Disturbing data could get worse

The latest federal census of the unhoused population confirms the troubling extent to which America’s homelessness problem is California’s homelessness problem. It also attests to the state’s abject failure to address a humanitarian crisis that may have grown even worse since the count was conducted on the brink of the pandemic.

From 2019 to 2020, California’s homeless population grew by over 10,000 to more than 161,000, according to newly released data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Based on regional, socalled point-in-time counts of homeless people in shelters and on the streets in January 2020, HUD found that the number of homeless people nationwide had increased by over 12,000, meaning California alone accounted for about 80% of national growth.

The proportionate annual increase in California homelessness, nearly 7%, was triple the national rate and ranked among the top 10 states. The absolute increase, 10,270, dwarfed all others; the next largest, that of Texas, was 1,381. Over the preceding five years, while national homelessness rose less than 3%, California’s surged by about 40%.

While California is the nation’s most populous state, home to nearly 1 in 8 Americans, the latest census shows it accounts for an increasingly disproportionate share of homeless Americans — more than 1 in 4. Worse, California claimed about 40% of those deemed chronically homeless and over half the nation’s unsheltered — those living on the streets and in vehicles instead of in shelters or other transitional accommodations.

While the majority of people experiencing homelessness nationwide were in shelters, the opposite was true in California, where about 70% are on the streets, a greater share than in any other state. New York, one of only two states with marginally higher homelessness per capita, sheltered 95% of its homeless population.

HUD also found that the Bay Area, along with Los Angeles, was among the regions with the largest concentrations of homeless people and the highest shares who were unsheltered. The San Jose and Oakland areas both ranked among the top five major urban areas on both scores, as did Santa Rosa among smaller cities.

The figures are disturbing enough on their own but more so given that they don’t account for the subsequent economic devastation of the pandemic. Eviction moratoriums and emergency housing may have mitigated the harm but won’t in perpetuity. Moreover, while the point-in-time estimate is the only official census of homelessness, it’s widely suspected of undercounting.

Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature presided over the worsening of this crisis in good times, largely failing to address one of the worst housing shortages in the nation and ignoring the key recommendation of a homelessness task force, a right to shelter. The result is predictable and appalling.