Oxnard-- In his report to the Council, which included graphs and one photo, City Manager Alex Nguyen put a State perspective on the homeless crisis, showed the audience a picture of someone homeless, and asked residents to reflect on the knowledge and ideas they feel about the issue.
"THIS is a relatively typical image, not only in California, but up and down the west coast of this Country and is becoming a little more common across the County, as well,” he said about the image.
He displayed another slide demonstrating the cost of California housing and the sharp cost increase from 1996 until 2016, coinciding with flat wages over the same period.
“We’ve all been sensing that we are all losing patience with the homeless crisis,” he said. “It’s difficult to talk about it in human terms, so let me talk about it in fish terms.”
He showed the audience an aquarium with fish, and all the fish were comfortable with plenty of room.
“Take this back to our beginning point, about four decades ago in California,” he said. “Over time, the population in California continues to grow, but we’re…
