California spent $7.2 billion on its homeless population in 2021 and 2022, which equates to $41,000 per homeless person.
Taxpayers’ money was wasted on housing and rental assistance, healthcare, case management and temporary accommodation for 172,000 rough sleepers.
In total, Democratic states have invested as much as $24 billion over the past five years in hopes of tackling homelessness there.
Still, the state’s homeless population reached 181,000 by 2023, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
A homeless woman is shot on a San Francisco street in 2022. Now it has emerged that California spent $41,000 per drifter that year
A grim scene on Los Angeles’ infamous Skid Row in February 2023. California has thrown money at the homelessness crisis, but the money doesn’t seem to be delivering tangible results
Last year, auditors criticized the state’s homelessness czars for directing money to 30 programs between 2018 and 2023.
The scathing audit said they could not determine whether the money actually helped the state’s growing number of unhoused people.
Auditors examined five schemes that received a combined $13.7 billion in funding.
Only two were “likely to be cost-effective,” including one that converts hotel and motel rooms into housing and another that helps prevent families from becoming homeless, they found.
Three other programs, which have received a total of $9.4 billion since 2020, could not be evaluated due to a lack of data.
The accounting firm said, “The California Interagency Council on Homelessness (Cal HIC) has done a poor job of tracking homelessness spending and tracking outcomes.
“Cal ICH also has not aligned its action plan to end homelessness with its legislative goals to collect financial information and ensure accountability and results.
“We believe that state policymakers and the public need timely information to evaluate the efficacy and effectiveness of billions of dollars in state spending.”
Thomas Wolf, a San Francisco-based counselor and former homeless drug addict, called the findings a “scandal” at the time.
Governor Gavin Newsom previously threatened to withhold $1 billion in funds from cities and counties after criticizing homelessness plans as weak
Last year, auditors criticized the state’s homelessness czars for wasting money on 30 programs between 2018 and 2023. LA’s Skid Row is pictured
Governor Gavin Newsom had previously threatened to withhold $1 billion in funds from cities and counties after criticizing homelessness plans as weak.
Speaking in 2022, he said: “I want to see results. I don’t want to read about them. I don’t want to see the data. I want to see it.’
LA Mayor Karen Bass had declared a state of emergency in December 2022 after less than 24 hours in office.
Its “Inside Safe” program used $250 million to direct funds to helping homeless people transition to temporary housing.
A city website tracking the results of that initiative says more than 21,000 people have been helped back into housing, including 5,000 in finding permanent housing.
Homeless tents are seen near San Francisco City Hall in California
A homeless man injects fentanyl into his friend’s armpit, due to a lack of usable veins, as people walk by near City Hall in San Francisco in September 2022
In San Francisco, which is also plagued by the open use of hard drugs, Mayor London Breed started cracking down on street sleepers earlier this year.
She promised a “very aggressive” operation after the Supreme Court ruled that removing sleeping equipment from a public place was not unconstitutional.
A task force took to the streets of the besieged city, dismantling tents and temporary shelters that had been tolerated for years.
Mayor Breed claimed that the Supreme Court had finally given her the power to do something about it.
“Building more housing will not solve the problem,” she stated. “Thank God for the Supreme Court’s decision.”