Bay Area city urges landlords to open houses to homeless people

Tom Butts, the Mayor of Richmond, California, announced a new initiative in collaboration with the Richmond Rotary Club and other organizations looking for landlord or rental housing owners that would be willing to house these people in their properties, paid for with donated funds.

"The objective of the Rotary and Mayor’s Office initiative is simple, to transition unhoused persons, especially families, out of the RV camps and into housing, one person or family at a time. Members of the Rotary Club will provide mentoring and advocacy services to make sure the individuals or families are getting all the services they qualify for. The plan is to have them self-sufficient by the end of a year," Butts wrote in an e-forum post.

Butts announced in this January 24 post that there have been one taker of the offer so far, which will now house a family of six that had been living out of their RV.

"We continue to look for landlords anywhere in West County who would be willing to commit to rent studio, one-bedroom or two-bedroom apartments with a year’s rent paid in advance. Contact me if you are willing or know someone who is," Butts said, adding that the program is currently looking for fundraising parters.

In other posts requesting housing on his e-forum, Butts said that a year's worth of rent would be paid for by donations.

Fox News conducted interviews with people walking in San Francisco, which lies around 20 miles from Richmond, on whether they would open their homes to homeless people. The resounding answer was no.

"Would I open up a spare room for a homeless person? Probably not," one San Fransico resident, Milo, said.

"Would I? I don't have a room in my apartment," said another person named Scott.

"I don't know how they're going to fix the homeless problem, but I just think that asking the residents to step up is not a good idea," Bay Area resident Nichole told Fox News.

"I have a family and I have girls," she added. "I just don't think that it's safe."

One local named Cecil, who has previously experienced homelessness himself, said that he would be open to housing homeless people, adding that it is important to recognize each individual's situation is unique.

"If I had the credential and I had the credibility, yes, I would take someone off the street," he told Fox News.

"I would not open my house – where I feel protected – to a stranger. It just doesn't make sense," said Caio, who has lived in the city for four years.

"This is one of the richest cities in the world … and they cannot find a solution to do to deal with homeless people," he continued. "That is unacceptable."

Some residents said that it was the responsibility of the government to solve the homelessness crisis plaguing the city.

"This is a federal emergency situation," Milo said. "This is a FEMA situation. It's a government situation. It's a government problem."

"Young kids come in here and shooting up heroin in doorways and stuff, and where they going? The city, they don't want to help," Steve said.

Caio added that the government isn't "doing anything."

"During those last two years it has been, I feel like, double the size of homeless people due to COVID," he said.