California’s ongoing homelessness crisis continues to rise
As homelessness continues to persist in California, there are calls to address the ongoing situation. Photo courtesy of Unsplash
The California homelessness crisis skyrocketed to more than 171,521 people who are homeless, resulting in it becoming the highest in the nation.
In California, more than 171,000 people actively experience homelessness. According to a recent study by the University of California, San Francisco’s Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, California is home to 12% of the nation’s total population, 30% of the nation’s homeless population and half the nation’s unsheltered population.
The study, which was conducted between October 2021 and November 2022, also informed that the homeless population is aging and disproportionately includes overrepresented minority groups. The report also indicates that many people became homeless while living in California.
“The results of the study confirm that far too many Californians experience homelessness because they cannot afford housing,” said Margot Kushel, one of the study’s authors. “I think it’s really important to note how desperately poor people are, and how much of it is their poverty and the high housing costs that are leading to this crisis.”
“The results of the study confirm that far too many Californians experience homelessness because they cannot afford housing. I think it’s really important to note how desperately poor people are, and how much of it is their poverty and the high housing costs that are leading to this crisis.”
The study found that survey respondents reported a median monthly income of $960, which amounts to $11,520 a year.
According to Zillow, the median rent for a two-bedroom property in California is $2,800 per month or $33,600 per year, which is three times the amount that the average survey respondent reported making.
Vincent Berardi, an assistant professor of computational health psychology at Chapman University, commented on how supportive housing plays an important role in combating homelessness.
“I’ve done a lot of volunteering with the homeless, and (I) have seen people who didn’t have housing, who were trying really hard to have housing, and they’re really excited to get housing,” Berardi said. “But, without that mental health piece, it’s not enough on its own… So, housing plays a role, but it needs to be supportive housing.”
In Orange County, a 2022 data graphic from that year’s Point-in-Time count showed that there were 5,718 unhoused people and over 3,057 people unsheltered.
Chapman law professor and pre-law advisor Ronald Steiner addressed how more accessible housing can play a role in alleviating the homelessness crisis in California.
“There has to be a lot more housing online, not a little, not boutique programs, not small things, but big things, because that’s how you solve a problem with supply and demand,” Steiner said. “You just have to increase the supply and you have to do it dramatically.”
In an Oct. 10 press release, Gov. Gavin Newsom launched multiple efforts to address homelessness and to provide more services and resources to them.
“The state’s homelessness crisis has been decades in the making,” Newsom said. “While there’s more work to be done, we are challenging the status quo with new, innovative solutions to get Californians off the streets and into housing.”
“The state’s homelessness crisis has been decades in the making. While there’s more work to be done, we are challenging the status quo with new, innovative solutions to get Californians off the streets and into housing.”
The state announced $179.7 million in Homekey grants to create 710 homes in seven counties, which will make for a total of 13,484 homes created in the state. The seven counties are Fresno, Los Angeles, Modesto, Sacramento, San Buenaventura, San Diego and Visalia. Homekey is a statewide effort to expand housing for people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
Last year, Newsom also paused a release of $1 billion in homelessness funding for local governments because he said that “Californians demand accountability and results, not settling for the status quo” and “as a state, we are failing to meet the urgency of this moment.”
Newsom later released the money after meeting with local jurisdictions.
Wendy Seiden, a professor in Chapman’s Fowler School of Law, commented on some available resources for the homeless.
In February 2018, Seiden created the Orange County Family Violence Council’s Homelessness-Domestic Violence-Sexual Assault Task Force, which was formed on 2018 that was initially an ad hoc committee of Organce County’s Family Violence Council. The Task Force does not have a website due to a lack of funding.
According to Seiden, the task force assists survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault who were removed from the Santa Ana, Orange and Anaheim riverbed as part of a federal court settlement.
The Task Force collaborates with members and organizations to improve local and country systems that impact survivors with housing insecurity, provide education and training providers, and share available resources and ideas.
“The Task Force includes well over 100 individuals and more than 50 local organizations and agencies that gather monthly to collaborate on efforts to assist survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault who are unhoused,” Seiden said.
Since July 2020, the Task Force has been meeting on Zoom.
Speaking about the force’s efforts, Seiden mentioned how survivors would be deliberately housed in spaces that made them feel safer and would guide them throughout their coping journey.
“Rather than being placed in a multi-gendered congregate shelter while waiting for permanent housing, survivors would be sheltered or housed in a motel, converted hotel room or other private space where the trauma they experienced through the abuse would not be retriggered by the close proximity of strangers — and shelter rules that can resemble the coercive control that they may have experienced during an abusive relationship,” Seiden said.
These services would act as preventative measures to help people in need before they are put in a situation of homelessness.
“These people are us; they are members of the community,” Steiner said. “They are the friend of your friend, or the child of your relative. They are not just some ‘alien’ or ‘other’ that you could wish away, but they are part of the community. For one reason or another, they are going through a bad time, and nobody really deserves that.”
