Spencer Pratt, the reality star turned Los Angeles mayoral candidate, got into a feisty interview shared on social media Monday where he revealed dramatic plans to deal with the majority of the city’s homeless population: by shipping them out.
Pratt was pressed by a ABC7 reporter on more specifics for how he would plan to handle Los Angeles’ more than 40,000 individuals experiencing homelessness, a major crisis that the city hasn’t been able to fix.
The candidate hit back at the reporter with what he said was the brutal truth about the issue. Pratt claimed that 60% of those people are actually not from Los Angeles, referring to a report by the City Journal.
About 64 percent of the L.A. street homeless said they were from outside the City of Los Angeles, and 53 percent said they were from outside Los Angeles County, the report said. Nearly 40 percent were not from the state.
“People have been bussed in by scam rehabs, scam NGOs, scam homeless nonprofits,” Pratt said. “These people, when I unplug them and say, ‘We’re not taking our taxpayer money anymore,’ they’re all going to Seattle where the mayor will welcome them.”
The statement appeared to be a dig at Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson, a socialist. The California Post reached out to Wilson’s office for comment.
The homeless individuals addicted to drugs will want to leave when he becomes mayor, Pratt said. Meanwhile, those doing crime, such as exposing themselves to kids or torturing animals, “they’re going to jail,” he added.
In the same interview, Pratt also made clear the brutal reality that many are voluntarily homeless.
“Well, they’re not homeless. They’re drug addicts,” he said. “No matter what anybody tells you, we have housing and shelter for everyone that’s living on the street. They are choosing to be on the streets because they want to do drugs. They don’t want rules. They don’t want to listen.”
He elaborated further on his strategy to to send homeless addicts to rehab centers on federal land. He expressed confidence he would have the time and money to quickly set it up, noting how fast he saw buildings go up in D.C.
When asked where exactly these facilities would be, he said “when I’m mayor, I’ll go meet with the federal government and I’ll get the property.” The federal government will want that to happen, Pratt claimed, because it cares about cleaning the city up ahead of the 2028 L.A. Olympics.
Pratt previously said in another interview with CNN that the plan is already “in the works” and that he’s met with 30 “literal billionaires” to discuss funding the facility. He said he’s going to work with “all the top doctors in the world” to make the project “a shining light of hope.”
Pratt, whom Republicans have coalesced around, is one of three major candidates vying to advance from next week’s primary. Polls show incumbent Mayor Karen Bass in the lead, while another Democrat, councilmember Nithya Raman, is also gunning for a general election spot.
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