California tops the nation for homelessness. Of all the homeless across the country, 30% of them reside in the Golden State. And of the estimated 233,000 homeless in California alone, half of them are unsheltered.

Arguably the epicenter of this growing homelessness crisis is San Francisco, where, ironically, 20 years ago the city’s then-newly elected mayor Gavin Newsom touted his bright and shiny “10-year plan” to end chronic homelessness. “I don’t want to overpromise,” he demurred at the time, “but I also don’t want to under-deliver — I want to hit the ground running.”

Yeah, about that.

Newsom’s “10-year plan” to end homelessness entered its 20th year this week. And the results speak for themselves. Far from ending homelessness, the problem has only gotten worse, even as Newsom has risen to the office of governor. At best his promise was empty, and at worst it was aimed at manipulating his constituents into believing he was “aggressively” committed to fixing a problem he had no real intention of ever fixing.

There’s no other way to judge the outcome of Newsom’s plan than by its results, which show it to be an utter failure. “Not only does the problem remain unsolved today,” observed California Republican Party Chair Jessica Millan Patterson, “but in the time since, he has taken his failures statewide, where communities across California are grappling with the devastating homelessness crisis.”

According to the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California: “Since 2020, California’s overall homeless population has increased about 6%, compared to just 0.4% in the rest of the country. A 17% increase in the homeless but sheltered population accounts for almost all of California’s change, while the more visible unsheltered population increased 2%.”

This abysmal record was made even worse by the fact that “ending homelessness” is one of his administration’s top priorities. Yet Newsom had the gall to challenge Florida Governor and Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis to a blue state vs. red state debate that left Newsom demolished.

Given Newsom’s record, was it any wonder DeSantis bested him by exposing him as little other than an empty suit? Newsom talks a big game but has no evidence to back up his claims.

Furthermore, what Newsom’s 10-year plan demonstrates is the problem with big government. Costly programs are created to “solve” some societal problem (whether real or imagined), and they are sold to the taxpayer by politicians promising wonderful results while also warning of dire consequences if nothing is done. Then once these “temporary” programs are launched, they quickly grow, morphing into ever-increasing “necessary” tools for the government to function. The programs’ “temporary” status inextricably disappears. Government bureaucrats who have become dependent upon the programs’ existence for their livelihoods assert that, should the “services” end, thousands or hundreds of thousands of people will be negatively impacted.

Now, California is staring at a $68 billion deficit. Golden State taxpayers are still funding a program that should have ended a decade ago. Over the last five years, California has spent over $20 billion fighting the problem of homelessness. And Newsom’s “aggressive” plan to end homelessness has done little other than see the problem get worse. Bad government begets bad policy, which begets worse societal ills, which bad politicians exploit for personal gain.