You may not believe this and it might come as a shocking revelation—homelessness is not just a California problem.
According to a story in the Sacramento Bee, “America’s homeless population swelled to its highest level in recorded history in 2024 according to an annual count of individuals living in emergency shelters, transitional housing or on the streets.”
They attribute the increase to: “an ongoing affordable housing crisis, more migrants coming to the U.S. and the expiration of pandemic-era housing benefits.”
That is not to exonerate California, which still has the largest homeless population of any state in 2024 and, perhaps more troubling, the highest rate of unsheltered homeless people.
HUD released a new “point in time” estimate last week and found the “homelessness rate was more than double the national rate with 48 people per 10,000 in California living without access to a regular residence.”
This is now a national problem with the population increasing in 43 states plus Washington, DC, last year.
The “good news” —if you want to call it that— “California’s increase of 3.1% from 2023 was smaller relative to other states. Nationally, the population of people experiencing homelessness increased 18% over the last year.”
California has received a lot of blame for its housing crisis and its homeless crisis, and rightly so—the national data is starting to show that California was merely a leading indicator of a much larger problem and, in some ways, homelessness is itself an indicator of other problems including unaffordable housing and untreated or at least poorly treated mental illness.
“Of California’s homeless population, 36% experienced chronic homelessness, meaning they were without regular shelter for at least a year in the last three years. The rate of chronically homeless people in the state mirrored the national number. Across the U.S., 65% of people experiencing chronic homelessness were living on the streets,” the Bee reported.
The Bee notes that Governor Newsom has pushed for more aggressive measures, including clearing encampments.
“Time to step up: address issues of encampments, address the issue of tents, address what’s happening on the streets and sidewalks,” Newsom said on Friday. “It’s about quality of life. It’s about public safety.”
The governor’s office claims that the state has created 71,000 year-round shelter beds.
On the other hand, Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones, R-San Diego, criticized Newsom’s approach to the homelessness crisis in a Friday statement.
He claims, “Today’s HUD report makes it clear that instead of solving the problem, Newsom’s endless spending ‘solution’ has only made it worse.”
I’m not seeing that conclusion in the data. If anything, what I see in the data is additional evidence that the problem is far broader than just California and the governor’s policies, and that until we get a handle on affordable housing, mental health treatment and drug treatment programs, we are fighting a losing battle.
