From my old hometown's paper:
No matter how bad the homelessness problem looks in other metropolitan areas, they pale compared to California’s. While the state accounts for not quite 12 percent of the U.S. population, roughly 28 percent of the nation’s homeless are in California. The lesson: Don’t copy the Golden State’s policies for mitigating homelessness – they simply don’t work.
California’s homeless population was not quite 139,000 in 2007. Within seven years, it had fallen to about 114,000. From there, it grew sharply to more than 161,000 in 2020. Over the same period, the total homeless in the rest of the states fell from a little more than 508,000 to 419,000.
and Oregon is racing to keep up with its southern cousin
ReplyDeleteI don't know how it is in the rest of the world but in the UK it is like this. Decades ago there were mental hospitals where people who were not able to care for themselves were sent. They were looked after but were effectively sentenced to life imprisonment despite not having committed any kind of crime. So, along came a more enlightened era where such institutions were closed down and the mantra became 'Care in the community'. The reality is that there are people who have fallen on hard times through no fault of their own who only need a temporary leg up to be back on their feet. There are also people who have mental problems or substance addictions who will never become self sufficient. We also have government funded "charities" that have a vested interest in not solving the problem.
ReplyDeleteExactly the same process happened here in the US in the 70s.
DeleteThat's got to be rough in an English winter. In California at least I don't think it's usually nearly as cold and wet.
DeleteUm, coastal central and northern California gets downright damp and cold. Think San Francisco's famous fog.
DeleteJust like TX & AZ are shipping crimmigrants to DC & NYC, so should other red states ship their drug addled homeless to the left coast cities.
ReplyDelete