Dan Walters: Billions of dollars later, California’s homeless crisis persists under Newsom

When asked by pollsters, Californians repeatedly rate homelessness as one of their top concerns — and for good reason.

This year’s federal count of Californians who lack housing neared 186,000, by far the most of any state and about 5,000 people higher than the previous year.

Gavin Newsom began his governorship six years ago with many promises of decisive action on major issues, among them housing and homelessness. He pledged to appoint a homelessness czar to attack the crisis, and...