Why there are so many unsheltered homeless people on the West Coast

["Dave Farber" <farber () gmail com>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>
> Date: June 15, 2018 at 12:46:13 AM GMT+9
> To: Multiple recipients of Dewayne-Net <dewayne-net () warpspeed com>
> Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Why there are so many unsheltered homeless people on the West Coast
> Reply-To: dewayne-net () warpspeed com
>
> Why there are so many unsheltered homeless people on the West Coast
> By Margot Kushel
> Jun 14 2018
> <https://theconversation.com/why-there-are-so-many-unsheltered-homeless-people-on-the-west-coast-96767>
>
> One-quarter of homeless people in the U.S. live in California, despite Californians making up only 12 percent of the 
> population. 
>
> Not only is homelessness more common on the West Coast but it is also more visible, because a higher proportion of 
> homeless people are unsheltered. In the U.S., 24 percent of homeless people sleep outside, in vehicles or somewhere 
> else not meant for human habitation. But that varies greatly from place to place: In California, 68 percent of 
> homeless people are unsheltered, compared to just 5 percent in New York.
>
> Visitors to the West Coast may be shocked to find the tents that line cities from San Diego to Seattle. Like a 
> modern-day “Grapes of Wrath,” the tents are a stark reminder of the suffering of the thousands living outside, 
> homeless. 
>
> What’s to blame for such high numbers of unsheltered homeless on the West Coast? The reason isn’t drug use, mental 
> health problems or weather. Rather, it is due to the extreme shortage of affordable housing. 
>
> Life unsheltered
>
> As a physician and researcher who provides medical care for people experiencing homelessness, I have seen firsthand 
> how devastating homelessness is to health. 
>
> Being unsheltered is terrifying, humiliating and isolating. People living without shelter lack access to toileting 
> facilities, sinks and showers. They have no way to store or prepare food and no protection from the elements. Hunger 
> is common. 
>
> Sleeping in makeshift beds or on the ground, they get little sleep. They must contend with having their possessions 
> stolen. They face frequent forced moves, which disrupt relationships and make it difficult for family, friends or 
> service providers to find them. 
>
> People who are unsheltered are at high risk of physical and sexual abuse. If they struggle with substance use 
> disorders, their use of drugs and alcohol occurs in public, leaving them open to arrest. There are no places to 
> refrigerate or store medicines, no place to receive mailed appointment reminders or a visit from a visiting nurse, no 
> place to dress a wound or plug in medical equipment like oxygen. Without access to hygiene facilities, they are at 
> high risk for communicable diseaseslike hepatitis A. 
>
> Unaffordable housing
>
> Some assume that homelessness is so common on the West Coast because people move here when they become homeless, but 
> data do not support this. Most people experience homelessness close to where they lost their housing. My team’s 
> researchin Oakland found that 81 percent of older adults who are homeless became homeless in the Bay Area. Only 10 
> percent had lost their housing outside of California. 
>
> Instead, the high rate of homelessness can be attributed to the lack of affordable housing in these regions. The West 
> Coast suffers from rising costs of rental housing, stagnant incomes for low-wage workers and a decline in federal 
> support for affordable housing. For example, California has gained 900,000 renter households since 2005, but lost 
> US$1.7 billion in state and federal funding for affordable housing.
>
> Extremely low-income households – defined as those with income less than 30 percent of the area median income – are 
> at the highest risk of homelessness. Nationally, there are only 35 units available for every 100 extremely low-income 
> households. 
>
> In the West, these shortages are more severe: Nevada has 15 units available for every 100 extremely low-income 
> households; California has 21. 
>
> In 2017, for the first time in 13 years, Los Angeles opened its wait list for housing choice vouchers. These vouchers 
> allow households to pay 30 percent of their income in rent, with the rest paid by the government. There were 600,000 
> applicants for just 20,000 spots on the list, highlighting the enormous unmet need.
>
> [snip]
>
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