{"id":2246619,"date":"2024-05-17T05:34:03","date_gmt":"2024-05-17T09:34:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bidens-big-tent-problem-the-mushrooming-encampments-on-college-campuses-and-city-streets\/"},"modified":"2024-05-17T05:41:02","modified_gmt":"2024-05-17T09:41:02","slug":"bidens-big-tent-problem-the-mushrooming-encampments-on-college-campuses-and-city-streets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bidens-big-tent-problem-the-mushrooming-encampments-on-college-campuses-and-city-streets\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden&#8217;s Challenge: Growing Camps on Campuses and Streets"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fbidens-big-tent-problem-the-mushrooming-encampments-on-college-campuses-and-city-streets%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2246619&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The growing presence of tents in public spaces across America, accommodating the dispossessed and dissidents, \u2062is\u2063 causing tension among officials. City mayors \u2062are taking measures to address homelessness, like San Francisco Mayor London Breed&#8217;s efforts. President Biden&#8217;s administration \u2062aims to reduce homelessness, but \u200cchallenges remain. The debate continues\u200c on addressing the \u200cmultifaceted issue, \u2063including housing regulations and funding for\u200c <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/san-francisco-lawmaker-proposes-plan-to-make-it-easier-to-prosecute-carjackers\/\" title=\"SF lawmaker proposes plan to streamline carjacker prosecutions.\">affordable housing \u200cinitiatives<\/a>.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>America is currently lousy with tents in public, from city sidewalks to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/campus-protests\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>college campus quads<\/a>, sheltering the dispossessed and the dissidents and everyone in between. For many officials, this is starting to make for a tense situation.<\/p>\n<p>Both major political parties routinely describe themselves as big tents, though the current occupant of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/white-house\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>White House<\/a> may be wishing for less of those these days. City mayors certainly are, and they\u2019re making efforts to show voters that they are doing something.<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption>People suffering from homelessness set large tents next to the Emmanuel Baptist Rescue Mission on Feb. 5, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo \/ Damian Dovarganes)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cWe will be relentless in our efforts to help people into safer, supportive facilities, and make our neighborhoods cleaner and healthier for everyone,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/san-francisco\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>San Francisco<\/a> Mayor London Breed promised in a news release touting a reported five-year low in public tents in early May.<\/p>\n<p>Breed is running for reelection in what polling suggests could be a close one, as voters of the Fog City have shown a recent willingness to throw the \u201cbums\u201d out of office. One of the candidates she is up against is Mark Farrell, a former appointed mayor and city supervisor who ushered in a law to get <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/gavin-newsom-unveils-plan-to-address-mental-health-in-homeless-population-meet-people-where-they-are\/\" title=\"Gavin Newsom Unveils Plan to Address Mental Health in Homeless Population: \u2018Meet People Where They Are\u2019\">mentally ill people<\/a> off the streets and into treatment.<\/p>\n<p>Many other <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ron-desantis-lockdown-politicians-contributed-to-floridas-booming-tourism-numbers\/\" title=\"Ron DeSantis: Lockdown Politicians Contributed to Florida's Booming Tourism Numbers\">big city mayors<\/a> are touting measures to sweep out homeless encampments, from Seattle\u2019s Bruce Harrell to New York City\u2019s Eric Adams. Adams\u2019s efforts have been seen as largely ineffective, and may be contributing to his current cratering in the polls.<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption>A jogger runs past a homeless encampment in the Venice Beach section of Los Angeles on June 8, 2021. (AP Photo \/ Marcio Jose Sanchez)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/washington-dc\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Washington, D.C.<\/a>, city government has said it is planning on sweeping out four homeless encampments, three in Northwest and one in Southeast, any day now, once the weather improves.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, President Joe Biden\u2019s administration pledged to significantly reduce homelessness, possibly to soften bad news it knew was coming. The Department of Housing and Urban Development also found the highest number of homeless ever in America, at over 650,000 people.<\/p>\n<p>If the homeless had their own city, it would rank somewhere between Las Vegas and Boston for sheer numbers, according to U.S. Census Bureau data, and may grow bigger this year. That adds up to a lot of urban camping.<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption>Anti-Israel protesters set up tents in front of Sproul Hall at UC Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif., on May 2, 2024. (AP Photo \/ Jeff Chiu)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Whether or not sweeping out homeless settlements amounts to playing whack-a-tent is an open question. Homelessness is a multifaceted problem. Some critics are currently making the case that facing up to one of those facets, the tight housing supply, is extremely important in pumping up the numbers. By and large, they argue the cause of that tightness is too much regulation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt every step of constructing new housing units, builders face regulation,\u201d Andrea Smith, a policy and research manager for the Building Industry Association of Washington state who has herself experienced homelessness, told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>.<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption>A Seattle police officer walks past tents used by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/axe-wielding-antifa-group-occupy-hotel-in-olympia-wash\/\" title=\"Axe-wielding Antifa group occupy hotel in Olympia, Wash.\">people experiencing homelessness<\/a> on March 11, 2022. (AP Photo \/ Ted S. Warren)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>She added, \u201cFrom rezoning applications, permits, project financing, insurance premiums, building codes, and impact fees, all of these are either lengthy or expensive to achieve because of an underlying policy decision.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The White House\u2019s answer is ever more money for affordable housing. Vice President Kamala Harris pledged an additional $5.5 billion in grants to \u201cincrease access to affordable housing, invest in economic growth, and address homelessness in communities throughout America\u201d on May 7.<\/p>\n<p>That may not be enough for voters, however. A pair of social scientists found that the public wants both assistance for and distance from the homeless, in a noted article for the journal <em>Political Behavior<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFederal, state, and city governments spend substantial funds on programs intended to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/l-a-city-officials-ok-ban-on-homeless-camps-near-schools-day-cares-activist-breaches-chamber-barrier\/\" title=\"L.A. City Officials OK Ban On Homeless Camps Near Schools, Day Cares; Activist Breaches Chamber Barrier\">aid homeless people<\/a>, and such programs attract widespread public support,\u201d wrote Scott Clifford and Spencer Piston of Texas A&#038;M and Boston University, respectively. \u201cIn recent years, however, state and local governments have increasingly enacted policies, such as bans on panhandling and sleeping in public, that are counterproductive to alleviating homelessness. Yet these policies also garner substantial support from the public.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The political scientists chalk the support for more punitive policies up to disgust. In their telling, this has to do mostly with disease avoidance, but the rise of crime over the last several years surely factors in.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[W]hile most of the public wants to help homeless people, sensitivity to disgust drives many of these same people to support policies that facilitate physical distance from homeless people,\u201d Clifford and Piston explained.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/dnc\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Democratic National Convention<\/a> is being held in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/chicago\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Chicago<\/a> this August, which threatens to put tents front and center. The city\u2019s universities are currently host to a large number of anti-Israel protest campers. Several local homeless tent cities have also proven resistant to sweeps.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Local voters, like national voters, are not at all keen on encampments. One poll by the Illinois Policy Institute found that Chicagoans opposed progressive Mayor Brandon Johnson\u2019s humanitarian plan to house migrants in heated tents over last winter by roughly 2-to-1.<\/p>\n<p>President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/joe-biden\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Joe Biden<\/a>\u2019s reelection sales pitch is that his administration has put America back on track. The camps suggest a different story. For reasons of national security, Chicago tent crackdowns will be coming this summer. Those crackdowns threaten to spark more protests and greater unrest.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Public spaces in America are now filled with tents, accommodating a diverse range of individuals from the dispossessed to dissidents. This surge in tent encampments is causing tensions for officials. Political parties often refer to themselves as &#8220;big tents,&#8221; yet the current White House occupant is facing a challenge<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2692,"featured_media":2246620,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/AP24037052392781.jpg.optimal.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2246619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/AP24037052392781.jpg.optimal.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2246619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2692"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2246619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2246619\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2246620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2246619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2246619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2246619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}