Homelessness in California

A tent city on East 12th Street in Oakland, California, set up by local homeless people, 2019
Homeless man in Fresno, California, 2019

The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development estimated that more than 181,399 people were experiencing homelessness in California in January 2023.[1]: 8  This is one of the highest per capita rates in the nation, with 0.46% of residents estimated as being homeless.[1]: 10  More than two-thirds of homeless people in California are unsheltered (meaning they sleep on the streets, in encampments, or in their cars), which is the highest percentage of any state in the United States.[1]: 8  49% of the unsheltered homeless people in the United States live in California.[1]: 10  Even those who are sheltered are so insecurely, with 90% of homeless adults in California reporting that they spent at least one night unsheltered in the past six months.[2]: 53 

A statewide housing shortage is the primary driver of the homelessness crisis. A 2022 study found that differences in per capita homelessness rates across the United States are not due to differing rates of mental illness, drug addiction, or poverty, but to differences in the cost of housing. West Coast cities including San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego have homelessness rates five times as high as areas with much lower housing costs like Arkansas, West Virginia, and Detroit, even though the latter locations have high burdens of opioid addiction and poverty.[3][4][5][6] California has the second lowest number of housing units per capita, and an estimated shortage of one million homes affordable to the lowest income renters. Another 2022 study found that moderate decreases in rents would lead to significant declines in homelessness.[7] A 2023 study published by the University of California, San Francisco also found that the high cost of housing was the greatest obstacle to reducing homelessness.[8]

  1. ^ a b c d "The 2023 Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress" (PDF). United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. December 2023.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference CASPEH was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Colburn_&_Aldern_book was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference LAT_2022-07-11 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference ST_2022-03-22 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Atlantic_2022-12-12 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference QRS was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Levin, Sam (June 20, 2023). "Who's unhoused in California? Largest study in decades upends myths". The Guardian. Retrieved June 24, 2023.