California has failed to adequately monitor the outcomes of its vast spending on homelessness programs, according to a state audit released earlier this month. It was reported that $20 Billion in the past five years have been spent on the homeless. Much of that money was spent on shelters and subsidizing rent. Still, homelessness grew 6% in 2023 from the year prior, to more than 180,000 people. This was reported in the Los Angeles Times on April 9, 2024.
A homeless encampment in San Francisco in 2023. (Jeff Chiu / Associated Press)
Now, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is asking L.A.’s wealthiest Angelenos for help. On Monday in her State of the City address, she unveiled a new campaign that asks business leaders, philanthropic organizations and others to donate millions of dollars to an effort to acquire buildings so they can be used as apartments for the city’s homeless population.
Clearly the programs to help the homeless have failed. More money for programs that have not worked is a waste of money. Who is asking what are the causes of homelessness? Publicly no one. Simply throwing more money at the problem in the same fruitless way will not stop this growing problem.
I do not know the answer. We do not need politicians taxing us for programs that do not work.
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