Strategy fail: Why some states (like CA) and some cities (like SJ) have high (and rising) homelessness rates despite billions in spending
Image by Richard Masoner
The WSJ editorial board examines the most recent report from HUD (and so does the Merc) that says homelessness is way up nationally, and especially in CA cities (incl. SJ). The editors say dogmatic insistence on Housing First and rigid zoning orthodoxies, the failure to confront the realities of addiction and mental health factors, and perverse incentives that attract drug tourists to our cities—all these policy mistakes lead to rising suffering and wasted billions.
In case you missed last Friday’s pre-holiday news dump, the Department of Housing and Urban Development reported that homelessness this year hit a record. Add this to President Biden’s regrettable legacies, though it’s notable that progressive states accounted for most of the increase.
HUD’s annual point-in-time survey found that the number of homeless increased 18% this year and 36% since 2019. Local governments and nonprofits in January counted some 771,480 living in public spaces, shelters or other temporary government-funded housing. Yet the report essentially absolves federal policies of blame.
The agency admits what it calls a “national affordable housing crisis, rising inflation, stagnating wages among middle- and lower-income households”—as if these had nothing to do with the trillions of dollars the feds doled out during the pandemic and then on Mr. Biden’s watch. HUD also faults “the persisting effects of systemic racism,” “additional public health crises” and natural disasters.
HUD places especially heavy blame on the expiration of pandemic programs, including Democrats’ expanded child tax credit and Mr. Biden’s illegal eviction moratorium. Landlords did increase rents to compensate for tenants who didn’t pay under the eviction ban. But the end of souped-up Covid-era welfare can’t explain why there are so many more homeless now than before the pandemic.
One culprit is a surge in migration. New York City told HUD that migrant households accounted for nearly 88% of its increase in homeless living in shelters this year. Chicago reported “that an influx of new arrivals,” mostly migrants bused and flown from other states, “accounted for more than 13,600 people in emergency shelters.”
While migrants have also flooded into Florida and Texas, these states seem to have absorbed them far better. Since 2019 the number of homeless has soared in Illinois (15,633), California (35,806) and New York (65,928), versus Texas (2,139) and Florida (3,034). Higher housing costs and unemployment in progressive states make it more difficult for migrants to support themselves.
Restrictive zoning and environmental regulations reduce housing supply and drive up prices. Compare the number of new housing permits issued last year in Texas (232,373) and Florida (193,788), versus California (117,760), New York (48,807) and Illinois (16,863).
New York City’s “right to shelter” policy also encourages migrants to take advantage of government-supported housing, including hotels in midtown Manhattan. But most migrants who can’t find work and housing eventually move to places where they can.
Most of the increase in what HUD calls “chronic homelessness” owes to mental illness and drug abuse, which the report fails to mention, if you can believe it. This is obvious to anyone who walks past an urban homeless encampment, or for that matter any street in certain neighborhoods in Los Angeles.
Progressives ignore such clear social ills and instead call for more spending on low-income housing. But such “housing first” policies have failed, as demonstrated by the rising number of homeless in progressive states.
HUD spends $72 billion a year, mostly on affordable housing, and progressive states spend billions more each year. California spent $24 billion to reduce homelessness in the last five years, but there are more homeless. The Administration even granted California a waiver to use federal Medicaid funds to help the homeless obtain housing. Meantime, drug rehab centers in the state are closing because of inadequate government reimbursements.
Florida and Texas have taken a more practical and effective approach. They prosecute drug possession and public disorderly conduct as a lever to induce addicts and the mentally ill into treatment as an alternative to jail. This is more humane than leaving the homeless to their own vices on the streets. Alas, progressives prefer the latter.
Read the whole articles here: WSJ and SJ Merc.
Follow Opportunity Now on Twitter @svopportunity
Opp Now enthusiastically welcomes smart, thoughtful, fair-minded, well-written comments from our readers. But be advised: we have zero interest in posting rants, ad hominems, poorly-argued screeds, transparently partisan yack, or the hateful name-calling often seen on other local websites. So if you've got a great idea that will add to the conversation, please send it in. If you're trolling or shilling for a candidate or initiative, forget it.