Letters: Accountability, compassion keys to state’s homeless agency

Submit your letter to the editor via this form Read more Letters to the Editor Accountability is key to helping homeless Re Agency to confront housing trouble Page A July There have been numerous promises to Californians when it comes to launching housing and homelessness programs Despite billions spent on initiatives to combat this homelessness has only grown and housing remains out of reach for too several Related Articles Letters Barbara Lee s more of the same won t solve Oakland s homeless predicament Letters Bills offer California procedures to end pupil homelessness Letters Invented emergencies shroud Supreme Court in secrecy Letters State should protect science with reliable funding Letters Homelessness is not an identity for Oaklanders We ve already seen encampments housing delays and finger-pointing What we need is more affordable units and housing services that meet people where they are Throwing money at the issue without accountability or compassion won t work We want real change and it starts with political and citizens pressure Ignacio Ramirez San Jose Newsom s new agency must be transparent Re Agency to confront housing difficulty Page A July Gov Gavin Newsom s new housing and homelessness agency signals progress towards housing accessibility but resolution of California s housing situation demands more than bureaucratic reshuffling Increasing housing accessibility requires more transparency and accountability Although the state has poured a total million into its Encampment Resolution Funding campaign of the project s funds remain unspent Meanwhile the California Interagency Council on Homelessness the agency in charge of reporting current costs and results of homelessness initiatives in the state has not studied facts after California has spent enormous materials to expand the state s housing supply and lower costs but pouring money into projects without rigorous oversight or performance metrics undermines genuine progress towards housing accessibility If Newsom s agency wants to meaningfully reduce homelessness it must require regular evaluations and prioritize taxpayer money for programs that deliver meaningful results Isabella Bian Palo Alto Bill would make state justice system just California prides itself on progress yet our criminal justice system remains rooted in racial and economic injustice For too long Black Brown and low-income communities have borne the brunt of punitive policies trapped in a cycle of incarceration caused not by crime but by untreated trauma poverty and addiction Harsh sentencing laws and chronic underinvestment in mental wellbeing care have shattered families and futures SB is a chance to change that The Second Chance Project shifts the focus from punishment to healing supporting diversion courts and mental strength healing It s a practical community-driven remedy that addresses the issue at its root prioritizing rehabilitation over punishment and never-ending cycles In the Bay Area we see how race and ZIP code shape outcomes SB confronts those disparities and invests in what works Let s pass SB and build a justice system worthy of California s promise Tara Frenkel Santa Clara Trump can t lead through suing state Re Trump sues California over egg rules Page A July Donald Trump seems to file a lawsuit against California every day nowadays it is about eggs The the bulk ironic of these lawsuits was an adjudicated sexual predator telling California that its project of sexual tuition was wrong How does he ever find the time to truly govern the United States Answer He doesn t Ruth Crabtree San Jose Society training has become critical I find it disastrously ironic that the people of Texas gave their electoral votes to Donald Trump and are now suffering because he gutted federal organizations like the weather system and FEMA Elect Trump and this is what you get and it ain t great Maybe the fired USAID workers can bring back a few packages when they return I in recent times heard the acronym YOYO You re on your own It s a good time to consider CERT training Public Exigency Response Band You ll learn how to prepare for a catastrophe and how to help when one happens Kris Sowolla Los Gatos Bipartisan bill needed on state I m deeply saddened that the Big Beautiful Bill cut clean resource tax credits at nearly the same time that Texas was ravaged by catastrophic floods Environment disasters are getting worse so it s troubling to see the establishment taking procedures backward This is invariably the exposure of partisan rule like the Inflation Reduction Act which established the clean capacity tax credits initially When the other party takes power they can entirely undo the progress that was made To make true progress we need to pass bipartisan ordinance This is why I m thankful to Sen Alex Padilla who in the last few days introduced the Fix Our Forests Act along with a Republican colleague This bill will address multiple situation and wildfire issues It s not a perfect bill but compromises must be made to pass long-lasting bipartisan solutions to the context predicament Nicholas Robinson Pacifica