Over 100 homeless people fatally overdosed in San Francisco funded hotel program: Rantz
Seattle radio show host Jason Rantz breaks down the failed homeless initiative on 'Tucker Carlson Tonight.'
More than 100 people fatally overdosed in San Francisco hotels used to house homeless people between 2020 and 2021, Seattle radio host Jason Rantz told "Tucker Carlson Tonight" on Thursday.
The program, which local leaders started in an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus among the city's large homeless population, has been deemed a "total failure" by Rantz and others who've been critical of San Francisco Mayor London Breed.
JASON RANTZ: SEATTLE SPENDS HEAVILY TO HOUSE HOMELESS IN PRICEY HOTELS
"I would argue that ‘disaster’ is probably an understatement," Rantz told host Tucker Carlson. "The Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing poured $160 million into a program to create these homeless hotels. They turn hotel rooms into permanent supportive housing that ends up getting managed by various nonprofits, and it’s been a total failure."
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - FEBRUARY 24: San Francisco has one of the largest homless populations in the country. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
The program came under scrutiny in 2020 after a report alleged that the city was providing alcohol, marijuana, and methadone to homeless addicts residing in the hotels. In the two years since, things only appear to have gotten worse, Rantz said.
FROM HOMELESS TENTS TO PENTHOUSES WITH VIEWS
"[There have been] At least a total of 166 fatal drug overdoses between 2020-2021 at these hotels," he said on "Tucker Carlson Tonight." "The homeless have been violent there. We are talking about assaults, stabbings, fires, threats to kill staff. On top of that, some of the hotels are in total shambles. Bathrooms and elevators don’t work. Serious rat infestation, roaches are everywhere."
San Francisco Mayor London Breed speaks at a news conference about crime against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in San Francisco, California, U.S. January 25, 2022. (REUTERS/Nathan Frandino)
Rantz said one homeless woman told him she pitched a tent inside her hotel room to keep the rats and the bugs out.
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"The goal for these hotels is to get homeless people into independent housing, but the city tracked over 500 people that left the program," Rantz said. "They found a quarter of them died, 20% returned to homelessness and 27% left the area and couldn’t be tracked at all. Only about a quarter of them got into housing again and those are people mostly living with family."
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