ShareThisMonday, November 20, 2006
The Democratic takeover of the House and Senate may force a new day of bipartisanship in Washington, but the one area where it was already thriving was the effort to end chronic homelessness.
Philip Mangano, leader of the Bush administration's 14-agency council overseeing homeless matters, has been a frequent visitor to San Francisco. Meeting with our editorial board Monday, he was effusive in his praise of Mayor Gavin Newsom and Angela Alioto, coordinator of the city's 10-year plan to end chronic homelessness. They are equally laudatory of Mangano's efforts.
However, there is a critical missing element in this equation: money.
While overall federal spending to alleviate homelessness has doubled during the Bush years, to $4 billion, it remains well below what is needed to keep people from living on the streets. Mangano, a passionate and relentlessly upbeat missionary for the growing local-level commitment to combat what he calls the "vast misery" of homelessness, has been forced to defend a succession of cuts to federally subsidized housing by the Bush White House and GOP-controlled Congress.
Mangano said the 9/11 terrorist attacks have, understandably, detracted from "a more robust domestic agenda" in the nation's capital, though he added that his efforts have received "a lot of support" from the White House.
Alioto, a Democrat, was not constrained by the diplomatic tightrope that Mangano, a Bush appointee, had to walk. Alioto said she "was just ecstatic" at the election results that will put Rep. Nancy Pelosi in the House speakership. Also, House committees will be chaired by Democrats, many of whom represent cities where homelessness is a top issue.
"With the recent victory, even the Republicans will listen, especially if you're from San Francisco," Alioto said. "How great is that?"
It certainly is cause for hope.
