{"id":21831,"date":"2022-03-24T13:29:04","date_gmt":"2022-03-24T20:29:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=21831"},"modified":"2022-03-24T13:31:10","modified_gmt":"2022-03-24T20:31:10","slug":"we-have-failed-how-californias-homelessness-catastrophe-is-worsening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2022\/03\/24\/we-have-failed-how-californias-homelessness-catastrophe-is-worsening\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We have failed\u2019: how California\u2019s homelessness catastrophe is worsening"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"A
Gustavo Otzoy walks past a large construction site and a vendor selling used clothing in Los Angeles. Otzoy was one of the last people to be evicted from an encampment at Echo Park Lake. Photograph: Jane Hahn\/The Guardian<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A new Guardian US series reports on a seemingly intractable crisis, and hears from those living on the edge in one of America\u2019s richest states<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Sam<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sam Levin<\/a> in Los Angeles@SamTLevin<\/a> Tue 22 Mar 2022 (TheGuardian.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

W<\/strong>hen California shut down in March 2020, advocates for unhoused people thought the state might finally be forced to solve<\/a> its homelessness crisis. To slow the spread of Covid, they hoped, officials would have to provide people living outside with stable and private shelter<\/a> and housing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But in the two years since, California\u2019s humanitarian catastrophe<\/a> has worsened: deaths<\/a> of people on the streets are rising; college students are living in their cars<\/a>; more elderly residents<\/a> are becoming unhoused; encampment communities are growing at beaches<\/a>, parks<\/a>, highway underpasses<\/a>, lots<\/a> and sidewalks<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

California has the fifth largest economy in the world, a budget surplus<\/a>, the most<\/a> billionaires in the US and some of the nation\u2019s wealthiest neighborhoods. Yet the riches of the Golden State have not yielded solutions that match the scale of the crisis that\u2019s been raging for decades. Pandemic-era programs have had some success for a slice of the unhoused population, but many measures have fallen short.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, homelessness has become the top issue in political races. Polls in Los Angeles, which is home to 40% of the state\u2019s unhoused population, suggest that a majority of voters want their governments to act faster<\/a>, and that residents are angered<\/a> by the immense human suffering caused by a seemingly intractable crisis. \u200b\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n