Posted on 12/21/2017 12:36:09 PM PST by Oldeconomybuyer
It could hardly come as a surprise to anyone who travels around the state: the number of people who are homeless in California continues to rise at a steady clip. Every year, the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development releases a Point in Time count of the homeless population. This year that number reached nearly 554,000 — a 1 percent increase from last year, driven by the dramatic surge in West Coast cities.
More than one-quarter of the total homeless population nationwide lives in California, roughly 114,000. The vast majority are “unsheltered” — a more bureaucratic term to describe the thousands living on the streets, under freeways and tucked into grassy fields and parks in cities all around the state.
“It’s certainly a bigger increase than we would have expected,” said Ben Metcalf, the director of the state’s Department of Housing and Community Development. “There’s a tale of different countries here: We’re seeing a real significant increase and much of the rest of the country is not. We’re all doing the same things, but here the rent is too damn high. We’ve seen an incredible increase in the cost of housing.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Now that we have a Republican President, the Media just rediscovered Homeless People. It’s a miracle I tell ya.
With articles about the epidemic of homelessness, I expect to see Herr Goebbels’ image each time! You’re slacking!
Yep. Heyah come da bums. Heyah come da bums.
California is all Dem. They own this.
25% of the nation's homeless live in a state that contains +/-10% of the total population of the country.
I wonder how many of these folks are third worlders or people displaced by them.
Exactly. Whenever a Republican is president, all these sob stories about homeless people come up like clockwork.
You mean to tell there were no homeless during obamatard’s regime? Wow.
And just in time for the Christmas season,too!
A classic proof of the maxim that whatever you subsidize you get more of, and whatever you tax you get less of. California subsidizes homelessness via generous welfare programs, sanctuary policies, etc. and as a result they have a bumper crop of street bums.
I suspect in the near future, the Kali progressive elites will create “work and lifestyle training camps” in the desert for all of these unfortunates. Maybe an entire archipelago of them.
I wonder what the demographics are.
If I recall correctly, CA pays out 1/3 of all welfare.
I wonder how many US citizens became homeless, because they cannot afford their rent anymore, but some illegals are now living in that housing, paid for by the taxpayers?
Even the homeless respond to incentives. The weather is nice - none of the cold spells we get in the Mountain States and Midwest. And, Cali has the best government giveaways in the country.
And don't forget free needles. I live 25 min from San Francisco and haven't gone into the city (other than to pass through to the airport) since 2003. The homeless problem was bad then. The city was dirty and you'd have to walk around bums on the street, even in nice areas.
Time to roll out the ole' reliable, "GOP policies increases homelessness in America" storyline.
I guarantee you, in no time, now that the tax bill is passed, we'll start hearing some democRATS and liberal analysts weave the increase-in-homeless issue into their talking points about how evil Trump is. He has no compassion. I can hear it now.
Never fails. They only have so many tools in the liberal bucket they can use.
If you pay them, shelter them and coddle them... they will come.
Don't see homeless in my part of California, going to get down into the single digits here tonight.
And CA went for Hillary and has been threatening to secede.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.