San Jose

San Francisco has experienced a dramatic 22 percent drop in unsheltered homelessness since 2024, while San Jose has seen a 23 percent decline since 2019. Streets are cleaner, and open drug scenes in San Francisco are noticeably smaller. Fewer RVs are parked near waterways in San Jose. What these two cities are doing differently than Los Angeles and Seattle can be summarized in two words: accountability and recovery. Often, when we think of the homeless, we imagine someone sleeping rough on the street, or perhaps in an RV or a car. But homelessness is defined in several ways. If you’re sleeping in a shelter, a car, or an RV, you’re sheltered homeless. If you’re in jail, you’re homeless. And depending Read More ›

Gavin Newsom stood before the cameras in early March and once again blamed local governments for the state’s spiraling homelessness crisis. “No more excuses,” he thundered, threatening to strip funding from counties he claims are underperforming while promising to redirect “every damn penny” to those “getting things done.” Newsom is once again attempting to shift blame for California’s homelessness crisis — the very crisis he has repeatedly pledged to solve, including his 2021 vow to end family homelessness within five years. Since 2017, homelessness in California has surged by more than 40 percent — from roughly 134,000 people to nearly 187,000 in 2024 — despite an estimated $30 billion in spending he authorized. His latest tirade against counties ignores the Read More ›