In this story, herein lies the cause of California’s pervasive homelessness problem.

“We can’t simply wave a magic wand and make encampments disappear. We also have to offer people a place to go,” San Jose’s Democratic Mayor Matt Mahan said. “My fear with the [Supreme Court] decision and the governor’s executive order is we could create a race to the bottom in which cities and counties focus their taxpayer dollars on simply shifting people to other jurisdictions.”

There are a few people who are homeless because of dire straits. A few more are homeless because of mental illness. The vast majority are homeless in California because they are drug addicts who choose to be homeless. They enjoy the transient, vagabond lifestyle that allows them to wallow through life in a drug-fueled haze.

Where these politicians fail is that they think that it is their responsibility to “offer people a place to go.” No, it isn’t. If you are an elected official, your responsibility is for the safety and well-being of your citizens, residents, and taxpayers. It is your responsibility to maintain a safe, clean, stable community for the benefit of the people living there. You don’t owe the homeless anything. There are a bevy of services, programs, and shelters available. They choose to eschew them because they prefer the homeless lifestyle.

Furthermore, it is not the duty or responsibility of the government to “offer people a place to go.” It the responsibility of those people to find a place to go. To work. To pay for housing. To pay for food. By easing the burdens of being homeless with free stuff, liberal politicians are not helping these people. They are making their lifestyle just comfortable enough for them to keep doing it. When being homeless becomes intolerable, then they will either get themselves together or they will end up in prison or dead. Hopefully they get themselves together. Either way, it is still ultimately their responsibility – not the responsibility of a community.

Were I a mayor (and this is probably one of the many reasons I am not a mayor), I would make it so uncomfortable to be homeless in my community that they move on to the next community. If enough communities do that and there is nowhere comfortable for them to be, then the homeless will start to fix the homeless problem.