The creek flows into Barton Springs Pool, frequented by many Austin, Texas, residents. (Credit: DASH)

The once-idyllic streets of our nation's most beautiful cities have been transformed into scenes straight out of a dystopian novel, where tents crowd sidewalks and the stench of decay (and human waste) hangs thick in the air. You can blame this grim reality on radical left politicians and activists, who seized the chaos and uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic to push through their disastrous policies on homelessness.

Thankfully, there's a glimmer of hope on the horizon, sparked by former President Donald Trump and an Oregon town that most of you have never heard of.

The catastrophic failures fueling a drug-addicted homeless crisis stem from progressives’ blind allegiance to two deceptively named and profoundly damaging strategies: "harm reduction" and "housing first."

CALIFORNIA GOP LEADERS CALL FOR ACCOUNTABILITY AFTER STATE CAN’T ACCOUNT FOR $24B SPENT ON HOMELESS CRISIS

In San Francisco, these policies have created conditions so dire that even its criminally liberal citizens revolted, voting to impose drug testing for welfare recipients — a clear repudiation of the city's "progressive" label, which earned a scolding by the left-wing San Francisco Chronicle declaring the city probably can’t use the label any longer. But that’s a good thing: progressive policies should be synonymous with failure.

Homeless encampments line the streets in Oakland, California on Friday, March 15, 2024. The city remains plagued by homelessness as nearby businesses close their doors due to safety concerns. (DWS for Fox News Digital)

What did "progressivism" really bring to San Francisco? A staggering and tragic record of fatal drug overdoses — 752 in 2023 alone, an all-time record. The streets became a permanent gallery of human misery and waste (unless Chinese diplomats are........

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