![]() City and county representatives from the Los Angeles area went last fall. San Jose’s homelessness response team visited Houston earlier this year. So desperate, that they’re going to a state whose deep-red policies California Democrats are better known for scorning than emulating. ![]() With homelessness causing major tension in many California cities, and local and state efforts to get people off the streets continuing to fall short, Golden State leaders are desperate for new solutions. But the reality is more nuanced – as California leaders are realizing, while their cities and nonprofits send delegation after delegation to Texas. Liberals may distrust the statistics coming out of Texas. Why is Texas doing so much better on homelessness? Right-leaning observers are quick to blame the discrepancy on California’s too-progressive policies. In a 2020 poll of Texas residents, it didn’t even crack the top 10. 1 issue on California voters’ minds, according to a recent Quinnipiac University poll. How do residents view homelessness in each state? The difference is stark: Homelessness is the No. California, on the other hand, poured $1.85 billion into its three main programs – or $10,786 for every unhoused person. ![]() Last year, not counting federal money, Texas put $19.7 million into its three main homelessness programs – equal to about $806 per unhoused person. Photo by Jordan Vonderhaar for CalMattersĪnd that’s despite the fact that Texas spends far fewer state dollars on homelessness. LaVoy Darden with Search Homeless Services drives through his service area looking for clients in Houston, Texas on May 5, 2023. In California, the rate is more than five times worse. In Texas, 81 people are homeless for every 100,000 residents. Texas as a whole last year recorded a 28% drop in homelessness since 2012, while California’s homeless population grew by 43% over the same period. Compare that to California’s major cities, where the population surged by double-digits, and in some cases triple-digits. But it seems to happen more often in Houston, where the homeless population shrank by more than half over the past decade. Sending someone from the street into permanent housing is the ultimate goal for Darden and legions of other outreach workers like him all over America. He leans out the driver’s-side window and yells.
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