Trump slams homelessness as an aesthetic and 'prestige' problem en route to California fundraising blitz

Trump holds fundraiser at Silicon Valley home
(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/AP)

Flying to California for two days of high-dollar fundraisers, President Trump deplored the state's homelessness problem on Tuesday, telling reporters aboard Air Force One that "we will be doing something about it at the appropriate time." He did not provide specifics, and "it is unclear what legal authority the federal government has to clear the streets and how that might be accomplished," The Washington Post notes, but Trump said he has personally heard complaints from unidentified California residents who find homelessness distasteful and detrimental to property values.

In Los Angeles and San Francisco, homeless people are living on the "best highways, our best streets, our best entrances to buildings," Trump said, "where people in those buildings pay tremendous taxes, where they went to those locations because of the prestige." Trump's Council of Economic Advisers released a report on homelessness in America on Tuesday, faulting building codes, zoning, rent control, historic preservation laws, and other regulations, also apportioning some blame to homeless shelters.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.