The governor's mansion in Sacramento looks like a good place to shoot a horror movie — looming and empty. It sits on a busy corner at a nexus of our dual crises of homelessness and unaffordable housing — topped by a turret where Kathleen Brown once tossed water balloons at trick-or-treaters while her father, then-Gov. Pat Brown, was out of town. One of Sacramento’s largest homeless service providers is walking distance away. But the neighborhood is also gentrifying after a decades-long slump. Kitty-corner to the mansion, a 492-square-foot studio is renting for upward of $1,800 a month.
California sends the wrong message by leaving the People’s House empty while rents shoot up and homeless people wander by. The governor isn’t using the place. Should we give it to someone who can?
We are at a unique moment with homelessness. The pandemic, for all its hardship, has generated a slew of federal funds. This year, the state budget is also flush, and Gov. Gavin Newsom is pushing to add billions in spending for shelter, mental health services and cleanups of encampments, urging us to "advance a resourceful mindset" during a Los Angeles news conference Monday. But anger is piling up as quick as the money, and people are tired of hearing the same old same old. We are increasingly skeptical and frustrated — and in need of radical proof that this moment won't be wasted.
I asked the governor's staff for a tour of the mansion, though I didn't mention my idea of offering it to new tenants. They politely rebuffed my requests. So I turned to someone familiar with the property, John Ackerley, a landscaper who said his five years tending the grounds has brought him a lot of pride. Talking to me through the wrought iron fence when I stopped by recently, Ackerley said he thought my idea was terrible. Most people did.
Poster Comment:
Why are college dorm rooms, vacation homes owned by move stars, luxury hotel rooms, yachts with sleeping quarters, churches, synagogues, all not stuffed full with homeless? Why are normal people spending their days working when they could be shopping and preparing extravagant meals for the homeless, taking them to the latest Hollywood blockbusters and buying them designer clothes and jewelry?
