California drives U.S. homelessness increase

Tents for the homeless line a sidewalk in Los Angeles.
(Image credit: FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images)

The Department of Housing and Urban Development released Friday its estimate of annual homelessness in the United States, concluding that the number of homeless people in the country increased 2.7 percent over the last year.

The jump is reportedly strongly tied to California's housing crisis, especially in Los Angeles and San Francisco. California alone experienced an estimated 16.4 percent increase in homelessness, despite the state's efforts to counter the issue.

HUD Secretary Ben Carson blamed welfare programs that fostered dependency and despair, per The New York Times, as well as policies that allow people to sleep in public spaces. Carson argued the laws discourage people from going "to the places that are actually designed to help them get out of that situation."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

There were some positive strives elsewhere, however. Washington, D.C., and 29 other states reported declines in the number of homeless people, NBC News reports. Meanwhile, veteran homelessness dropped 2.1 percent, homeless families with children declined 4.8 percent, and homeless youth and children decreased 3.6 percent. Read more at The New York Times and NBC News.

To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.