Former MLB star and Republican U.S. Senate candidate Steve Garvey said he’d push for a federal audit of California’s spending after the state has thrown $24 billion at its homeless crisis since 2018 with no data to show how exactly the money is helping.
Garvey, who once played for the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres during his professional baseball career, spoke to "Fox & Friends: Weekend" host Will Cain on Saturday, wondering where exactly the money has gone to solve the homelessness problem throughout the state.
He told Cain that he traveled throughout the state for months while discussing his Senate candidacy and was "stunned" by the crisis he saw.
"I went from the southern border of California to see what was actually happening there, and then I went to the homeless encampments in San Diego, Los Angeles, and Sacramento. And I was stunned."
"I was stunned to see how it deteriorated form the fifty years ago that I first came to California," he added, adding how he developed a passion for the state that has inspired him to help it solve its problems with border security and homelessness specifically.
Garvey marveled at the fact that though the state has dumped nearly $25 billion into solving homelessness, the homeless population has almost doubled from where it was ten years ago, when there were just 100,000 people on the streets.
"But since that time, we’re up to about 186,000 homeless now – 16% more in the last year. And that’s with $30 billion being sent in California."
The aspiring senator grilled the state’s government, declaring "there’s a lack of oversight" and accused government agencies of having "stopped counting or trying to figure out where the money was going in ’21," though he noted they’ve "reignited that."
Cain then asked, "Why does California have a third of the nation’s homeless? And why is it happening in the face of spending $25 billion to try to – at least in words, if not deeds – solve this problem of homelessness?"
The former baseball player said, "Well, obviously, it’s because the weather in California, you know, it’s good. But I think the thing is, it’s a lack of leadership."
After noting how this crisis breeds crime, Garvey set himself apart from the state’s current lawmakers. "People have come up to me when I start talking about homelessness, and they said, ‘Steve, the reason we’re voting for you is we feel that you’re going to have the political courage to get things done and not throw money at it.’ And that’s what my opponents have done. They’ve thrown money at it."
He closed out the interview declaring he wants to encourage the "private sector" to help deal with this crisis and added that once he gets to Washington D.C., he’s going to push for a "federal audit that will get to the bottom of this."
