California has by far the largest homeless population among the 50 American states, but there are at least two hopeful signs — the number isn’t growing very fast and more people are in shelters.
On Friday the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development released a summary report of the annual point-in-time counts of homeless in communities across the United States last January.
The U.S. homeless population increased by a whopping 18.1% from last year to 771,480 people. HUD attributed the growth to high housing costs, natural disasters like the Maui wildfire and a surge in immigration.
California led the states with 187,084 homeless, followed by New York with 158,019, Washington with 31,554 and Florida with 31,362
But the annual increase in California was only 3.5%, and more of the homeless were in shelters — 28.0% this year vs. 25.4% in 2023 — led by efforts in Los Angeles.
Struggling with high rents, Los Angeles increased the availability of housing for individuals and families experiencing homelessness, combining federal, state, county and city funds, according to the federal agency.
“This crisis has been decades in the making, but after years of increases, we’ve turned the corner with the first decrease in street homelessness in years, by acting with innovative solutions that have resulted in thousands more people inside and more housing being built throughout the city,” Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement.
Despite the improvement, Los Angeles still led the list in California, followed by San Diego. Here are the totals for the 10 communities with the largest numbers of homeless individuals:
- Los Angeles city and county– 71,201
- San Diego city and county — 10,605
- San Jose city and county — 10,394
- Oakland/Berkeley/Alameda County — 9,450
- San Francisco city and county — 8,323
- Santa Ana/Anaheim/Orange County — 7,322
- Sacramento city and county — 6,615
- Stockton/San Joaquin County — 4,732
- Fresno city and county — 4,305
- San Bernardino city and county — 4,255
Despite the hopeful signs, homelessness remains a major problem in California after years of effort and billions of dollars in spending.
“Today’s HUD report makes it clear that instead of solving the problem, Newsom’s endless spending ‘solution’ has only made it worse,” said state Senate Majority Leader Brian Jones of San Diego.
But Gov. Gavin Newsom defended the state’s efforts, saying on X that California is “making more progress than a majority of other states.”
California has dramatically slowed and reduced the growth of homelessness – making more progress than a majority of other states, the nation as a whole, and previous administrations.
— Governor Newsom (@CAgovernor) December 27, 2024
We’re continuing to lead the charge in getting people off the streets & connected to care. pic.twitter.com/lsG3MDBaFb
City News Service contributed to this article.
