One of the least glamourous aspects of living in California is a tricky issue to discuss: homelessness. It’s more present than you’d think. During the summer going into my freshmen year, my mom and I moved into a new house so I could be within a certain district for public school. The day after moving, I spent the night at my dad’s house, and my mom was alone in our new house. In the middle of the night, my mom heard banging on our front door. This banging ended with a huge crash that startled my mom enough to check everything out. Low and behold, a homeless woman was squatting in our living room. She was dazed, asking where her friends were. Fortunately, the police came quickly and escorted her out of our home. However, the issue of homelessness is a huge issue in California.

Homelessness in California within the last decade has increased by more than 22%. But we still have the question, how was this caused? Well, there are a few reasons that explain this ongoing issue.

1. The Cost of Living is Very High

The cost of living in CA is significantly more than in other states. The jobs in CA do not account for the high living cost. About 1.3 million California renters are making “extremely low income”, or less than $25,000 per year. The cost of renting an apartment yearly averages $17,856 per year. With the increase of rent every year, this is just not enough to live off of (Levin and Botts, 2019).

2. Mental illness, chronic drug abuse, and unresolved childhood trauma

About half of the unsheltered population report having mental health and/or substance An investigation by the Los Angeles Times found that two-thirds of L.A. County’s residents living on the streets suffer from a psychological and/or substance abuse disorder (Ciudad-Real, V., & Gabriel, I). All of these factors can add financial strain on the person, forcing them to live on the street (California-unemployment rate 2020, 2021).

However, CA is implementing several programs to help reduce the number of homeless people by increasing the amount of housing, as well as resources available. In my hometown of Santa Monica, parking lots along the promenade (which is an outdoor mall that is a hot spot for transients)  are being converted into shelters. In addition, buildings are currently being constructed to become emergency shelters, where people can figure out a long-term plan. This is due to Governor Newsom tackling homeless within his first year, by contributing $1 billion dollars of the 2019-2020 budget to one-time investments towards the issue. The budget itself allocates funding to increase welfare grants to low-income families, housing for mentally ill patients who are either at-risk for homelessness, or are homeless, and to aid college students who have recently become homeless with hosing. In 2020, Newsom expanded the bill to $1.4 billion, which would give funds to providers of homeless services. He also pointed state agencies to relook at the public land that could be transformed into emergency housing, as well as using 100 camp trailers as temporary shelters (Levin and Botts, 2019).

Although it may not seem like it, there are active steps being taken toward helping the most vulnerable of the population.

References:

California – unemployment rate 2020. (2021, March 12). Retrieved October 19, 2021, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/189394/unemployment-rate-in-california-since-1992/%C2%A0

Ciudad-Real, V., & Gabriel, I. (n.d.). Homelessness in California State of Fact sheet – price center for social innovation. Retrieved October 19, 2021, from https://socialinnovation.usc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Homelessness-in-CA-Fact-Sheet-v3.pdf

Levin, M., & Botts, J. (2019, December 31). California’s homelessness crisis – and possible solutions – explained. Retrieved October 19, 2021, from https://calmatters.org/explainers/californias-homelessness-crisis-explained/%C2%A0