Attorney blasts California Gov. Newsom for using homeless crisis to overturn will of voters
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Attorney Jim Breslo said Wednesday that California Gov. Gavin Newsom overturned the will of California voters by using the homeless crisis as an excuse to impose statewide rent control in an attempt to address a housing shortage.
“He’s [Newsom is] trying to use a crisis to do things that he wasn’t otherwise able to do,” Breslo told “Fox & Friends.”
“They couldn’t get statewide rent control approved by the voters."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Breslo published a Fox News op-ed this week that noted California voters, in November 2018, defeated a statewide ballot initiative that would have enforced rent control statewide.
According to Breslo’s op-ed, the measure was rejected by a 20-point margin and every county in the state except for San Francisco voted it down.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Although Newsom previously opposed the initiative, the former lieutenant governor and mayor of San Francisco changed his position and plans to sign a statewide rent-control law.
Breslo wrote in the op-ed, “Progressives assert that the homeless crisis is due in large part to a housing shortage, and that the best way to address the shortage is with rent control. The new law also protects tenants from eviction without good reason and provides compensation to tenants if they are evicted due to renovation.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Breslo also said on “Fox & Friends” that what would solve the housing shortage is “free-market solutions.”
“The reason we have a housing shortage is because we have way too much control on building housing in California,” Breslo said, emphasizing that there needs to be “sympathy” for mental health and addiction issues among the homeless.