PLANNING WATCH – The city, county, and state of California are spending billions to eliminate homelessness, yet the number of homeless people is still increasing. For example, by mid-2023, the State of California had spent $17.5 billion on homelessness. LA County has allocated about $800 million for fiscal year 2024-25, and the City of Los Angeles has budgeted $961 million.
Let me explain why I think the numbers of homeless and overcrowded people are still increasing, despite so much local spending.
The problem is NOT a housing shortage. Even though well-funded pressure groups, public officials, and the corporate media endlessly repeat this bogus claim. What they rarely say, however, is that the basic problem is a lack of low-priced housing, and that private sector solutions only make the low-priced housing shortage worse…