If you are asking sincerely, I'll try and give you a sincere answer...
There are obviously, as with any situation like this, a multitude of factors.
In truth, there are some people who choose that lifestyle. They are bohemian spirits who simply prefer life on the street and soup kitchens.
Sadly though, many thousands more are there for a variety of reasons outside of their control. It's also important to point out that the climate obviously draws homeless from all over the country. If you were homeless you might prefer being on the street in California as opposed to, say, Minnesota or North Dakota. So it's a fallacy to say the problem is huge in California purely because liberals coddle them and give out free stuff. No, they prefer the warm weather *and* a liberal society.
As for other causes... I've watched first hand (i've been here almost 30 years) how expensive the city has become in just the last 5 years alone. House prices where I live have gone up, I kid you not, $100k PER YEAR for the last 7-8 years. A shitty 2-bed house is now around million bucks. The average "middle-class" house is $1.5m+.
Worse, rent has sky-rocketed. This is because of a few factors. The worst, IMO, is that the government allows foreign investors to park their money in real estate. They enjoy the increase in value but often the properties are empty, worsening the housing availability. My community is now filled with Chinese nationals, when a few years ago there were hardly any. Let me be clear, I have no problem with the Chinese but there's a correlation there. They ae often first generation or new immigrants who can afford property, whereas many people born and raised here (of all ethnicities) cannot.
Likewise, owners of income property are motivated to jack up rents because even if the unit sits empty, they can use the lost rent as a write-off. Consequently, rents have soared. A decade ago you could get a 2-bed apartment for $1500-2000. Now they are $3000-8000. Again, landlords don't care if they sit empty (like the new building across the street from me which was empty for 6 months) bc they use it as a tax loss.
Property owners also use the Ellis Act to evict longtime tenants, some of whom have rent control. If they are going to demolish the building, they can kick everyone out (and pay them a small amount). It's happening on almost every block. They then build a "luxury" building with sky-high rents and, you guessed it, they sit empty forever. Meanwhile, there are literally tents springing up everywhere, under every freeway bridge.
It has become visibly worse in the last 2-3 years. Social programs to rehabilitate are being squeezed; mental health facilities were shut down under Reagan even, forcing many "crazies" onto the street, and now it's mostly the reasons I've cited above. Unlike other cities, like NYC, LA is more geographically spread out, so it's hard for people to live somewhere cheap and take the train or bus. You could have a 2 hour commute each way. So when rent is $3-4k and you're a school teacher or janitor, where do you live? Many people on the street are regular people. They're not what some might call druggies or hippies bucking the system. It's heartbreaking.
So rather than shit on California, which many outside the state seem to do, perhaps have more compassion and understand the problem isn't simple. It's a humanitarian and economic problem more than a partisan issue. Or it should be.
There are obviously, as with any situation like this, a multitude of factors.
In truth, there are some people who choose that lifestyle. They are bohemian spirits who simply prefer life on the street and soup kitchens.
Sadly though, many thousands more are there for a variety of reasons outside of their control. It's also important to point out that the climate obviously draws homeless from all over the country. If you were homeless you might prefer being on the street in California as opposed to, say, Minnesota or North Dakota. So it's a fallacy to say the problem is huge in California purely because liberals coddle them and give out free stuff. No, they prefer the warm weather *and* a liberal society.
As for other causes... I've watched first hand (i've been here almost 30 years) how expensive the city has become in just the last 5 years alone. House prices where I live have gone up, I kid you not, $100k PER YEAR for the last 7-8 years. A shitty 2-bed house is now around million bucks. The average "middle-class" house is $1.5m+.
Worse, rent has sky-rocketed. This is because of a few factors. The worst, IMO, is that the government allows foreign investors to park their money in real estate. They enjoy the increase in value but often the properties are empty, worsening the housing availability. My community is now filled with Chinese nationals, when a few years ago there were hardly any. Let me be clear, I have no problem with the Chinese but there's a correlation there. They ae often first generation or new immigrants who can afford property, whereas many people born and raised here (of all ethnicities) cannot.
Likewise, owners of income property are motivated to jack up rents because even if the unit sits empty, they can use the lost rent as a write-off. Consequently, rents have soared. A decade ago you could get a 2-bed apartment for $1500-2000. Now they are $3000-8000. Again, landlords don't care if they sit empty (like the new building across the street from me which was empty for 6 months) bc they use it as a tax loss.
Property owners also use the Ellis Act to evict longtime tenants, some of whom have rent control. If they are going to demolish the building, they can kick everyone out (and pay them a small amount). It's happening on almost every block. They then build a "luxury" building with sky-high rents and, you guessed it, they sit empty forever. Meanwhile, there are literally tents springing up everywhere, under every freeway bridge.
It has become visibly worse in the last 2-3 years. Social programs to rehabilitate are being squeezed; mental health facilities were shut down under Reagan even, forcing many "crazies" onto the street, and now it's mostly the reasons I've cited above. Unlike other cities, like NYC, LA is more geographically spread out, so it's hard for people to live somewhere cheap and take the train or bus. You could have a 2 hour commute each way. So when rent is $3-4k and you're a school teacher or janitor, where do you live? Many people on the street are regular people. They're not what some might call druggies or hippies bucking the system. It's heartbreaking.
So rather than shit on California, which many outside the state seem to do, perhaps have more compassion and understand the problem isn't simple. It's a humanitarian and economic problem more than a partisan issue. Or it should be.
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