California is in the middle of a
homelessness crisis that does not
seem to be getting any better.
Many families are worried they're
one problem away from needing a
place to live, and political reporter
Morgan Reiner looked at
what policies are working
and which ones are not in
the country's biggest states.
In what California can learn.
And she joins us now with how California
compares to states like Texas,
Florida and New York Morgan
Madison, I'm about to take you on a
deep dive into the numbers of homeless
people in each of those states.
But the VP of the National Coalition
for the Homeless told me those
numbers grossly underestimate the
true number of homeless people
leaving out youth and children,
which is not as easy to record and many
parents don't want to because of the
fear their children will be taken away.
This is the most visible form
of homelessness. The
camps you see under freeways and
along the streets across California.
You know, that's kind of the bottom.
You know, showing how do
we prevent getting there,
but there's a lot that does
not meet the eye. People
release should not judge people
that are going through homelessness
because you really don't know
what led them to get their
take. Jasmine McIntyre for example,
you won't see her on the streets,
but she is homeless. Couch hopping
from one friend's house to the next.
I had to swallow my pride a lot or
this woman Jane.
She's living in her car and asked
me not to show her face on camera.
I wouldn't do it,
but the first thing I would like
to do is rob a bank. I
mean, you know just to live.
And that's terrible and I
shouldn't feel that way.
The most recent numbers from the
United States Interagency on
Homelessness recorded are from 2020,
just before the pandemic from 2010 to 2020,
Florida saw a decrease of about 30,000.
Texas also saw a decrease of almost 8000.
New York saw an increase of about 26,000,
but California saw the biggest
increase at 38,000.
What's working elsewhere?
Florida has reduced homelessness
by focusing on veterans.
There's
been a lot of investment working
with really HUD federal, you know,
veteran voucher programs looking
at really dollars invested into
veterans support services,
making sure that veterans have, you know,
access to get into long term housing,
rental housing and so that's really
been an area where it has, you know,
really decreased homelessness.
Dr Rajneesh Acker Brown is the
VP of the National Coalition on
Homelessness and Stats in universe.
City in Florida's chair of
social justice education.
California accounts for
12% of the US population,
but is home to 28% of the
country's homeless veterans Texas.
You'll also see the housing first
initiatives and communities have
really helped to help reduce numbers.
Does California not have those?
So I think California
has had those initiatives in pockets.
I brought what she said to one
of Governor Gavin Newsom's,
top homeless advisors.
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg
state itself again,
is provided unprecedented resources,
much more than Texas or Florida,
to convert motels in the housing
and veterans are always at
the top of the priority list.
What about New York,
NY has a rate of homelessness
similar to San Francisco and delay,
but it has a different character. It's
not as obvious. New
York has a right to shelters because legal
aid attorneys took the city to court.
You know, a couple decades ago
and they forced the city to do
something about what at the time was
a pretty visible homeless problem,
unconditional shelter.
Tom Albanese is the feds.
Housing and Urban development lead
technical provider for New York City.
And Detroit, he is also an
independent consultant that helps
counties across the country address
homelessness as of January 20,
2072, percent of California's
homeless population is unsheltered.
They live outside.
Do you believe that should
be implemented in California?
I think it should,
but I think we should go ahead.
Step further. I think it should
be a legal right to housing
something he said. The state's task
force did recommend to the governor and
legislature right before the pandemic.
We don't say it's optional to provide
a free public education for children.
We require the building of public schools.
We mandate it because it matters.
Steinberg and all three
other experts I spoke to,
including the director of the
Sacramento Housing Alliance,
agreed the number.
One solution is affordable housing.
California is home to 7 out of ten of
the most expensive cities for tenants.
The median California home is about
2.5 times more expensive than the.
Average national home.
The broader you know housing and
economic conditions are just
going in the opposite direction.
You can have a significant infusion of more.
You know how much assistance and prevention
and and and still see numbers rise
to combat. This Newsom has signed
30 housing bills in 2021 and the
state budget allocated 12 billion
to help mitigate homelessness.
We can't cure it, but I
think we can make it better.
That won't be an overnight fix,
but it is a step in the right direction.
It's also important to note that while Texas
and Florida have reduced homelessness,
their systems aren't perfect either.
Dr Shankar Brown told me Florida
has some of the worst and most
inhumane practices where they sweep
people to the outskirts of town
and throw their belongings away,
something she said parts
of California do as well.
And Morgan, California also
investing in many hotels.
We know project Homekey
and. Room key, but we know that there
are those people who don't want to go
into shelter or housing no matter what.
So what did the experts
say is a solution for that?
A few things here in Madison Tom
Albanese told me the number one
fear people have going into hotels
is that the door will be locked
on them and they will be watched.
Like Hawks. He said there needs to
be better street education to let
people know that is not the case.
He also said shelters should
not be conditional.
He said there's no evidence
that shows conditional.
Housing, like no drugs,
encourages people to stop.
In fact, it does the opposite
and then there are just always
going to be the people who want
to sleep on the streets with
the community they've built.
And that is the hardest sector to deal with.
Absolutely.
And this is a multilayered problem.
But Morgan it doesn't all fall
in the states though, right?
Not at all affordable.
Housing is the number one solution.
Medicine and part of that
is subsidized housing.
The federal government has
slashed subsidized housing by.
80% over the last four decades.
There's also another myth that homeless
people don't want to work medicine.
When Doctor Shankar Brown told
me 40% of them are working,
two jobs just can't afford
the rent here. That
really is so sad to hear.
And of course there is
a lot of help out there.
Morgan, thank you for that
context and in depth story.