Gavin Newsom says California officials let homeless problem get ‘out of control’ and ‘we own it’

California’s homeless problem has “never been worse,” and state officials aren’t doing enough to reduce the number of people living without shelter, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom said Friday in Santa Rosa.

Newsom, who is running to succeed Gov. Jerry Brown, said if elected he will make homelessness a top priority of his administration, just as it was when he served as mayor of San Francisco for seven years starting in 2004. But local governments cannot address homelessness alone, and the state government needs to play a larger role in marshaling resources and setting aggressive goals, Newsom said in an hourlong interview with The Press Democrat’s editorial board.

Homelessness is “out of control,” he said. “The state’s nowhere to be found on it, hasn’t been focused on this for decades. It’s happened on our watch. We own it.”

Newsom, now in his second term as lieutenant governor, is the current front-runner in a gubernatorial field that includes three other Democrats: former Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, state Treasurer John Chiang and former state schools chief Delaine Eastin. Republican contenders include businessman John Cox, and Assemblyman Travis Allen of Huntington Beach.

In the interview Friday, Newsom outlined his campaign platform and addressed questions on a range of topics, including the state’s housing crunch, his support for the embattled high-speed rail project and creation of a state bank to serve cannabis commerce and worthy public projects.

When he was San Francisco mayor ?14 years ago, Newsom set a moonshot goal of ending chronic homelessness in the city over a decade. That didn’t happen, he admitted, but he defended his track record nonetheless, saying the city under his watch got some 12,000 people off the street and created thousands of new supportive housing units.

“I’m always going to be a guy to advance audacious goals,” Newsom said. “I think the worst thing you can do is have small-ball goals and actually meet them. I’d rather miss audacious goals, because in the process you discover what’s possible.”

Newsom has been pushing an ambitious target to address the state’s dire housing shortage - an issue closely related to the large homeless population in Sonoma County and other parts of the state. He said he wants California to aim for building 3.5 million new homes by 2025, which would require the state to go from constructing roughly 100,000 homes per year to about 378,000 annually.

California hasn’t built that many homes in one year since 1954, Newsom said, drawing on an analysis from the McKinsey Global Institute.

“In order to do that, you have to have a different relationship with local government, because localism is determinative,” Newsom said. “And the perversity of this is not lost on me as a former mayor. Mayors are not incentivized for good behavior on housing.”

To confront the housing shortfall, Newsom said state and local government officials must have a “very, very different conversation” about how tax revenues are raised and allocated. That may require an overhaul of Proposition 13, the landmark 1978 ballot measure that restricts property tax increases, he said.

Newsom also suggested local jurisdictions should be punished in some form if they don’t meet housing goals, perhaps through withholding of state transportation funding. He called state Sen. Scott Wiener’s recently failed legislation to override local zoning rules and allow taller residential buildings near transit hubs “imperfect” in its most recent iteration, but he said it might need to be revived in some fashion.

“You’re not gonna get the kind of housing in this state unless you’re focused on density around transit,” Newsom said. “And if you’re not willing to do that? Give me a break. Never will you accomplish the goals.”

Polls have consistently found Newsom, 50, leading the field of gubernatorial contenders. The top two vote-getters in the June 5 primary, regardless of political affiliation, will proceed to the November election.

Whoever ultimately succeeds Brown will be tasked with steering a state government whose policies have frequently clashed with the administration of President Donald Trump, particularly on immigration and environmental issues.

“We don’t try to pick fights, but when you attack our values, you attack our diverse communities ... you gotta push back,” Newsom said. “I remember bullies in school. You don’t do well just being subservient.”

Much of the criticism from Republican federal officials has centered around California’s Senate Bill 54. The so-called sanctuary state bill is one of three laws challenged in a recent lawsuit led by Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions. Newsom lamented that the law has been widely misunderstood - by supporters and detractors alike.

“Everyone I talk to about SB 54 leaves me wondering if they’ve ever read it ... and I literally mean that,” Newsom said. “It doesn’t say what people say it says. It’s not a shield for criminal activity, but nor is it perfect in terms of shielding criminal activity.”

Asked whether he supports the call by billionaire Democratic activist Tom Steyer of San Francisco to impeach Trump, Newsom said it’s “pretty damn clear” to him the president obstructed investigations into whether his campaign or administration officials colluded with Russia in the 2016 presidential election. But he deferred to Special Counsel Robert Mueller, a former FBI director who is investigating the matter.

“Let Mueller finish his work,” Newsom said. “Then make the determination.”

You can reach Staff Writer J.D. Morris at 707-521-5337 or jd.morris@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @thejdmorris.