Today marks our fifth annual “State Of Homelessness” edition.
This joint project involving nine Northern California Medianews Group newspapers began following a conference call among the editors in 2021.
During discussions about local issues involving homelessness, two things became apparent:
— Each of our communities were experiencing many of the same issues with homelessness, and
— In each community, there were strong narratives making the rounds that suggested “it’s so much worse here than anywhere else.”
We decided that once a year, each of our newspapers would produce a story about what was going on with homelessness in our areas — and then each of our newspapers would run all of those stories, giving readers a big-picture look at the similarities (and differences) around the northern half of our state.
From Santa Cruz to Eureka and Vallejo to Chico, this series of stories has been very well-read every year. Readers regularly tell us how much they’ve learned — and believe us, those of us on the reporting side of things have learned a lot too.
If there’s one thing we’ve all learned through the years, it’s probably this: The more some things change, the more other things unfortunately remain the same.
From 2019-2024, California spent around $24 billion on homelessness. To say taxpayers didn’t get much bang for their buck would be, well, accurate. During that period, homelessness actually increased by 30,000 people — to more than 181,000.
That’s not just unacceptable. It’s a moral and civic embarrassment.
Gov. Gavin Newsom has talked a tough fight on homelessness in recent years, criticizing the poor performance of counties statewide in addressing the problem. In May, he said he wanted cities to order homeless encampments to move “every three days.”
Of course, he also said cities should not prohibit camping everywhere if there are no shelter beds available.
In other words, same as it ever was.
Cities and counties that had been painted into a corner by Martin v. Boise are still struggling. As you’ll see in today’s stories, fantastic progress has been made on shelter sites in many areas, and some of our locations have even reported a decrease in the number of unhoused residents.
The flip side is, as you’ll see in our story on the Butte County situation, the so-called “service resistant” portion of the population remains a major challenge. It’s painfully obvious that what many of these people need aren’t handouts or a place to sleep on the sidewalk; they need mental help. But there aren’t nearly enough mental health facilities in our state to do it. Until more resources (and political will) are placed in that corner, all the tough talk in the world from the governor’s office isn’t going to change anything.
Meanwhile, in Chico, authorities remain bound by a settlement agreement made while Martin-Boise was still the law of the land. Somewhere along the line, somebody figured out that the settlement doesn’t actually prevent homeless people from moving back into a campsite after it’s been cleared. In some cases, that has meant they’re literally walking across the street, waiting for their “camp” to be cleared, and then moving back in — and judges overseeing the case have refused to stop it.
How ridiculous is that?
But we do see some good signs. In Santa Cruz, there has been a 36% drop in homelessness since 2022 — although budget cuts have officials worried that may not continue. Humboldt County has celebrated a new transitional housing village. Homeless numbers are down in Red Bluff, and in Solano County, new shelters have provided some with a sense of optimism as a lack of affordable housing remains a grim reality.
And here in Ukiah, we have a story about what it’s like to live next door to a homeless camp — a story that could have been written from, again, most of our cities.
We tell these stories every year in hopes we can all learn from them, and that residents all over the north state remember we’re not in this alone. While we don’t yet feel like we’re to the point of rewriting the same stories every year, we can’t help but share the frustration of many of our readers that the situation hasn’t yet greatly improved.
But it has improved to a certain degree. And so much of that credit belongs to the volunteers and local leaders who have made it their life’s mission to make things change for the better.
That often starts with reading and learning. We hope today’s stories play a positive part in that.
Editor’s Note: check our web site at www.ukiahdailyjournal.com to access all the project stories.
Hence then, the article about in our opinion the 2025 state of homelessness was published today ( ) and is available on Ukiah Daily Journal ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
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