When you are the state with 30% of all homelessness in America you know fixing the issue will be a Herculean task. This is what California faces with its estimated 171,000 people without homes.
The problem, at least for citizens, tourists, and businesses, is that it is in your face. It seems that wherever you walk in the city or look within empty spaces, you see what homelessness means to you:
Shabby - homemade shelters lining the streets of many, if not all, major downtown cities in California.
Businesses that are on the streets or with big parking lots are frustrated and angry with having to deal with the homeless epidemic disrupting their economic lives.
Sanitation is an issue
Safety is a huge concern
Upset because it feels as if your rights as a taxpaying citizen, are being ignored
With the big question everlooming "Will this ugliness ever go away?"
The problem is getting worse regardless, that over the last 5 years, $24 billion has been spent by the Golden State, on more than 30 different programs to fix and eliminate the problem.
So far, the California Interagency Council on Homelessness (Cal ICH) has allocated billions of state funds during the past five years to support these many programs.
There were 5 state-funded homelessness programs that a state audit reviewed relating to their cost-effectiveness. Only two out of the five were found cost-effective:
The other three couldn't be evaluated accurately due to the lack of sufficient data.
In April, State Auditor Grant Parks wrote in a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom and lawmakers,
"This report concludes that the state must do more to assess the cost-effectiveness of its homelessness programs,"
The two lawmakers requesting the audit were Republican State Sen. Josh Hoover and Democratic State Sen. Dave Cortese. Both men said that it was a critical first step in finding accurate solutions to the state's overall challenges with homelessness.
Republican state Sen. Roger Niello said, "The lack of accountability is troubling." [No kidding!]
He went on to say,
"California is facing a concerning paradox: despite an exorbitant amount of dollars spent, the state's homeless population is not slowing down," Niello said in a statement. "These audit results are a wake-up call for a shift toward solutions that prioritize self-sufficiency and cost effectiveness."
Authors Opinion
Billions of dollars have been poured into the problem but the problem remains. Will a solution be found? I don't know!
For now, many Californians shake their head in doubt. It has been a long time developing into this tent city nightmare and I'm afraid it will not be fixed anytime soon.
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