Fact check: Is homelessness in California at a historic high?
California's State Capitol building in Sacramento
July 15, 2016
By Autumn Lewien
The California Assembly passed a resolution on June 30 asking Gov. Jerry Brown (D) to declare a "state of emergency on homelessness."[1] House Resolution 56 (HR 56), authored by Assemblymen Miguel Santiago, (D)-Los Angeles, and Phil Ting, (D)-San Francisco, was approved by the state Assembly by a vote of 60 to 12.[2][3]
"Homelessness is one of the most pervasive issues facing California today," the resolution reads. "Homelessness has risen to historic levels throughout the state, and now is the time for state action."[1]
Is California experiencing “historic levels” of homelessness? From January 2005 to January 2015, the overall homeless population in California decreased 38.5 percent (by 72,561); the state’s homelessness rate—the ratio of homeless population to the total population—fell by 43.7 percent.
Homelessness in California
To fact check the resolution’s claim, we examined point-in-time (PIT) data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). PIT counts are "unduplicated, [one-night] estimates of both sheltered and unsheltered homeless populations."[4][5] According to a report by the National Alliance to End Homelessness—a nonprofit research organization that aims to advocate for what it describes as "policy solutions to homelessness"—the point-in-time counts are "the only measure that enumerates people experiencing unsheltered homelessness in addition to those who are sheltered."[6][7]
From January 2005 to January 2015, the most recent data available, California’s homelessness rate dropped by 43.7 percent to 30 per 10,000 people. In all, 115,738 people in California were homeless in 2015, compared with 188,299 in 2005—a 38.5 percent decrease.[8] Homelessness in California has also declined across major subpopulations since 2005—unsheltered people (45.7 percent), families (62.5 percent), and chronically homeless individuals (55.1 percent).[9]
Figure 1.
Trends in California's Homeless Population and Subpopulations, 2005-2015
*Note: The subpopulation data do not equal the total homeless population number as a person could be counted as part of more than one subpopulation.
| California Homeless Population and Rate (per 10,000 people), 2005-2015 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | California Total | Rate of Homelessness (per 10,000 people) |
| 2005 | 188,299 | 53 |
| 2006 | 177,722 | 49 |
| 2007 | 138,986 | 38 |
| 2008 | 136,531 | 37 |
| 2009 | 123,678 | 33 |
| 2010 | 123,480 | 33 |
| 2011 | 125,128 | 33 |
| 2012 | 120,098 | 32 |
| 2013 | 118,552 | 31 |
| 2014 | 113,952 | 29 |
| 2015 | 115,738 | 30 |
| Source: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, "CoC Homeless Populations and Subpopulations Reports," accessed July 13, 2016 and United States Census Bureau, "Population Estimates," accessed July 14, 2016 | ||
California in a national context
From 2005 to 2015, homelessness in the United States declined by 26 percent—from 763,010 to 564,708. The national homelessness rate dropped to 18 homeless people per 10,000 in 2015, from 26 in 2005.[8][10][11] California accounted for approximately one-fifth (20.5 percent) of the nation’s 763,010 homeless in 2015, followed by New York (15.6 percent) and Florida (6.4 percent). In 2005, California's share of the national homeless population was 4.2 percentage points higher (see Figure 2).[8]
Figure 2.
California has accounted for the highest share of all homeless people since 2005.
% of National Homeless Population by State
Conclusion
On June 30, the California State Assembly passed House Resolution 56 asking Gov. Brown to declare a "state of emergency on homelessness." "Homelessness has risen to historic levels across the state and now is the time for action," HR 56 reads.[1]
According to data collected by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development from January 2005 to January 2015, California’s homeless rate declined by 43.7 percent. The overall number of homeless people living in California dropped by 38.5 percent—from 188,299 in 2005 to 115,738 in 2015.[8]
See also
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Sources and Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 California Legislative Information, "HR-56 Text," accessed July 8, 2016
- ↑ California Legislative Information, "HR-56 Votes," accessed July 8, 2016
- ↑ Note: HR 56 does not have the force of law.
- ↑ U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, "The 2015 Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress - Part 1: Point-in-Time Estimates of Homelessness," November 15
- ↑ PIT counts provide an estimate of the number of people living in emergency shelters, transitional housing, and unsheltered locations in a given geographic area called a Continuum of Care (CoC). For more information regarding the point-in-time count methodology see: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, "2014 Point-in-Time Count Methodology Guide," March 2015
- ↑ National Alliance to End Homelessness, "The State of Homelessness in America: 2016," April 6, 2016
- ↑ National Alliance to End Homelessness, "Our Work," accessed July 15, 2016
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development: HUD Exchange, "CoC Homeless Populations and Subpopulations Reports," accessed July 13, 2016
- ↑ Chronically homeless individuals are homeless individuals "with disabilities who have either been continuously homeless for a year or more or have experienced at least four episodes of homelessness in the last three years." For more information and definitions see: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, "The 2015 Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress - Part 1: Point-in-Time Estimates of Homelessness," November 15
- ↑ United States Census Bureau, "Table 1. Intercensal Estimates of the Resident Population by Sex and Age for the United States: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2010 (US-EST00INT-01)," September 2011
- ↑ United States Census Bureau, "Table 1. Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for the United States, Regions, States, and Puerto Rico: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2015 (NST-EST2015-01)," December 2015
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