Homeless advocates urge action over criticism after DeSantis takes swipe at SF
SAN FRANCISCO – A day after Florida governor and GOP presidential candidate Ron DeSantis shared a campaign video he made on the streets of San Francisco's Tenderloin, two homeless activists shared their thoughts on the broad swipe he took at the city.
DeSantis tweeted out the video Tuesday afternoon. It shows him standing at the corner of Geary and Hyde streets in the city's Tenderloin.
"We're here in the once great city of San Francisco. We came in here and saw people defecating in the street. We saw people using heroin, we saw people smoking crack cocaine," DeSantis said in the ad. "This city is not vibrant anymore. It's really collapsed because of leftist policies. And these policies have caused people to flee this area,"
Miguel Carranza has firsthand experience with life on the streets, enduring homelessness for over 10 years. Now, he has dedicated himself to helping others in similar situations.
"When you suffer so much, when you pass through so much, when you've been treated really, really badly, when you have these skills and these opportunities, and everywhere you go, everybody is closing your doors. But when you have one door open, and that door is open, is when you really know what you have inside your heart, what you really want to do," Carranza expressed.
Working as a lead organizer at the Coalition of Homelessness, Carranza assists hundreds of homeless families each month. Watching the video of DeSantis discussing San Francisco's situation had a profound impact on him.
"Besides talking bad things again about homeless and poor people in the city, I'd prefer to spend the time thinking about how we're gonna solve this problem, how we're gonna build more housing, how we want to put these folks in permanent housing," Carranza shared.
Standing at the exact spot where DeSantis filmed his video, the sight of trash strewn about, Carranza walks through the streets of Tenderloin to provide an inside perspective on the reality of the situation.
Jennifer Friedenbach, the director of the Coalition of Homelessness, believes that DeSantis' video offers no helpful insights. She stresses the importance of action over criticism.
"I'm not that interested in political stunts. These are human beings that we're talking about. They're not pieces of trash in the way that they've been referred to, and they deserve dignity," Friedenbach remarked.
She urges for the state and federal government to take substantial measures to address the homelessness crisis that has persisted for decades.
"We've been pushing the state, and we need the Federal government to step in because the reality is that none of these presidents, Republican or Democrat for many, many decades have really seriously addressed this problem that we have in the United States," Friedenbach emphasized. "And we've had this episode of mass homelessness for more than four decades now."
Carranza shares the same desire for change, particularly for the sake of homeless children in San Francisco.
"Seriously, we have so many homeless children in San Francisco, and it's not okay for our children to continue to suffer and be on the streets," Carranza expressed his concern.