Global Courant
Gavin Newsom didn’t shy away from Sean Hannity’s fiery questions about California’s homeless crisis — including its relative magnitude compared to de facto rival Florida — saying the numbers “are ours” and the cost of housing and “locality to blame.
“The state has made no progress on homelessness in the last two decades,” California’s governor said just above a Fox News excerpt. The entire interview, Newsom’s first with the conservative cable news network in more than a decade, was scheduled to air Monday night at 9 p.m. on “Hannity.”
The eponymous host then asked Newsom why the state was in decline, pushed back when Newsom tried to pin the blame on a Republican governor 18 years ago.
“Because housing costs are too high,” Newsom said. “Our regulatory crop is too problematic. Localism has had too much of an impact, meaning that people locally are shying away from the start of new housing and construction. I’ve been here for four years. I can’t make up for the fact that in 2005 we had a historic number of homeless people under a Republican administration.”
“Right now there are 171,000!” replied Hannity.
“Disgraceful, disgraceful,” said Newsom.
Inevitably, Hannity compared California’s numbers to an estimated 26,000 homeless people in Florida, with which Newsom is in a war of words as Ron DeSantis ramps up his presidential campaign.
“Of course,” Newsom said. “Not even comparable.”
Hannity noted that the numbers don’t add up given the similar climate in the states.
“The dynamics are very different,” replied Newsom. “That being said, we own this, Sean. I’m not, I’m not here to defend this.”
You can watch the entire clip at Fox news.
