President Trump wants to help the homeless in Los Angeles and across the country, and Congresswoman Maxine Waters is fighting his efforts.
Now, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson is wading into the controversy with a letter this week blasting Waters for a lack of “basic manners” and pandering to the press “like a true career politician.”
Dr. Ben Carson’s (@SecretaryCarson) letter to #Maxine_Waters@Ellen4SFMayor (ICYMI) pic.twitter.com/CdGwva83Zo
— pvl (@pvl02) November 19, 2019
Waters issued a public letter to Trump late last month decrying a “State of Homelessness in America” report issued by The Council of Economic Advisers, which highlighted the long track record of failure to address homelessness in major cities controlled by Democrats.
The report explained why policies like “right-to-shelter” laws, temporary shelters and other government giveaways are ineffective, and announced a new approach that focuses more on addressing mental health and drug addiction, rehabilitation and promoting self-sufficiency with strong community ties.
Waters refocused the issue on President Trump, and argued that funneling more money through the existing, failing system is the best solution – pointing to a $13.2 billion “Ending Homelessness Act.”
“Your shamelessness knows no bounds,” Waters wrote in the opening line of her letter to Trump.
Carson pounced on the ironic turn of phrase to put the 15-term congresswoman in her place.
“My mother always taught me that people shouldn’t throw rocks, especially while they live in a glass house,” Carson wrote, according to Politico. “Because of that wise lesson, I was a little surprised to read your hostile letter to President Trump regarding the record number of homeless Americans in California, particularly in your district.”
“Shamelessness is allowing more than 55,000 Americans to live on the very streets they represent,” he wrote, referring to the homeless population in Waters’ district.
“To me, the most compassionate, obvious, and logical solution would be to get as many homeless Americans off the streets – with a roof over their heads – as humanly possible,” Carson wrote.
Waters, he argued, has other priorities.
“I have sent multiple letters to your office and requested numerous meetings, but each time you’ve refused,” he wrote. “Basic manners elude you and it seems that instead of producing results, you’re more interesting in producing cheap headlines at the President’s expense – like a true career politician.”
The 81-year-old’s political career stretches back decades, with Waters currently serving her fifteenth term in the House representing California’s 43rd congressional district, which includes southern Los Angeles County.
When Waters was first elected to the California State Assembly in 1976, Los Angeles was embarking on an effort to rehabilitate the city’s infamous Skid Row, a more than 50 square block area where thousands of homeless, drug addicts, and criminals congregate.
Forty-three years later, nearly 5,000 homeless still roam through the filth and feces along the tent-lined city streets, a fraction of the estimated 59,000 homeless across the county in 2019, according to the Los Angeles Almanac.
Waters’ district is home to one of the largest homeless populations in the United States, a distinction that hasn’t changed throughout her career. Los Angeles is currently only second to New York City for the number of homeless.
“I think we can both agree that our nation’s homeless men and women have seen enough devastation. We must focus less on politically driven words and more on effective solutions – like healing those struggling with mental health and substance abuse addictions – which would create opportunities to empower individuals to rise to self-sufficiency and live with dignity,” Carson wrote to Waters, according to The Christian Post.
“I would love to work with you, in a bipartisan fashion, to solve this crisis. It may not be popular with the political elites, but working to give people a hand up, instead of a hand-out will actually have meaning and not just be the typical response of a career politicians in Washington.”
Waters responded to Carson’s criticism by alleging he’s a “duck out of water” and a “complete failure at HUD,” along with a few political pot shots at the President.
“Most recently, It was reported that he and this disgraceful President want to raze homeless camps, round up persons experiencing homelessness and force them to live in unused and unsuitable federal buildings,” she alleged, according to The Hill.
“All of this demonstrates his lack of competence as HUD secretary and the cruelty of this Administration.”
Waters, of course, did not address her 40 year track record of failure to help her most vulnerable constituents.
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