California has long been home to a disproportionate share of unhoused people in the US. The state makes up less than 12% of the nation's total population, but is home to 30% of people experiencing homelessness and half of the unsheltered population in the US.
Despite lots of research to the contrary, some believe that unhoused people move to blue states like California from out of state to take advantage of the wider safety net available in more progressive places.
In reality, 90% of those experiencing homelessness in California lived in California before losing their housing, according to a major new study from the Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative at the University of California, San Francisco. Three-quarters of unhoused adults lived in the same county as they did before they lost their last home.
The researchers surveyed 3,200 people across the state and conducted 365 in-depth interviews with adults experiencing homelessness between October 2021 and November 2022.
The report also found that California's homeless population is aging - 47% are 50 years old or older, the study found. Black, Latino, and Native American people are significantly overrepresented among the state's homeless.
The study supports the conclusion that many other experts have come to: that homelessness is caused by a lack of affordable housing. Almost 90% of participants said that their main barrier to be housed was cost.
California is facing one of the most severe housing crises in the country. Housing costs have skyrocketed in the state in recent years, largely due to housing shortages brought on by high building costs, restrictive zoning and other regulations, and local opposition to new housing.
"The results of the study confirm that far too many Californians experience homelessness because they cannot afford housing," Dr. Margot Kushel, M.D., who directs the UCSF Homeless and Housing Initiative and led the study, said in a statement.
About half of the study's participants said they last lived in a home where their name wasn't on the lease or mortgage, 32% were last housed in a place with their name on the lease or mortgage, and 19% were last housed while incarcerated.
And they largely lost their last homes with little notice. Those with leases said they were given a median of 10 days notice before they were forced out of their homes, while the median timeframe for non-leaseholders was just one day, the report found.
The vast majority of those who participated in the study said that a Housing Choice Voucher - a federally-funded benefit that subsidizes rent - or similar housing assistance would have prevented them from becoming homeless.
The UCSF report recommended six policy changes, including creating more affordable housing for very low-income people, expanding rental assistance, and making it easier for people to access rental subsidies. It also recommended more financial, legal, and behavioral health support.