Member-only story
Ending Homelessness
The crisis of homelessness has exploded throughout cities of all sizes throughout the United States. It has escalated with cruel intensity in California. The Golden State’s finances are so strong that if it were a sovereign country it would rank as the 5th largest economy in the world. And yet, with powerful financial forces coursing through our State’s lifeblood, California has the highest number of homeless people in all of America.
Why is this? Based on data provided by the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, a little over a quarter are Chronically Homeless. Veterans are about one 12th of the group. Unaccompanied young adults (18–24 years old) count for nearly 10%. But the biggest — -and most disturbing — -segment consists of Family Households, representing over half of the homeless.
Deeper analysis reveals that the Veterans and Chronically Homeless are mostly suffering from mental illness, but many of them, along with the unaccompanied young adults, are drug addicts.
Breaking the demographics down in a different way, 55.71% are family households, while the mentally ill and the drug addicts comprise 44.29%.
