Is there a homeless problem in California? If so, how do we fix it?

Here in CA, people without traditional shelter are a big problem (I’m told). A quick Google search put the number at 187,000, nearly 50% of the US total homeless. According to the standard media, they would have us believe this is a big problem. Do you know what percentage of the CA population is unhoused? 0.58%. That’s right. Less than 1%. In the last 5 years, CA has spent over $24 billion or $4.8 billion per year to address this problem. That amounts to almost $26k per individual. Unfortunately, the number of homeless has risen not fallen during that same time. And that is a lot of money for 0.58% of our population.

Obviously, the mild climate makes things easier to navigate if you find yourself without standard living quarters. Or is it the nature of the population being so high on the left coast that makes this many people inevitable? There are arguments about a lack of jobs or things being too expensive or a drug epidemic or immigration or ????  People blame their upbringing or chance or bad decision making or politics or racism or honestly, it doesn’t really matter. Why? Because some are there by choice. Intentional. That is what freedom allows. Some people just don’t want to be part of the rat race. Others want everything handed to them. All of these things contribute to the growing number we see. Throwing money at it doesn’t seem to fix anything. What is the solution then I ask you because the right course of action seems to elude the people we elect? What would you do?

For me, it starts with recognizing what the real problem is. Despite what you might think, the problem isn’t the unsheltered, it is the people impacted by the unsheltered. Read that again. They aren’t the problem, we are. Look, any population of people this size, with freedom of choice, is bound to have people down on their luck. People who don’t want to follow the rules. People making one bad decision after another. It is simple probability. And we could provide all the resources in the world and many of these individuals would continue to make one bad decision after another that leads to them penniless on the streets. It will always happen. Always.

The problem is we don’t want to see or interact with these people. We don’t want them on our yard, in front of our favorite restaurant, posted up next to our kid’s school, or residing in our public parks and recreation areas. They represent a risk to our lives, as desperate people are prone to doing desperate things. And you can’t blame anyone for feeling that way. The lower humans go, the more depraved we might need to be. Survival instincts take over. Decency, decorum, or the need to follow someone else’s rules go right out the window when things get tough. People are right to worry about the unhoused because the risk is higher around them. Now I am not saying all of them are bad. Far from it. I’m saying it is reasonable for a standard person to not want to take on additional risk in their life. This is why we pay money for shelters or churches or “other people” to go deal with the unhoused. We want the government to move these people to somewhere, just not where we are. Am I wrong? You want the homeless treated well, just not next door to your house. 

So why are the “sheltered” the problem then? Because we incentivize the unhoused to stay in their position, not get out of it. Hear me out. You are getting off a freeway and at the bottom of the offramp is a homeless person with a sign. You feel bad. Guilty for your being in a better position than they are. You give them $20. Now they can eat that day. You feel better. You helped someone. Guilt assuaged. The problem is you didn’t really help them. You enabled them. Yes, they got a meal that day. But what they didn’t get is desperate enough to not just sit on the corner all day begging. They got just enough to bring them back the next day to do the same thing. No reason to break the cycle. Most humans only change when they are absolutely forced. And you just removed their reason to change. They got by and just enough to keep them in the same position without ever getting out of that position.

You didn’t help them, you helped yourself. People like you are the problem because you think you are helping but you really are not. You make the problem worse because you condition them to go to places and seek out other “well-meaning” people to give them money. Where are these people? In all the areas you don’t want the homeless in. The homeless aren’t going to stay in a homeless area because everyone is homeless and without money. They are going to go where the “nice” people are. And that charity means they never have to make better decisions or be accountable for their actions. Hence, they don’t learn or change. You made things worse. 

Hey, I’m not saying this is easy. It is tough to say no. Guilt and shame are powerful emotions. It is tough to watch someone else suffer when you think you can help. But unless you are ready to take them into your life full time, you aren’t helping them in the long run. And even if you did take them in, they might betray you or harm you or reject your help. They are people with the freedom of choice and that choice might be a bad one. But they are entitled to make it. It is their life and not your decision on how they want to live it. No matter how much you disagree. You cannot just round them all up and force them to live in a particular area or in a particular way. That is not America. Land of the free, including the freedom to live on the street.

Does your solution deal with the above issues? I hope so. My solution will probably be viewed as cold by some but it is fair, legal, and I think our best option. We start by getting on the same page. No more free handouts. No incentivizing people to beg. No giving in to guilt. Instead of helping yourself (and your emotional gratification), think about them and what is actually better for them. Actually care. Second, we fund programs (with criteria and benchmarks), not just give money to people or build more shelters. We make it known throughout that anyone who needs help can find it. If we are going to spend the money, it only goes to those trying to get off the streets. Who want help. Down on your luck? Lost your job? Family abandoned you? Don’t worry. We got you. We will provide resources and teaching and means to get you up and going again. It isn’t going to make you rich but it is going to give you a chance so you don’t feel the ask is impossible. But you need to demonstrate, through actions, a willingness to work to get out of your situation. These resources and help are free to those actively working to get out. Hence the criteria and benchmarks. You are accountable for your decisions and if you make the correct ones, the American taxpayer is happy to help you.

Don’t want help or keep making bad decisions? No problem. You do you. But you don’t get help or resources. No incentives. Want to stay on drugs? I don’t agree but you have a right to live life as you see fit. Want to live on the street? Yup, I’m ok with that too. No, it cannot be in areas where regular people are going about life but every city has places that are “forgotten”. You are accountable for your decisions, good or bad, and the consequences of those decisions. But you are free to make them. Break the laws and you are still accountable but nobody is going to force you to live a particular way if you don’t want to. Essentially, you are incentivized to want to get off the street but it is not mandatory as long as you abide by the laws like everyone else. Freedom baby!

Here is why my solution works. Those who want help, get help. Most of us are ok paying taxes if people needing help are getting help. And if the powers that be make it well-known to all how that money is spent (imagine the news reporting on this every night) and people get to see the success stories of those helped, this assuages much of their guilt and shame. No need to give money to the beggar because you know you already are giving money. Now you can tell that beggar to go to the shelter (maybe you even carry a few fliers) and they will get the help they need. But it is help that is restricted to good decisions and an honest desire to get off the street. Not just free money or a conditioning to keep begging. People are now incentivized properly. Second, people choosing to live on the street, either through direct decisions or the consequences of bad decisions, are still free to do so. No totalitarian rule. No, they cannot go into the standard public areas and beg or sleep. Law enforcement can now approach these individuals with a choice: move to another area willingly, take help and get dropped off at a shelter/rehab center/hospital, or be arrested for vagrancy and face the consequences of that decision. The important thing is they get to make that choice and that is the freedom this country allows. 

There will always be homeless, especially in an area with mild climate and a population this size. Always. It is inevitable. Some of these people are a lost cause. I wish it weren’t true and we could help everyone but the truth is we cannot. People are free to make their own decisions and those decisions have consequences. We need to let those people go. What we need to focus on instead is helping the ones who want help. These resources aren’t free. They require a person to actually work to make their life better. To get out of their hole. Let’s take away this idea that you cannot pick yourself up if you get knocked down. Let’s become a better country that allows all to benefit from its success and resources.

But it starts with the “housed”. We don’t have a homeless problem. 0.58% is not an epidemic nor is it going to go away. As the population grows, so will its homeless numbers. Some of these people will always be lost. Choose to be lost. We need to accept that. Stop making things worse by enabling. Stop appeasing your own emotions. Want to help these people? Give your money to people who help those actually trying to get out. Vote for programs, not platitudes. Let’s save the ones who want to be saved.