(Reuters) - Responding to a growing crisis on the streets of California's cities, Governor Gavin Newsom on Wednesday sought to create a $750 million fund to help house the homeless and directed the state to immediately start setting up tents and trailers. Newsom said the money, if approved in the 2020-21 budget, would be distributed to major cities such as Los Angeles and San Francisco, as well as smaller communities to pay rent for homeless people and create more temporary housing. "The state of California is treating homelessness as a real emergency - because it is one," Newsom, a Democrat, said in a statement announcing his budget proposals, which he is expected to formally deliver to the state legislature on Friday. An estimated 130,000 people are homeless somewhere in California on any given day, more than any other state, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. California is the most populous state in the United States, home to about 39.6 million people.

Source: New York Times January 09, 2020 01:52 UTC