San Francisco’s residents continued to flee the region’s escalating homeless crisis this week; with new statistics showing the local transient population increasing by 17% since 2017 as officials pledge more than $300 million annually to regain control.
“Despite creating hundreds of new shelter beds and spending more than $300 million annually on homelessness, San Francisco has seen the number of homeless people in the city rise by 17% since 2017 — with a whopping amount of that increase coming from people living in vehicles,” reports the San Francisco Chronicle.
“The number of people living in cars, RVs and other vehicles has risen by 45% since the last one-night count was taken two years ago. That much has been anecdotally evident for months, particularly in industrial Bayview neighborhoods, where vehicle colonies have sprouted in ever-increasing numbers over the past year,” adds the newspaper.
Homelessness soars in three San Francisco Bay Area counties where affordable housing is hard to find and divisions about how to solve the crisis abound. https://t.co/bNc3rZkjQW
— AP Climate (@AP_Climate) May 17, 2019
Los Angeles continued its own ongoing struggle with rampant homelessness and crumbling infrastructure this week, with residents complaining of “rotting trash piles” that are attacking rats and posing a major risk to the health of residents and tourists.
“Rat-infested piles of rotting garbage left uncollected by the city of Los Angeles, even after promises to clean it up, are fueling concerns about a new epidemic after last year’s record number of flea-borne typhus cases,” reports NBC Los Angeles.
“Even the city’s most notorious trash pile, located between downtown LA’s busy Fashion and Produce districts, continues to be a magnet for rats after it was cleaned up months ago. The rodents can carry typhus-infected fleas, which can spread the disease to humans through bacteria rubbed into the eyes or cuts and scrapes on the skin, resulting in severe flu-like symptoms,” adds the article.
“I can’t walk down the street without thinking that a flea could jump on me,” complained a local business owner.
“It’s something that we’ll look into,” said Pepe Garica, of Los Angeles’ bureau of sanitation.
Read the full report at the San Francisco Chronicle.
CALIFORNIA CHAOS: 53% Consider ‘FLEEING’ the State Due to Crime, Homeless, Taxes, MORE
A stunning new survey published this week shows just how difficult life’s become for the average California resident; revealing a shocking 53% of those asked said they are considering “fleeing” the region over crime, housing, and high taxes.
“Fifty-three percent of Californians surveyed are considering fleeing, representing a jump over the 49 percent polled a year ago,” writes CNBC.
“There’s no doubt that California’s economy, for all of its strengths when it comes to innovation and creating these industries that people want to be part of, is struggling with high costs,” said a leading economist. “Costs have gotten way ahead of incomes in California, and that’s making a lot of people think about whether it’s worth the hurdles.”
“California just doesn’t strike them as reasonable,” he added.
Read the full report here.
CALIFORNIA CHAOS: Libraries Becoming ‘FRONT LINES’ of Homeless Crisis
The homeless epidemic sweeping California continued to spiral out of control in April, with libraries and other public buildings rapidly becoming the “front lines” of the state’s housing crisis.
According to a new article published in US News, libraries are becoming a haven for the region’s homeless population; providing free shelter as staffers and local officials struggle to cope with the exploding population.
“With the number of homeless people surging by a whopping 26 percent between point-in-time counts in 2016 and 2017 – roughly the same year-over-year rise seen overall in Los Angeles County, which counted nearly 58,000 homeless last year – the city is experiencing a crisis on its streets and in its at-capacity shelters,” writes US News.
“In the midst of this dilemma, the library is a magnet for folks needing a respite from the streets. Its stacks are so crowded that people have taken to Yelp to complain,” adds the author.
“Basically a homeless shelter with books,” said one user on social media. “It’s hard to concentrate because there’s always someone snoring loudly with their filthy feet up on the furniture.”
Read the full story here.
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