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Presidential hopeful Tom Steyer talks homelessness and housing
Presidential candidate Tom Steyer stopped in San Francisco to share is plan on how he plans to address the Bay Area's housing shortage.
SAN FRANCISCO (KTVU) - Billionaire presidential candidate Tom Steyer visited San Francisco, spending part of his time visiting low-income housing and serving breakfast at Glide Memorial Church.
Hundreds filed through the lines at glide for breakfast, with a new server, democratic presidential candidate Steyer.
Andre Forrest was among those eating, he says he hasn't made up his mind about who he will vote for, but he hopes the candidate sees those need in San Francisco. "He'll understand what is really needed around this city, and work with the mayor about that," said Forrest. "The homelessness. The bathroom problems."
The staff at Glide Memorial saying other candidates have expressed interest in serving as well, and are welcome, provided they also come with a plan to address poverty and homelessness. "So, what as president of the United States, what are your priorities," asked Glide Memorial President and CEO Karen Hanrahan. "What are your policies going to be for addressing the issue that we're all seeing of increased homelessness, increased inequality."
Steyer said addressing the growing disparity between the "haves" and "have nots" is one of his top priorities. "I talked about a wealth tax over a year ago, long before I was running for president," said Steyer. "I've talked about undoing all the tax breaks for rich people and big corporations."
Steyer then visited the Eddy and Taylor affordable housing development. The candidate saying he has a four-part plan to address the housing crisis in the Bay Area and across the country. "One is to improve and increase the stock of affordable housing," said Steyer.
The candidate also said homelessness must be addressed with wraparound services. Politically Steyer said his polling is relatively strong in the early primary states, and he believes whoever the eventual nominee is, they will be able to take on Donald Trump in November 2020. "I don't think he's beatable, I think he's crushable," said Steyer.
Steyer making his argument that corporations have too much influence on American politics, and that his business background and history of confronting those corporations make him uniquely equipped to help fix a broken system.