Why homelessness is worse in California than Texas

I’m in Ohio and the housing market here over the last 7-8 years is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Homes that were bought for $130K in 2015 are now being sold for $590k. I’m talking about tiny, disgusting, poorly built 950 square foot shit boxes in quite mediocre neighborhoods. Then you’ve got Better, average sized homes in nicer neighborhoods that were $300K+ 10 years ago selling for $750k+ now. Wild times.

Wasn't there a story a while back where someone in CA built a bunch of tiny homes for homeless but was told by the government that he can't let the homeless live there?

Sadly enough i was homeless in California (Monterey/Salinas area) for a few months and it was brutal.. it is hard to get help as a single male with no kids.. i ended up moving to Minnesota where things started looking up.. got my license back after 21yrs moved into an apartment got a vehicle that's even insured..lol.. life isnt all roses and cupcakes but its not all that bad either.. to top it off im also a recovering opiate addict clean and sober since August 4th 2015....

I volunteered at Haven For Hope, serving lunch, and was surprised at how happy and grateful they were. They're not a homeless shelter, not a soup kitchen, the residents have to go to classes, pass drug tests, etc., so they end up living with others who also give AF. That's why They're successful.

It's almost weird to watch actual journalism in 2023. Keep up the good work Reason.

So the biggest difference is that Texas encourages private individuals and charities to handle the homeless in their community while California discourages it and even sabatoges efforts. The result is that homeless in Texas are viewed as neighbors and members of the community while in California they are "others."

America as we know it is finished. All indications point to 2023 being a year of severe economic pain across the country. Put that money to work right away to make it grow. I knew I had to make an investment. I never imagined that a few thousand dollars per month would add up. However, it is. I've made around $600,000 since 2020.

Strict zoning laws are a really big problem in the US. You can’t build walkable places where people can meet eachother, you can’t build communal gathering areas or public parks, and you can’t integrate stores and shops into neighborhoods, you can only build a massive Walmart to outcompete local businesses. That village of tiny homes honestly is the future.

I live near Chico California. We had a tiny home setup like this outside of city limits, it was set up that way to avoid the zoning laws. The people coordinating it were sued and a judge ruled it was too far away from the city, so that the homeless couldn't get services. So they offered to move it within the city, and it was shot down for not being zoned for that... You literally can't win.

The very word "Homelessness" is basically intentionally disguising the actual problems. There's several lumped under the same label, and then solutions to one subgroup are shot down as "not solutions" for not addressing some other subgroup. Politicians can then grift off the issue, like always.

With inflation running at a four-decade high, Recession is now the ‘most likely’ outcome for the economy and i cannot imagine being a victim of circumstances. My portfolio suffered a big hit, holding it further won’t be any good. I've heard of people netting hundreds of thousands this red season. How can i ensure this?

I was a mental health social worker for the homeless in Los Angeles county. What isn’t talked about here is the "greyhound" treatment these states have. Anecdotally, 50% of my clients originated from out of state! Yeah this approach may work with SOME of the homeless but it appears they greyhound their difficult homeless people to areas like LA.

I live and worked just outside of downtown Houston and since I worked "second shift" I watched the homeless population shrink on my drive home. I am glad to see that something good comes out of no zoning. It can be jarring when you have grown up in Dallas County.

I have lived in Texas my whole life, the homelessness has absolutely NOT been decreasing in Texas, what's happened is they force people off of the streets and deeper into the woods. Austin is absolutely nothing like it was even just 12 years ago.. it's been being destroyed due to the state and city selling out to big tech. I can no longer afford to live in my home city. There also used to be friendly, relatively safe homeless people around and a lot of people knew who they were. It's not like that anymore. I hate what has been happening to Austin. It's an absolute disgrace and should be criminal. Our environment and culture is being destroyed by the people moving here for the wrong reasons.

At this point, just saying California's problem is "worse" than in other places is an euphemism. It's WAY, WAY WORSE than in other places.

I was a tour boat captain in downtown San Antonio for years and I saw first hand how cops dealt respectfully and firmly with homeless. Also twice I met California city officials that had come to SA to learn about haven for hope

We eliminated state run mental hospitals and now we have tons of mentally I’ll people living on the streets. I’m sure no one could have seen this coming 🙄

One more HUGE factor not mentioned is weather. California is beautiful outside year round. People die outside here in Houston. It's pretty much impossible to live here without A/C.

Missing a big one: the weather in Texas is generally quite brutal, whereas California is moderate by comparison. We also get a lot of tropical storms in Texas. We are the second most expensive state to insure a home. It is much harder to live outside in Texas than California, weatherwise. I will say that the homeless population appears to be increasing in the North Texas area, though.

Every time I get into an affordable housing discussion, I make sure that people understand the government does not build affordable housing. It builds very expensive, subsidized housing which makes the crony builders and bureaucrats very happy.