Latest news with #CiceroInstitute
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
California governor urges cities to 'take back the streets' from homeless
By Daniel Trotta (Reuters) - California Governor Gavin Newsom on Monday urged localities to "take back the streets" from homeless encampments, proposing language for every city and county to use in a local ban on camping in public. Newsom, a Democrat often mentioned as a potential presidential candidate for 2028, has taken a harder line on homelessness as California's unhoused population has grown to 180,000. His stance has alienated some liberal allies who advocate affordable housing over crackdowns. Since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled a year ago it was legal to ban camping in public even when there is no shelter space available, 42 of California's 482 cities and two of its 58 counties have passed some form of a camping ban, according to the National Homelessness Law Center. Nationwide, some 160 cities and counties have passed similar bans in response to increasingly visible homelessness, with people pitching tents on sidewalks and public spaces. "It is time to take back the streets. It's time to take back the sidewalks. It's time to take these encampments and provide alternatives," Newsom, who filed a brief before the Supreme Court last year supporting camping bans, told a press conference. While urging compassion and dignity, Newsom's model ordinance would ban camping or semi-permanent structures on public land and allow city officials to remove them provided they notify the unhoused at least 48 hours in advance. The proposal requires city officials to "make every reasonable effort" to provide shelter for those affected. An introduction to the proposal states, "No person should face criminal punishment for sleeping outside when they have nowhere else to go." The announcement drew criticism from homeless advocates who said it fails to address the root cause of housing shortages and soaring housing costs. "This is a problem that built up through years and years of under investment, and it's going to take some level of consistency and commitment to the problem to actually make headway," said Alex Visotzky, a fellow at the National Alliance to End Homelessness. The Cicero Institute, a conservative think tank, urged California to follow the example of Republican-led states that have passed laws allowing them to sue cities that fail to clear encampments. "This approach is far more effective in ensuring that cities are not derelict in their duties to protect the homeless and the public alike," said Devon Kurtz, public safety policy director for the Cicero Institute.
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Louisiana Legislature examines proposal to offer TOPS to some medical students
Kaniya Pierre Louis, left, is a third-year medical student shadowing family medicine physician Dr. Zita Magloire. (Sarah Jane Tribble/KFF Health News) Louisiana students who qualify for TOPS tuition awards but attend college out of state could still get that money if they decide to return home for medical or dental school. The legislature is considering a measure to lure them back home, but with conditions. House Bill 275 by Rep. Stephanie Berault, R-Slidell, would require those students to pay back the aid unless they work full time in their field in Louisiana for at least three consecutive years after graduation. The proposal is aimed at addressing a physician shortage in Louisiana, where the Cicero Institute reports 60 out of 64 parishes have a shortage of health care professionals. The bill has the support of Gov. Jeff Landry and was unanimously approved Wednesday by the House Education Committee. TOPS, short for the Taylor Opportunity Program for Students, is a merit-based scholarship program that helps Louisiana students attend in-state colleges and universities. About 34 new medical and dental school students each year will qualify for TOPS under the legislation, according to a cost estimate for the bill. The cost will gradually increase over four years, when it is forecasted to level out at about $1.3 million annually. Berault has also proposed House Bill 539, which would create a student loan repayment program for doctors who practice in Louisiana's rural areas. It has not yet been scheduled for a hearing. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
New York Times
09-04-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Trump's Targeting of Homeless Agency Signals Sharp Shift in Policy
When President Trump set out last month to eviscerate a tiny agency that coordinates federal efforts to reduce homelessness, he was not just clearing bureaucratic brush. He was escalating a conservative war on how billions in federal aid gets spent, a fight that could have life-altering stakes for the record number of people sleeping on the streets. The obscure focus of Mr. Trump's ire, the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, is smaller than many Boy Scout troops. His larger target appears to be the policy that dominates homelessness work, an approach called Housing First. Once the product of bipartisan consensus, Housing First programs, which the council promotes, provide apartments to chronically homeless people without requiring them to accept services like drug treatment or mental health care. Supporters say the policy saves lives by getting treatment-wary people safely indoors, where some go on to accept services. Proponents have credited it for a signature success, the decline by more than half in the number of homeless veterans. But critics say the approach has become a stifling orthodoxy that has failed to stem the broader rise in homelessness and may abet it. Giving people long-term housing without addressing underlying problems like substance abuse or mental illness leaves them prone to homelessness again, opponents of the policy say. Detractors also say that by favoring Housing First, federal grants unfairly exclude groups like rescue missions that emphasize sobriety. The sooner the council vanishes, critics say, the faster Mr. Trump can steer a new course. 'It's an ideological and propagandist arm for failed Housing First policies,' said Devon Kurtz, a policy analyst at the conservative Cicero Institute, an Austin-based research and advocacy group. 'It would have been undercutting the work of the Trump administration right off the bat.' Beyond homelessness, Mr. Trump's attack on a bureaucratic cranny provides a study in the growing force and sophistication of his governing style. For most of his first term, Mr. Trump accepted the status quo in homelessness policy. He retained a director of the homeless council who was appointed by his Democratic predecessor. His housing secretary, Ben Carson, cited 'a mountain of data' showing that the 'Housing First approach works.' Late in his first term, as homelessness rose, Mr. Trump took a more polarizing approach, blaming Democrats for what he called permissive policies and placing a vocal Housing First critic in charge of the council. Now he seeks not to commandeer the council but to extinguish it, ending the risk of covert dissent. 'There was a lot of learning that happened in the first Trump administration,' said Kevin Corinth, an economist at the American Enterprise Institute and a Housing First skeptic who worked at the Council of Economic Advisers in Mr. Trump's first term. 'You're seeing much more understanding of the way the different agencies work and how you can change something much more quickly.' In targeting the Interagency Council on Homelessness, Mr. Trump's executive order last month gave no reason beyond 'the reduction of the federal bureaucracy.' The agency's defenders say his ire is misplaced since the council advances his stated goal of government efficiency. In coordinating the homelessness work of 19 federal agencies, the council seeks to eliminate duplication and make Washington more accessible to local organizations. Eliminating its annual budget, $4 million, would save about as much as the government spends every 18 seconds. 'It's ironic to do something like this in the name of government efficiency, because the council was designed with efficiency in mind,' said Jeff Olivet, its director during the Biden administration. 'For such a modest investment, the agency achieves great things.' Mr. Olivet cited the council's work in Long Beach, Calif., where homelessness rose more than 60 percent during the pandemic and a new mayor, Rex Richardson, declared an emergency after taking office in late 2022. Working with Mr. Olivet, he convened a summit last year on youth homelessness that included four levels of government (city, county, state and federal) and private groups to discuss strategy. Since then, three new youth shelters have opened or are being built — one by the city and two by private agencies. The city also opened a youth training center and at Mr. Olivet's suggestion established a youth advisory board, which allows it to apply for more federal aid. Youth homelessness in Long Beach last year fell by nearly half. 'Our strategy was developed 100 percent in partnership with the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness,' said Mr. Richardson, a Democrat. 'They make our work more efficient, and we've seen the results.' Congress created the council in 1987 amid concerns that the federal government had been slow to fight homelessness. By convening agencies as dissimilar as the Pentagon and post office, the council was meant to spur the government into action. The unusual specificity of its duties reflected the grass-roots view that Washington would act only if forced: Legally, the council must publish a newsletter, hold quarterly meetings and appoint at least five regional advisers. The council rose to prominence under President George W. Bush when an entrepreneurial director, Philip Mangano, helped lead an initiative that reduced chronic homelessness by more than a third. The effort combined a well-financed expansion of rental subsidies with Mr. Mangano's vocal support of Housing First principles: Programs offered drug and mental health treatment but did not require it, with proponents reasoning in part that services worked better after people were stably housed. President Barack Obama used a similar approach to cut veterans' homelessness, and the support of presidents from both parties gave Housing First a bipartisan imprimatur. Since 2009, homelessness among veterans has fallen about 55 percent, with the council aiding the work. Along the way, Congress wrote rules favoring Housing First programs for grants that now distribute about $3.5 billion a year. Amid pledges to 'end' homelessness, what started as a policy became a movement. But as homelessness overall began rising in the late 2010s, a backlash followed. While progressives blamed rising rents and called for more aid, conservatives questioned studies that claimed Housing First worked. Treatment-first groups sought funding parity. Some conservatives said the Biden-era council overemphasized race and gender. Its strategic plan used variations of the word 'equity' nearly 100 times and endorsed 'culturally appropriate and gender-affirming housing resources' — language that critics called 'woke.' As a new front opened in the culture wars. Mr. Carson, the former housing secretary who once touted Housing First, used Project 2025, a conservative policy guide, to label it a 'far-left idea' and fault the council for promoting it. Supporters continue to see the council's work as pragmatic problem-solving. After Mike Johnston was elected mayor of Denver in 2023 on a pledge to move 1,000 people off the streets, the city became one of seven sites where the council embedded a federal adviser to tackle unsheltered homelessness. The adviser, from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, helped Denver secure a federal waiver that made rental aid easier to use. By raising the amount the government could pay landlords, the waiver expanded the pool of apartments for which unhoused people could apply. And by offering 'presumptive eligibility,' it let them move in while they assembled documents like earnings records and ID cards, a process that often takes months. Some people die on the streets in the midst of pending paperwork. Mr. Johnston, a Democrat, exceeded his goal, and unsheltered homelessness in Denver fell more than 10 percent in his first year in office, while it rose nearly a quarter in the surrounding area. The council 'was an incredible partner,' he said. 'It could have taken years to get that kind of waiver approved — we might be waiting on it now.' Mr. Trump's order does not abolish the council, whose existence is required by law, but cuts it by 'the maximum extent' allowed. Unless Congress renews its legal authorization, the council expires in 2028. Mr. Kurtz of the Cicero Institute called the order 'a step in the right direction' but said the bigger goal for Housing First critics is to get Congress to change the rules that favor the approach in federal grants. Not every critic of the council wants it to go. The Citygate Network represents more than 300 rescue missions and other faith-based groups, many of which run treatment-focused programs excluded from federal aid. Tom De Vries, the group's chief executive officer, would move policy away from Housing First to allow for a greater emphasis on sobriety and mental health care. But he calls for preserving the council's existence, for the same reason given nearly four decades ago at its founding: Homelessness needs Washington's attention. 'Under new leadership, you can use it as a tool for good,' he said. 'Homelessness is one of the biggest humanitarian crises we face as a society. There's a benefit to having one agency focused on it.'
Yahoo
24-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
60 days later, Cicero Institute's reason for NM lobbying still hidden from public
The Roundhouse shrouded in darkness on a recent night. Now that the 60-day session is over, it's still unclear what the Cicero Institute was trying to get from lawmakers when it hired two veteran lobbyists, and the city of Albuquerque, which is also a client for one of them, defended its process for vetting lobbyists and identifying their potential conflicts of interests. (Photo by Patrick Lohmann / Source NM) The legislative session is over and hundreds of bills are closer to becoming law, but it's still unclear which of them a billionaire-backed think tank influenced when it hired two veteran New Mexico lobbyists. The Cicero Institute is a Texas-based, conservative think tank established by Joe Lonsdale, the billionaire co-founder of data mining and defense tech company Palantir. The institute has been linked to legislative lobbying efforts in other states where lawmakers have made it a misdemeanor to camp in public, including Texas and Florida, in moves designed to crack down on visible homelessness. The Cicero Institute and its advocacy arm Cicero Action hired long-time lobbyists Alfred Park and Jason Weaks in late January, according to state filings. Weaks has disclosed more than $240,000 in political contributions and lobbying expenses in New Mexico since 2021, according to Secretary of State data. Park, a former state representative for Bernalillo County, is also a City of Albuquerque lobbyist under a $75,000 one-year contract, according to city records. The lobbyists would not say, and state law did not require them to disclose, which bills they lobbied for or against in the 60-day legislative session that ended at noon on Saturday. Billionaire-backed think tank that pushed homeless crackdowns elsewhere hires veteran NM lobbyists Park's first client, the City of Albuquerque, also would not say, even though Park's contract requires him to get the city's approval before hiring any new clients. The city's chief administrative officer must sign off on new clients to ensure the lobbyist's new clients don't conflict with the city's interests, according to Park's contract the city provided to Source New Mexico. Park did not respond to a request for comment Monday on which bills he lobbied for or whether he received the city's permission to lobby for Cicero. A public records request Source filed for communications between Park and the chief administrative officer regarding the institute also was returned with 'no responsive records,' a records custodian said. In a statement, city spokesperson Shannon Kunkel said the city requires lobbyists it employs to disclose their lists of other clients, which she said is 'typically done verbally.' The statement did not address questions about what bills Park might have been lobbying for or whether the city agrees with the Cicero Institute's take on how to address the city's homelessness challenges. 'The City of Albuquerque hires professional lobbyists who maintain the highest standards of integrity,' Kunkel said in an emailed statement. 'Mayor Tim Keller continues to champion Housing Forward ABQ to increase equity, access, and availability of housing for all income levels.' Lawmakers spent the first 30 days trying to tackle public safety and behavioral health challenges, including reforms to involuntary commitment and increasing some criminal penalties. Cicero Institute leaders say the 'Housing First' strategy, which prioritizes placing a person in permanent housing without requiring the person to be sober or employed, has failed states, cities and people who live on the streets and, along the way, unnecessarily enriched nonprofit organizations. The institute calls for stricter involuntary commitment laws and bans on street camping, sometimes punishable with a misdemeanor and a $5,000 fine. Devon Kurtz, a Cicero Institute policy analyst told Source New Mexico in February that the institute was unlikely to lobby for a statewide camping ban here, saying it 'doesn't seem like there's an enforcement problem.' The institute would instead focus on post-arrest policies around competency, probation and other things that happen after a person is arrested. The institute has also done some advocacy work around addressing the state's doctor shortage. NM Legislative Recap March 18: Poetry in motion Lawmakers sponsoring bills seeking additional lobbyist transparency at the state level pointed to the Cicero Institute's mysterious arrival as one reason lawmakers need to put more disclosure requirements on lobbyists. OpenSecrets ranked New Mexico 41st in the country when it analyzed lobbyist disclosure laws in 2022. Late in the session, lawmakers approved House Bill 143, sponsored by Rep. Sarah Silva and Sen. Jeff Steinborn, two Las Cruces Democrats. Among other disclosures, the bill — if enacted into law by the governor — will require lobbyists or their employers to specify the bills for which they are lobbying and their stances toward those bills within 48 hours of beginning the lobbying activity. Silva and Steinborn, in interviews throughout the session, said they saw Weaks and Park around the Roundhouse, but it was never clear exactly what issues they were lobbying on or whose interests they were representing. Even though HB 143 passed, it won't go into effect until Jan. 1, 2027 if signed by the governor.
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Iowa House advances bill that housing advocates say penalizes the homeless
Adonis Ariti was kicked out of his house last March as a high school senior, forcing him to crash on friends' couches and sleep in his car for months until he found a new home in July. It was the second time he had experienced homelessness, and he found limited support from his school to navigate the complex web of resources available. At one place he stayed, Ariti said someone stole from him, which made it harder to work toward getting his own housing. "If people have the resources when they're homeless, that's what they have to do," Ariti said. "They just have to kind of block out everything besides the current task. Because if you let everything sit for a little bit, and you actually think about it a little harder than you want to, it gets overwhelming." Ariti was among those Wednesday calling for the state to invest more in affordable housing and supportive services, even as House lawmakers advanced legislation setting criminal penalties for sleeping outside. Pushed by the Cicero Institute, a Texas-based conservative think tank, House Study Bill 286 is slated to be considered Thursday by the full House Judiciary Committee. But facing an outpouring of opposition, it's unlikely to pass this session, said Rep. Steve Holt, R-Denison, as the proposal warrants a broader conversation and there's too much work to be done on the bill to go forward. The legislation has four parts that set fines for sleeping on public property, allow municipalities to set minimum criteria for sanctioned camping areas, establish drug-free homelessness zones and implement reporting requirements for service providers. "I suppose you could argue it's criminalizing homelessness, but the whole point is not to criminalize homelessness, but again, to move people into sheltered services or into the encampment if there's no shelters available, where there's actually hygiene and there's actually running water and there's actually services of those kind, which seemed way better to me than living on the side of the street," Holt told reporters. A Senate subcommittee earlier Wednesday declined to advance the companion proposal, Senate Study Bill 1195. Critics decried the bills as an unfunded mandate that would burden already strapped homelessness service providers and threaten their ability to administer services. To fix the root cause of homelessness, they said the state needed to boost funding for affordable housing. An Iowa Finance Authority report on released in 2024 show another $77.3 million to $91.1 million is needed to fill gaps in homeless services statewide. "This poorly written and hateful legislation will decimate our state's homelessness response system," said Cynthia Latcham, president of Des Moines-based Anawim Housing, which provides permanent supportive housing to 240 households, representing more than 400 people who have transitioned out of homelessness. Only Dennis Tibben, representing the Cicero Institute's advocacy arm, spoke in favor of the proposal at House and Senate subcommittees Wednesday. Americans for Prosperity is the only other group registered in support. Tibben said the bill is intended to help communities support Iowans struggling with homelessness by ensuring consistent statewide policies, including basic minimum services, and offer more transparency in how public homelessness dollars are used. "I want to emphasize this is not intended to criminalize homelessness," Tibben said. "The goal here is to move folks off the street and connect them with shelters and other supportive services." The bills bar a person from using public property for unauthorized sleeping, camping or long-term shelter, requiring they be issued a warning and offered services or shelter. It would be a simple misdemeanor to refuse to vacate the property, punishable by confinement for no more than 30 days and a fine between $105 and $855. Political subdivisions would be blocked from crafting any policy that prohibits or discourages the enforcement of any ban on unauthorized sleeping on public property, but they are not precluded from offering diversion programs or services in lieu of citation or arrest. Cities and counties could designate portions of public property within its jurisdiction to be used for public camping by those experiencing unsheltered homelessness for no more than one year. This site would face the following requirements: A list of residents identifying the names and dates of persons using the public camping location. Specific areas must be assigned to each person or family. Establish property and personal safety and security measures. Set sanitization measures including providing residents clean and running water, restrooms and a location to shower. Give access to regionally available services such as behavioral health, substance abuse, and mental health treatment. Ban alcoholic beverages and all illegal substances. The Iowa attorney general could bring a civil action against any political subdivision to stop it from violating the bill. A resident or a business owner of a municipality may seek an injunction to enforce the requirements of the bill or may initiate other proceedings in district court. People also could not sell or transfer a controlled substance within a "drug-free homeless service zone," or the area within 300 feet of a facility-based service. That encompasses an emergency or temporary shelter, transitional housing provider, or permanent supportive housing entity that receives government funding to shelter to individuals experiencing homelessness. Providers who allow an individual accessing services to possess or use a controlled substance on such a facility's premises would be guilty of an aggravated misdemeanor, which is punishable by confinement for no more than two years and a fine between $855 and $8,540. The operator would be ineligible to apply for homelessness assistance grants from the state for three years from the date of conviction. Operators of a facility-based service primarily for those experiencing homelessness would have to maintain permanent signs located in a visible place at the main entrance identifying the building and its accompanying grounds as a drug-free homeless service zone. An entity that received funding in the prior fiscal year to combat homelessness would have to annually report to the Iowa Finance Authority information including an overview of the homeless population it serves, the total amount of funding the entity receives and details regarding how the money was spent to combat homelessness. IFA would make the reports publicly available on its website. The measures revive a similar bill that failed to advance out of a Senate subcommittee in the 2024 legislative session after pushback calling it a "think-tank solution" rather than an Iowa solution. Sen. Cherielynn Westrich, R-Ottumwa, was the only senator to OK advancing the Senate's legislation Wednesday. "What this bill is doing is trying to address that other side, where we we have to address camp sites that may be in areas where it's disrupting businesses or disrupting other people's homes, and make sure that we're providing services but that we're not allowing folks to just camp wherever they would like. Sen. David Sires, R-Cedar Falls, said he was "shocked" by what was in the bill, including fines up to $855 for "people who really don't have any money." He opposed the bill along with Senate Minority Leader Janice Weiner, D-Iowa City. "We've got to have some amendments to this, or I'd just go ahead and pull out all these pages to start over, because this is not fair to people, whether they're down on their luck or they're having a problem," Sires said. Rep. Lindsay James, D-Dubuque, said Iowa needs compassionate policies to respond to homelessness, but this bill is not a solution that fits Iowa. "We know that housing is one of the most important social determinants of health, and in order to keep Iowans healthy, they need to have a safe and secure place to live, and that means we have to invest in more housing and provide more funding for homelessness services," James said. Holt said he would support looking into boosting state funding toward supportive services, but first wanted to address the approach to homelessness in Iowa. "I would most certainly look into supporting funding if I thought we could have a more humane approach, not only to the people who are homeless, but also, we don't need people laying on sidewalks," Holt said. "We don't need people sleeping in their cars. … That's just wrong, and so I think we need to have a different approach." Des Moines City Manager Scott Sanders said the proposal should be designed for Iowa's needs and ensure compatibility with cities that already have their own homeless ordinances. Des Moines last year imposed a $15 fine for people caught sleeping in public places and gives three days instead of 10 for people to collect their belongings and leave homeless encampments facing sweeps. The city also is seeking federal funds for a designated village for unsheltered people at 2501 Maury St. More: 'A heartless disgrace': Des Moines passes homeless camping ban amid public uproar Sanders asked for local governments to be given flexibility to determine how warnings are given to those sleeping outdoors on public property. There also should be more clarity that a city opting not to provide homeless campsites should not be held liable under the bill. "This bill, though, is penalty-driven to enforce compliance, and there's really a lack of the preventative side," Sanders said. "And the measures and service levels that could be helpful, there's no funding for municipalities to encourage that compliance." Latcham, of Anawim Housing, said the legislation would hamstring and punish providers and case managers who serve those experiencing homelessness and are already "stretched to their limits." "People do not choose to be homeless," Latcham said. "That is a baseless myth used to further disenfranchise vulnerable people. They are the victims of inadequate systems of care, childhood trauma and poverty, but most importantly, they are vulnerable people who have been excluded from a competitive housing market when there is not sufficient housing within a community." Marissa Payne covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. Reach her by email at mjpayne@ Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @marissajpayne. This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: People would be fined for sleeping outside under Iowa House bill
