California’s homelessness problem is worsening. A recent report on conditions in San Diego revealed that the homeless population remains on the rise despite promises from the Golden State’s government to address the issue.

Worse, officials are having trouble convincing those living on the streets to accept assistance:

The statistics from the annual Point-in-Time census of San Diego's homeless population, conducted in January, show a significant spike in the number of unhoused North County residents.

Dramatic increases occurred in San Marcos, which saw a 1,650% increase (from two to 35), Vista (from 88 to 170), Carlsbad (from 60 to 112), and Encinitas (from 73 to 123).

While the percentages are lower, Escondido saw a rise of 97 unhoused residents and Oceanside 71. Poway, Fallbrook, and Ramona all saw declines, but they only combined for 23 fewer unhoused residents between the three communities.

Vista Mayor John Franklin told reporters, “I don’t think we’re seeing success anywhere. The problem continues to get worse.”

The mayor discussed the new Buena Vista Navigation Center, which is a shelter aimed at providing care for residents as they transition to more permanent housing. However, the city has had difficulty in persuading homeless folks to move into the shelter.

However, Franklin says the greater problem is getting the large population living on the street to accept the help of a shelter. Franklin says 94% of chronically unhoused Vista residents approached to go to the shelter have declined.

“Some of them we’ve asked 20 times and developed relationships with," Franklin said. "We’ve asked them if they’d come and accept a safe, warm bed here, three hot meals a day, a hot shower, clean clothes. And unfortunately, because of mental illness and addiction, the answer is we don’t want to come.”

This development comes after California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced an expansion to the state’s homelessness oversight over spending on the crisis. San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, one of Newsom’s most loyal sycophants, lauded the decision in a statement released last month.

“The state has a growing homelessness crisis, so I’m glad to see the Governor making greater efforts to track spending to make sure it’s yielding results. I share his concerns about haphazard and unfocused spending by various local governments on duplicative homeless programs that don’t expand bed capacity.

“California’s big-city mayors are on the frontlines of tackling our state’s homelessness crisis and are putting these dollars to work. We’ve used state funding to expand shelter and housing capacity to get more people connected to care and off the streets. We’re committed to doing even more with the partnership of the federal, state and county governments and the private sector.

“We welcome accountability to ensure all participants in the response to this extremely complex problem working collaboratively to get this done.”

The homeless problem in the San Diego area has worsened to the point that even NBA legend Bill Walton, who recently passed away, criticized Mayor Gloria in 2022.

We need new leadership. Todd Gloria should step aside. Todd Gloria campaigned for his job on the promise that he would fix the homeless, humanitarian, and public health crisis in our once great city. Todd Gloria has made it worse. He is not up to the job. He does not know how to do the job. He does not want to do the job. Todd Gloria has been wrong on these crises his entire career. These crises need a leader, a leader who will insist on constant engagement with the homeless population, insist on consistent rehabilitation, and be responsible for the constant enforcement of the rules of a functioning society.

. . .

[W]hen historians look back at the failed and brief tenure of Todd Gloria, as our once great city crumbles dissolves, devolves, these historians, they’ll rightly conclude that Todd Gloria, he had a chance. He had a chance to make things right. He had a chance to do something. He had the platform. He had the power. He knew everything. Yet he, Todd Gloria, he chose. Todd Gloria chose to do nothing.

Watch:

Newsom has come under fire on several occasions for his failure to deal with the Golden State’s growing homelessness problem. Earlier this month, he became flummoxed when faced with questions about how he intends to handle the matter. It appears that under his leadership, this problem isn’t going away anytime soon.