California recall election: In Santa Monica, John Cox outlines his plan to address homelessness

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Tuesday, June 29, 2021
Santa Monica: Gubernatorial candidate John Cox addresses homelessness
Gubernatorial candidate John Cox came to Santa Monica with an 8-foot tall ball of trash as he outlined his plan to address homelessness.

SANTA MONICA, Calif. (KABC) -- Gubernatorial candidate John Cox came to Santa Monica on Monday with an 8-foot tall ball of trash as he outlined his plan to address homelessness.

"There are solution to these problems they don't have to be this way," said Cox.

The Republican candidate released a plan to address homelessness that would require treatment for addiction or mental issues before providing housing.

"It is not compassionate to just move people off the street and into a hotel room," he said. "The studies have shown 75 to 80% of the homeless have either an addiction or a mental health problem."

Cox said the state is spending billions of dollars to deal with homelessness and so far has very little show for it. He said Los Angeles in building housing in Venice and it will cost about $500,000 dollars per unit.

Newsom to weigh California's 2022 budget that nixes pandemic cuts

Monday night California lawmakers in Sacramento approved the state budget. Now the bill will go to the governor for a final signature.

"It costs way too much to build housing in California," he said.

Meanwhile, some Democrats are trying to change the state's recall laws and speed up the recall process. They believe Gavin Newsom will benefit from an election in September rather than later in the fall.

"They don't want people filling out ballots when the state's on fire, or when the lights are out, or when they can't run their air conditioners," Cox said.