Homelessness in California

[7] A 2023 study published by the University of California, San Francisco also found that the high cost of housing was the greatest obstacle to reducing homelessness.

[17] Street medicine is defined as "health and social services developed specifically to address the unique needs and circumstances of the unsheltered homeless, delivered directly to them in their own environment."

It concludes that high rates of homelessness are caused by shortages of affordable housing, not by mental illness, drug addiction, or poverty.

[4][5] Large cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco attribute increases in the number of people experiencing homelessness to the housing shortage.

However, in California's milder climate, people facing high housing costs may choose to dedicate limited funds to other needs, even if this increases their risk of homelessness.

[2]: 23 Of all unaccompanied homeless youth (people under the age of 25 not accompanied by parents or guardians) in the United States, 24% live in California.

Some are "throwaway youth," forced from their homes by parents who reject their gender identity or sexual orientation, react negatively to their pregnancy, or perpetrate abuse.

[31] The study documented high rates of violence across all gender identities, with transgender and non-binary individuals facing the highest risk.

[33] In November 2022, Governor Newsom confronted counties over what he called "simply unacceptable" homelessness reduction plans, which projected only a 2% decrease over four years.

[36] In 2024, California voters passed Proposition 1, which authorizes up to $6.38 billion in bonds to fund housing for veterans and the homeless, as well as mental health and drug and alcohol treatment facilities.

[37] The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development created the Continuum of Care (CoC) system in 1993 to organize HUD funding distribution.

SB 1152 (2019) requires hospitals to create discharge plans for homeless patients and ensure they have food, shelter, medicine, and clothing for post-hospital care.

If clinical assessment determines that an individual is severely endangered or threatens others due to untreated schizophrenia or psychosis, judges can order up to 24 months of medication, substance abuse treatment, and housing.

"[55] SB 43 partially reversed the Lanterman–Petris–Short Act, a law dating to the governorship of Ronald Reagan in 1967, which restricted the government's ability to involuntarily confine and treat people with mental illnesses.

Under its provisions the state will provide additional behavioral health services and issue up to $6.38 billion in bonds to fund housing for veterans and homeless individuals.

[59] California requested federal authorization to expand these services by providing short-term rent subsidies to homeless patients and those at risk of losing their homes.

The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit's 2018 ruling in Martin v. Boise temporarily restricted California governments' abilities to enforce such anti-vagrancy laws.

The court held that cities could not criminalize sleeping outdoors on public property if there were not enough shelter beds available for homeless people, as this would violate the Eighth Amendment to the US Constitution.

[62][T]he Eighth Amendment prohibits the imposition of criminal penalties for sitting, sleeping, or lying outside on public property for homeless individuals who cannot obtain shelter.... That is, as long as there is no option of sleeping indoors, the government cannot criminalize indigent, homeless people for sleeping outdoors, on public property, on the false premise they had a choice in the matter.In September 2022, the Ninth Circuit reaffirmed this restriction, invalidating the use of anti-sleeping, anti-camping, and park exclusion ordinances to criminalize homelessness: ...the City of Grants Pass cannot, consistent with the Eighth Amendment, enforce its anti-camping ordinances against homeless persons for the mere act of sleeping outside with rudimentary protection from the elements, or for sleeping in their car at night, when there is no other place in the City for them to go.However, in June 2024, the Supreme Court in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson, ruled that the Ninth Circuit had decided the case wrongly, and that "enforcement of generally applicable laws regulating camping on public property does not constitute 'cruel and unusual punishment' prohibited by the Eighth Amendment.

[89] In September 2006 the Los Angeles Police Department launched the Safer Cities Initiative, assigning fifty officers to clear homeless encampments downtown and to issue citations against people living outdoors.

[19][92] In 2022, voters approved Measure ULA, a tax on high-price real estate sales to fund affordable housing and homelessness services.

[93] Also in 2022, new mayor Karen Bass declared a state of emergency and issued an executive order to accelerate affordable housing and shelter development.

[96] The city provides approximately 400 emergency shelter beds and 330 permanent supportive housing units, along with an access center offering showers, mail service, and medical assistance.

[100] The State Department of Housing and Community Development challenged this decision, sending Mayor Rios and other officials a violation letter that called the ordinance "unlawful."

[107] The city responded by opening three emergency shelters, expected to cost $12.9 million annually to operate, and by creating a 500-bin storage center for homeless people's belongings.

During a 1990 criminal trial, officers and supervisors testified that they regularly rounded up homeless individuals before dawn and transported them to other jurisdictions like National City or unincorporated parts of San Diego County.

[118] In February 2024, the Escondido City Council voted 4-1 to reject state and county "Housing First" initiatives, choosing instead to implement its own "public safety first" strategy.

[126][127] A 2019 New York Times article reported that many bus ticket recipients were missing, unreachable, in jail, or homeless within a month after leaving San Francisco, and one out of eight returned to the city within a year.

Farha's fact-finding mission found conditions in homeless encampments rivaling the most impoverished neighborhoods in Mumbai, Delhi, and Mexico City.

In the 2024 point in time count: Rising rent and property prices force hundreds of middle-class people, including teachers, chefs, and nurses, to live out of their cars.