#2,782 - CA spent $37B on homeless, nobody knows where it went but $13B spent on outsiders

The California Legislative Analyst’s Office says the state has spent $37 billion on homelessness since 2019 and undercounts the homeless.It also urges delaying one of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s key programs until data proves its effectiveness.A 2023 UC San Francisco report found 34% of homeless individuals in California are not from California, meaning state taxpayers may have covered $12.6 billion since 2019 on homeless spending for individuals from other states or nations.“A long-standing way that California and the rest of the United States have estimated the number of people experiencing homelessness is through a point-in-time count,” wrote the LAO. “Since the count is only a snapshot of people experiencing homelessness on one given night in a year (typically in late January) and those conducting the count may miss individuals who are hidden from view at the time (such as people sleeping in a secluded area), the homelessness data collected is an undercount.”