Housing Costs and Homelessness in California

Editorial by Eli C. Owens | September 20, 2025 Tags: #Housing, #Homelessness, #Affordability, #CommunityPolicy

Housing affordability is one of the most urgent challenges in California. I have walked and talked with people living on the streets in cities and in desert communities. I have listened to people dealing with addiction, untreated mental health challenges, and poverty. Many are not who people assume they are. Some work full time and still cannot afford a place to live. Many live in cars, trying to stay safe and unnoticed.

California has more than one hundred eighty thousand people experiencing homelessness. Los Angeles alone has tens of thousands of people sleeping in shelters, tents, cars, parking lots, and makeshift structures. Many more are uncounted. Families who double up are uncounted. People staying in motels are uncounted. People sleeping in vehicles are uncounted.

Homelessness has many causes. Housing shortages. Mental health needs. Addiction. Domestic violence. Rising costs. Wages that do not keep up with rent. A lack of early intervention. The system fails many people long before they ever lose a home.

This is not something I speak about from a distance. I have had conversations with people living in intense heat and cold, people who have been ignored, and people who have been let down by systems that could not catch them in time. Mental health resources are stretched thin. Treatment beds are limited. Community clinics are overwhelmed.

Solutions must focus on prevention, treatment, and affordability. If we want fewer tents on sidewalks, we need fewer people reaching a crisis point. Housing that people can actually afford and services they can actually access are essential. This is not a political issue. It is a question of human dignity.