Re: Homeless Populations Are Rising around California

[Woke and broke]

On 30 Dec 2023, Brock U <el...@protonmail.com> posted some
news:umpneb$1c1ic$1...@dont-email.me:

> San Francisco is Nancy Pelosi's district.

Homelessness continues to grow in California: nationally, California has
topped the list for the state with the largest homeless population for
more than a decade. As of 2022, 30% of all people in the United States
experiencing homelessness resided in California, including half of all
unsheltered people (115,491 in California; 233,832 in the US).

Every January, the federal government conducts a “Point in Time” (PIT)
count of the nation’s homeless population. While imperfect, this count
serves as one of the few concrete measures of the homelessness crisis.
Findings for this January’s PIT count will not be available until later
this year, but we have the results of the January 2022 PIT count. The 2022
count, released last December, offers the first complete data since the
start of the coronavirus pandemic in March of 2020, as many counts were
put on pause for health and safety reasons.

Changes from 2020 to 2022 reflect a new snapshot of California’s homeless
population. The pandemic caused federal and state-level responses to
protect people experiencing homelessness, including offering hotel rooms
as temporary housing, moratoriums on evictions, and expanded housing
supports.

Since 2020, California’s overall homeless population has increased about
6%, compared to just 0.4% in the rest of the country. A 17% increase in
the homeless but sheltered population accounts for almost all of
California’s change, while the more visible unsheltered population
increased 2%. The rest of the country’s unsheltered population grew faster
than California’s (4%), while its sheltered population actually shrank (-
2%).

States are divided into Continuums of Care (CoCs) that help plan and
administer services to the homeless population. California has by far the
most COCs of any state with 44; Florida is a distant second with 27. CoCs
are also categorized for the geographic area they serve: urban, suburban,
or rural. Across California, the sheltered homeless in major cities (22%)
and in rural areas (26%) saw the largest growth. However, the homeless
population in cities is more than ten times the rural homeless population
(38,000 compared to 3,300). Furthermore, some categories saw small
decreases—the rural and suburban unsheltered homeless populations fell by
12% and 3%, respectively.


The largest cities and CoCs in the state account for California’s six
largest homeless populations, or 64% of the state’s homeless population.
The Los Angeles CoC was largest at 38%, with San Jose (5.8%), Oakland
(5.7%), Sacramento (5.4%), San Diego (4.9%) and San Francisco (4.5%) far
behind.


Although CoC homeless populations vary greatly in size, trends over time
are similar. The overall number of people experiencing homelessness has
increased everywhere outside of the San Francisco and Orange County CoCs.
Sheltered populations have also increased everywhere but the Orange CoC,
while unsheltered population changes have been more mixed.

Pandemic homeless programs have begun to unwind and the substantial
federal funding efforts around COVID are expiring; the disappearance of
these programs and funds may alter the options available to people
experiencing homelessness in California. The state is taking steps to
point legislation toward addressing issues around homelessness—including
setting up CARE courts for mental health support— while bipartisan
pressure is growing to audit how recent funds were spent. As California
works to adapt to changes after the pandemic, PPIC will continue to
monitor and analyze trends affecting homeless populations.

https://www.ppic.org/blog/homeless-populations-are-rising-around-
california/#:~:text=As%20of%202022%2C%2030%25%20of,%3B%20233%2C832%20in%20
the%20US).