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Yahoo
4 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Record homelessness in Utah renews clash between state and Salt Lake City officials
The number of homeless Utahns surged to its highest level ever in 2025 as state leadership continues to debate how to balance enhanced law enforcement and increased funding for an expanded shelter system. Nearly 4,600 Utahns were recorded as homeless during the annual 2025 Point-in-Time Count conducted the final weekend of January, representing an 18% increase from 2024 and the largest number on record. 'We had a huge increase in homelessness,' State Homeless Coordinator Wayne Niederhauser told the Deseret News. 'But we've been effective in responding to it.' The sobering news comes as the nation also reaches record rates of homelessness. On Monday, President Donald Trump federalized the Washington, D.C., police department at least in part in an effort to crack down on the city's homeless encampments. At the end of July, Trump issued an executive order overturning the government's 'housing first' approach to homelessness and instructing agencies to remove obstacles for states to place homeless individuals into long-term institutional care if they pose a risk to themselves or others. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox lauded the move, ordering the Utah Homeless Services Board, which includes Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall, to 'fulfill the President's executive order and uphold public safety' in a letter joined by Utah Senate President Stuart Adams and House Speaker Mike Schultz. In Utah, nearly half of the increase in homelessness was driven by growth in the chronically homeless population — defined as those who have spent at least a year on the streets with a disability, mental illness or drug addiction. The total number of Utahns experiencing chronic homelessness increased by 36% since 2024, from 906 to 1,233. The number of homeless children increased by 12%, from 589 to 662. And the number of homeless seniors over 64 increased by 42% from 251 to 356. There is a 'silver lining' in the data, according to Niederhauser: 95% of the increase was among homeless individuals in shelters — a reversal from the year before when 82% of the growth in homelessness was unsheltered. This is an indication the state's investment in winter emergency shelters is helping keep Utahns off the street, according to Niederhauser. But the overall increase — the largest jump in recent memory — points to the need for a new approach. Why did homelessness shoot up? Utah's record amount of homelessness in 2025 increased the per capita rate to 13 per 10,000 people compared to the previous rate of around 10 or 11 per 10,000. This is still significantly below the national average of 23. In its annual report published Wednesday, the Utah Office of Homeless Services attributed the rise in homelessness to a rapidly growing population that has outpaced the supply of affordable housing and access to behavioral health services. The increase also follows an unprecedented spike in fentanyl being trafficked through the state. Between 2020 and 2024, the quantity of fentanyl seized in Utah increased 95-fold — with interdictions in 2025 nearly overtaking the prior year's record before May. 'The data is clear. There is an overlap between the drugs, the transient-related crime and violent crime,' Salt Lake City Police Chief Brian Redd told the Deseret News. 'There is a connection to those things.' Around two-thirds of Utah's homeless population lives in the Salt Lake City area, according to the Office of Homeless Services. On Wednesday, Redd and Mendenhall held a press conference outside City Hall to send a message to the governor and legislative leadership about where responsibility lies for the growing problem. Wednesday's report 'should be heard as a battle cry,' Mendenhall said, spurring action at the Utah Capitol to fully fund services and shelter space to prevent homelessness, encourage treatment and keep Utahns off of the streets. 'We need our state leaders to prioritize the resources to get this done,' Mendenhall said. 'So to Gov Cox, President Adams and Speaker Schultz, I'm calling on our state leadership to create a sea change that we need to address an issue that impacts all Utahns and just increased by 18%.' In December, Cox; Adams, R-Layton; and Schultz, R-Hooper; sent a strongly worded letter to Mendenhall that called for the city to find solutions to 'eliminate crime and restore public safety' or have the Legislature step in. Mendenhall subsequently provided a public safety plan with 27 recommendations that revolved around remaking city law enforcement and another 23 requests relying on state partners to help close the gap in homeless beds and the criminal justice system. Since Redd has taken over as police chief, the department has taken 'enforcement as far as we can,' answering a record number of 911 calls with a record number of yearly arrests, contributing to a 16-year-low in crime, Mendenhall said. The largest obstacle to changing 'the trajectory of homelessness in Utah,' Mendenhall said, isn't Salt Lake's willingness to crack down on crime, it's the Legislature's commitment to invest in long-term solutions, like funding the so-called 'transformative campus' touted by Cox and lawmakers. 'I'm extremely concerned by the lack of forward momentum from legislative leaders,' Mendenhall said. 'Salt Lake City is making good on our part, but the reality is, this is a humanitarian crisis, this is not something that we can police our way out of.' State leaders push back on Mendenhall Cox, Adams and Schultz pushed back against Mendenhall on Wednesday. Since Utah's homeless numbers began climbing in 2020, the state has invested more than $266 million on addressing homelessness, they said. This level of direct state investment is rare; most states delegate homelessness policy to cities and counties. Cox, Adams and Schultz said the Utah Governor's Office and Legislature remain committed to helping municipal and private-sector partners 'find real solutions.' The overhaul to city law enforcement under Redd has been an encouraging sign, the leaders said. Mendenhall agreed the city and state must work closer together to address homelessness concerns before the Salt Lake City Temple open house in 2027 and the Olympic Winter Games in 2034. 'The city needs to stay focused on its core responsibility of protecting its citizens, keeping streets safe and clean and making our capital a place Utahns can be proud of and visitors want to experience,' Cox, Adams and Schultz said. 'We urge Mayor Mendenhall to turn down the politics and keep working with us to find practical and lasting solutions to this complex issue. Our citizens expect results, not finger-pointing.' During the 2025 legislative session, Utah lawmakers approved, and Cox signed into law, $3.9 million in ongoing funding to launch a second family shelter in Salt Lake County, $5.5 million in one-time funding to expand emergency cold-weather shelter operations statewide and $16.7 million to shore up public resources in shelter cities. Will lawmakers fund the planned shelter? The session prior, the Legislature appropriated $25 million to buy land and construct the future backbone of the state's homelessness response: a 30-acre campus with 1,200-1,600 beds and an integrated system of treatment resources and recovery programs on site. Niederhauser said they are still investigating several potential properties for the campus. But many of them, including an area near the Salt Lake City Airport that the Legislature made available for eminent domain, require wetland studies that will take several more weeks to apply for, and several months to complete through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The priority for Niederhauser's office going into the 2026 legislative session is appropriations to fully fund the construction of the facility because the $25 million they received 'isn't going to be sufficient to do it all,' Niederhauser said. But Niederhauser said they won't put '$25-50 million of infrastructure on the ground' until the Legislature has decided whether it is willing to set aside the necessary annual funding to make the campus functional, 'which is going to be a very large number.' It currently costs the state $15-$20 million to fund the shelter beds that are available, Niederhauser said. And a campus that is actually intended to model operations like Haven For Hope homelessness campus in San Antonio, Texas, could cost twice that much every year. 'We're obviously going to need to have additional funding for the campus, and that'll be a high priority for us,' Niederhauser said. 'That would probably be our focus.' In the meantime before the campus is completed, Niederhauser said the Legislature can appropriate funding to keep the 1,100 winter beds available past April so providers aren't forced to release 'hundreds of additional people to sleep on the street' each spring. Solve the daily Crossword
Fox News
11-06-2025
- Fox News
Immigrant shelter whistleblower asking DOJ to investigate ‘disturbing pattern' at taxpayer-funded hotels
A former immigrant shelter director in Massachusetts is petitioning Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Department of Justice to launch an investigation into the "disturbing pattern" of criminal activity, sexual assaults and financial abuse that he says is widespread in the state-run migrant shelter system. Jon Fetherston, a former director of an immigrant shelter in Marlborough, Massachusetts, first blew the whistle about the widespread abuse in the shelter system after he discovered a Haitian migrant named Ronald Joseph, who was living in his shelter, had repeatedly raped and impregnated his 13-year-old daughter. Fetherston previously told Fox News Digital that as soon as Joseph heard he was losing custody of his daughter, he "reached across the table and grabbed me and got angry with me and started cursing and yelling and screaming and swinging at me because he realized what was happening." However, instead of being arrested immediately, Fetherston was directed to order Joseph a Lyft ride to another shelter in Worcester County. Joseph was not arrested until eight months in February. Though this case was particularly egregious, Fetherston said that "there is a lot of undocumented violence that goes on" and that rape, domestic violence, sex trafficking, drug dealing and other crimes are so commonplace in the Massachusetts shelter system that many incidents simply fall through the cracks. Fetherston said, "The entire experience has shaken me to my core." In a letter sent to Bondi this Monday, Fetherston said that this was "not an isolated incident" but despite his raising the alarm, "there has been a deliberate wall of silence. No reforms. No accountability. Just more spin, stonewalling, and bureaucratic excuses." "This is a crisis—one that requires federal action now," he said. Fetherston is now asking Bondi to launch a full investigation into criminal activity and sexual violence within Massachusetts-run migrant shelters, widespread fraud and misuse of federal and state funds, the deliberate refusal to coordinate with federal law enforcement agencies and the pattern of retaliation against those reporting abuse, danger or misconduct. The former shelter director-turned-whistleblower said that "these crimes and failures cannot be brushed aside any longer," because "innocent people—especially children—are being hurt, and the people responsible are being protected by silence and political calculation." Fetherston placed much of the blame for rampant mismanagement and abuse in the shelter system on Massachusetts Democratic Gov. Maura Healey, who has been extremely critical of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. In a statement to Fox News Digital, Fetherston said that "the impact of the Healey administration's hotel shelter policy has been devastating for both residents inside the shelters and the local communities surrounding them." "I personally witnessed traumatic incidents—including assaults, fraud, and serious mental health crises—with minimal intervention from the state," he said. "Families were placed in overcrowded, poorly managed facilities with little to no oversight, where safety was constantly compromised," he explained. "Local communities were never consulted, resulting in growing resentment and fear. Neighborhoods saw increased police calls, strain on emergency services, and the burden of absorbing hundreds of people without additional resources." He said the Healey administration's "lack of transparency and refusal to collaborate with municipalities left both residents and local officials in the dark, with serious consequences." He also claimed he has faced retaliation for speaking out, including "having my safety threatened, being publicly discredited, and physically targeted." "If you challenge the narrative, you're silenced," he said. "That culture of suppression has created a dangerous environment where truth is buried and accountability is nonexistent." Healey's office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment. Healey has previously expressed outrage and called for a full audit of the state's shelters after it was discovered that a 28-year-old illegal immigrant, Leonardo Andujar Sanchez, was discovered using a shelter to store an AR-15 and nearly $1 million in illegal drugs.
CBS News
20-05-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Keller: Audit finds "mismanagement" in Massachusetts emergency shelter system, no-bid contracts
The opinions expressed below are Jon Keller's, not those of WBZ, CBS News or Paramount Global. The migrant deluge that overwhelmed the state emergency shelter system is mostly over, for now. But the fallout from the way it was handled continues in a scathing 74-page report from State Auditor Diana DiZoglio. No-bid contracts The audit hits the state agency in charge - the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC) - for "mismanagement" and "failing to assess" the surging numbers, and bungling oversight of spending on food, transportation and housing costs while handing out no-bid contracts. Some examples highlighted in the audit: The state overpaid a food delivery vendor by almost 10%. A a cab company hired to take migrants to critical appointments billed the state at inflated rates. In Boston, a one-mile cab ride costs around $5. One company charged the state almost $147. "People are concerned about the lack of fairness when it comes to the execution of millions of taxpayer dollars," said DiZoglio in a WBZ-TV interview. "The administration was unable to provide evidence that they had really gone through a process of any kind." Number of families in shelters decreasing In response, EOHLC issued a statement, saying in part: "The Healey-Driscoll administration inherited an unprecedented surge in families due to failed immigration policies and a flawed shelter system not equipped to handle it. Since that time, we have made major changes to make the system safer and protect taxpayers.... Now, the number of families in shelter and the cost to taxpayers is going down, more than 85% of families seeking shelter are now long-time Massachusetts residents, and we just announced that we will be out of hotels this summer, months ahead of schedule." But while Healey and her defenders say the size of the migrant influx came as a surprise to everyone, DiZoglio says they should have known by early 2023 that tighter controls were needed. "EOHLC then waited January, February, March, April, May, June, July, and then only in August decided to consider these options for food and transportation," DiZoglio told WBZ. "Let's make sure that we are not allowing these types of circumstances to repeat themselves." Potential political fallout Predictably, the governor's critics are all over this audit, claiming Healey wasted billions and showed little regard for state procurement laws. This is sure to be an issue in a governor's race that already includes two former officials in the administration of former Gov. Charlie Baker, who was still in office when the migrant crisis began. And tension between Healey and DiZoglio herself shows up in the audit when it questions the administration's concern for taxpayer dollars. The crisis may be dying down, but you'll be hearing about it for some time to come.
