Tom Steyer

But the truth is, when I've talked to mayors, they've said, I don't want to do this because I can't afford to do this.

And if you bring the money,

I'll be behind you all the way.

Well, let me take a step back, Ezra, because...

I agree with Javier that keeping people off the street is the first thing because no one gets well on the street.

The street itself, being homeless is an incredibly stressful, vulnerable, and dangerous condition.

And so when you think about the mental health issues of homeless people, only one in seven people who becomes homeless has a mental health problem, but virtually everyone who stays on the street for a long time develops one.

So I agree with what Javier was saying, which is we need to keep people off the street because it is much cheaper.

And he was talking about it from the standpoint of money, but it's also much cheaper from the standpoint of mental health.

And so that is the first thing.

The second thing that I've said is we need to get people off the street as fast as possible before the dangers and vulnerability on the street multiplies the problems that those people have when they originally become homeless.

And the reason that I've said emergency interim housing, and I would dispute exactly how you characterized it, is this, the strategy that the state of California has right now is shelters and permanent assisted housing.

People hate going into shelters because they actually think they're dangerous.

They have no privacy.

They're not allowed to bring their pets.

And it's something many, many people on the street would prefer to be on the street than to be in a shelter.

The difference about emergency interim housing is you actually have privacy.

You have a room with a key.

You are allowed to bring your pet.

You don't have to be clean.