After living on the east coast for about 40 years, most of that time in metro-New York City, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof moved back to Oregon during the pandemic. He returned in his 60s to run for governor in 2022, but he didn’t meet the residency requirement [1].
In Sunday’s NYT, he lectured west coast Democrats on their failings.
I moved to the Washington state in 1989, so I’ve lived here 35 years. I cannot imagine lecturing Democrats in Georgia, my home state, on their failings post-Reagan. Hubris, thy name is “man.”
Kristof claims that the left coast is “plagued by homelessness, crime and dysfunction.” Despite statistics showing that states which vote blue have a longer life expectancy, better GDP and more educated citizens, “West Coast liberalism” is a problem.
Kristof focuses on homelessness, using a federal government data source:
Between 2022 and 2023, the number of people experiencing homelessness increased in 41 states and also the District of Columbia, and decreased in just 9 states.
He compares “unsheltered” homelessness in California and Oregon (151,776 sq. mi.) with Vermont, New York and Maine (94,607 sq. mi) and the west coast comes up short. What’s the average (high/low F) January temperatures in Maine? 12.5º to 30.9º, 20″ snow. Western Oregon? 34º to 46°, 12″ rain.
What are the rates of total homelessness as well as unsheltered homelessness in these five states? Keep the winters in mind.
- Maine (1,396,000, population 2023): 0.31% | 0.02%
- California (39,128,000): 0.46% | 0.32%
- Oregon: (4,233,000): 0.48% | 0.31%
- Vermont (647,494): 0.51% | 0.02%
- New York (19,571,000): 0.53% | 0.03%
Oh, by the way: New York City’s sheltered homeless results from “a series of court cases and consent decrees,” according to the governor’s office.
In San Francisco, unsheltered homelessness dropped from 2019 to 2024 (Kristof took a dig at SFO). The number of shelter beds increased 28% in that same time period.
From 2015 to 2023, Portland, OR, invested $1,700,000,000 in affordable housing. The “number of available shelter beds in Multnomah County grew from 800 to 2,000 beds.”
Look. Homelessness is a societal black eye. Affordable housing is a contributing factor; escaping domestic violence, another. For example, in first quarter 2024, the homeownership rate in the U.S. was 65.6%, the lowest rate in two years.
Deep in the long column (about 1,800 words), Kristof acknowledges the housing shortage on the west coast.
The basic reason for homelessness on the West Coast is an enormous shortage of housing that drives up rents. California lacks about three million housing units, in part because it’s difficult to get permission to build.
Then, like every conservative and developer, he blames it on regulations.
California is a particularly difficult place to obtain a building permit due to its famously strict building codes and development regulations. The state’s regulations protect a unique environment with lots of different biomes and other factors like seismic activity, forest fires, and coastal erosion.
At the very end, Kristof acknowledges change is happening: “California and Oregon have taken steps to boost housing supply.”
Too little, too late.
Sunday’s screed looks like Kristoff is still pissed off that he was not allowed to run for governor in 2022. And the NYT let him spew.
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[1] A political, opinion columnist did not check the residency requirements before declaring for governor? He “always saw Oregon as home.” Gack.
Kristof voted in New York in November 2020; he and his wife began renting their Scarsdale home in August 2021.
Oregon residency requirement for gubernatorial candidates is first, a US citizen, and second, be a resident of Oregon for three years before the election. The election was in November 2022.
Kristof sounded like he was channeling Trump when he complained of being “ousted” by the secretary of state “who said I didn’t meet the residency requirement.” However, the State Supreme Court upheld the determination. “He remained registered to vote in New York and retained a New York driver’s license until late 2020,” the court ruling stated.
In 2021, he cried persecution: “Kristof had decried the decision as a political one that protected the establishment, continuing to cast himself as a political outsider.”
Note: I, too, own the family farm. I do not feel entitled to run for office in Georgia as a result.
[2] Right-wing glee is palpable.
