number one goal, yet the problem is increasing by every metric: number of people on the streets, deaths of homeless people, violent crimes committed by the homeless, fires started by the homeless, et cetera, et cetera. And, the state can’t account for $24 billion in homeless funding.

— Kevin Dalton (@TheKevinDalton) November 25, 2024