California’s Hobo Paradise: Homelessness explodes, but the state’s liberals are in denial

WSJ editorial.

"Democrats blame rising rents for driving people onto the streets. But as a new White House Council of Economic Advisers white paper on homelessness notes, housing costs are swelled by restrictive building codes, zoning, environmental mandates, rent control, cumbersome permitting and labor regulations—in other words, liberal policies.

The economists project that homelessness would fall by 54% in San Francisco and 40% in Los Angeles if housing costs approximated production costs more closely as they do in Texas, Florida and Arizona. Yet California’s homeless population is still 2.2 times larger than projected after controlling for poverty, home prices and weather. What gives?

Mental illness, substance abuse and a history of incarceration also contribute, the report notes. HUD says about 28% of California’s unsheltered homeless have a severe mental illness and 20% are chronic substance abusers compared to 18% and 15% in Florida. These figures are based on interviews with the homeless so they’re probably understated.

Notably, California’s homeless rate began climbing in 2015 after voters approved a referendum effectively decriminalizing drug possession and theft. Many low-level criminals and addicts have been released onto the streets. Voters approved a 1% income surtax on millionaires in 2004 for mental health, but Sacramento squandered the money as usual.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals last year also made it harder to remove people sleeping on the streets by barring Boise, Idaho, from enjoining a ban on public camping. So police in California now have a limited arsenal to impose public order."