San Francisco Supervisor Dean Preston has claimed the homelessness problem in the city is “absolutely the result of capitalism.”
Preston argued that it was “counterproductive” to arrest people for openly doing drugs in the city.
Preston’s District 5, including the Tenderloin District, is infamous for its open-air drug market.
In 2022, according to the SFC, almost half of San Francisco’s homeless population lived in this district.
The Democratic Socialist supervisor claimed his district was affected by homelessness due to the nation’s economic structure.
“I think what you’re seeing in the Tenderloin is absolutely the result of capitalism and what happens in capitalism to the people at the bottom rungs,” the local leader reportedly said.
“The biggest driver of why folks are on the street is because they lost their jobs, income or were evicted from their homes, usually for not being able to pay the rent.”
“So you have major landlords literally causing folks to lose their homes, and real estate speculation making it impossible for folks to find an affordable place to live,” he added.
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Preston pushed back against the city’s “inconsistent” approach to arresting drug users and cleaning up homeless encampments.
This method “has not made our city any safer. It’s actually made it less safe. It increases overdoses,” he claimed.
The Democrat also downplayed resident’s concerns about the encampments and rampant drug dealing in the area.
“I don’t think every instance of poverty or addiction or behavioral health issue is a safety threat to someone walking by,” he said.
“I mean, there’s a lot of people who are doing things that are very harmful to themselves on the streets, who aren’t necessarily a safety threat,” Preston remarked.
He also doubled down on calls to defund the police in the city.
“I think we have a very, very bloated police budget.”
“All kinds of waste in the police department,” he added.
“I could cut $100 million out of the department,” he said in the interview.
Last May, Preston faced backlash after proposing a law banning security guards from drawing their weapons for property crimes.
This came when businesses and residents fled the city over public safety concerns.
Earlier this year, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said Preston was probably the person “most responsible for the destruction of San Francisco.”
“I’m a Democratic socialist who has successfully stopped thousands of evictions, housed homeless families, and taxed the rich to raise hundreds of millions of $ for affordable housing,” Preston fired back on X.
“It’s no surprise that a right-wing billionaire like Musk doesn’t like me.”
Following the recent three-pronged effort to deter criminals in the city, law enforcement has seen a dramatic drop in car break-ins.
READ: San Francisco Bakery Refuses to Serve Police Because It Makes ‘Queer People Feel Less Safe’
