Monterey County Local News: Homelessness


All Local Homelessness News articles contributed by our local media allies and other local newsrooms.

Image caption: The California mental health crisis is tied to both homelessness and rising crime.
UPDATE: California’s Mental Health Crisis: How We Got Here

How the California mental health crisis emerged out of the state’s history of deinstitutionalization and laws designed to protect the mentally ill, as well as the communities around them.

Image caption: Kerry Wood, CEO of the Sacramento Region Community Foundation, says the organization researches areas of need to help donors direct their contributions.
What Is a Community Foundation?

By channeling funds to a number of nonprofits working on various issues in a given region, community foundations help solve big problems throughout California.

Image caption: The cycle of crime and homelessness is escalating, but it doesn't have to be that way.
Homelessness and Crime in California: Even More Complex Than You Think

The links between homelessness and crime are complex, and the idea that unhoused individuals present a danger to their community seems to be exaggerated.

California Local Pin Marker From CalMatters...

01/14/2025
Jennielynn Holmes stood in the middle of a make-shift evacuation center when the scope of the crisis hit her.

California Local Pin Marker From Monterey Herald...

12/30/2024
A point-in-time estimate by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development indicates homelessness across the country has increased by 19%, in line with the Monterey County assessment of a local 18% increase. Read on to learn more.

California Local Pin Marker From CalMatters...

12/11/2024
Gov. Newsom launched an ambitious program that uses Medi-Cal to help Californians access housing, healthy food and more. Now, its fate is in the hands of President-Elect Trump.

California Local Pin Marker From CalMatters...

11/25/2024
Many California cities offer their homeless residents one-way bus tickets to other places.

California Local Pin Marker From CalMatters...

10/30/2024
Homeless Californians face many barriers to casting a ballot, even in elections that affect their lives. Some counties and nonprofits are trying to boost turnout.

California Local Pin Marker From CalMatters...

10/17/2024
Multiple state agencies spent nearly $24 billion on housing and homeless programs in the first five years of Gavin Newsom’s governorship, but the number of people without homes continued to grow, rising by 20% to more than 180,000 in the most recent federal count in 2023.

Monterey County Weekly logo From Monterey County Weekly...

10/16/2024
Image for display with article titled Agencies Pull Together to Get Residents Out of a Troubled Homekey Project and Into Homes.

It was an extensive collaboration that enabled Salinas to open the first state-subsidized Homekey project in Monterey County in December 2020, initially housing over 60 people who either had no homes or were on the brink of homelessness.

Monterey County Weekly logo From Monterey County Weekly...

10/09/2024
Image for display with article titled A Growing Nonprofit That Serves Homeless Women With Dignity Marks a Decade.

Pam Marino here, celebrating one of the great success stories on the homelessness beat: the creation, rise and continual growth of Gathering for Women, the only organization on the Monterey Peninsula focused on serving women experiencing homelessness.

California Local Pin Marker From CalMatters...

09/30/2024
Homeless service providers are scaling back and taking out loans as they wait for late payments from the government.

California Local Pin Marker From CalMatters...

09/17/2024
Over the last five years, the state government has spent some $24 billion to ameliorate homelessness, which, according to polls, is California’s most troublesome issue.

California Local Pin Marker From CalMatters...

09/17/2024
Failed legislative bills have attempted to create safe parking programs for students to sleep in their cars on California campuses while awaiting housing. Meanwhile, Long Beach City College allows homeless students to park overnight.

California Local Pin Marker From CalMatters...

09/13/2024
For five years, California officials responding to the homelessness crisis had to work around one big restriction imposed by the federal courts: Because they didn’t have enough shelter beds, cities generally couldn’t make homeless camps illegal.

California Local Pin Marker From CalMatters...

09/11/2024
More than two-dozen California cities passed, strengthened or are considering ordinances that penalize people for sleeping outside, after the U.S. Supreme Court allowed cities to crack down.

California Local Pin Marker From CalMatters...

09/10/2024
An exclusive CalMatters analysis of the latest California homeless count reveals some good news and bad news: Though the growth rate of homelessness appears to be slowing, the overall number of unhoused Californians increased from two years ago.

Monterey County Weekly logo From Monterey County Weekly...

09/05/2024
Image for display with article titled Homelessness Is Up 16 Percent Since 2022 After Pandemic Programs End and Housing Prices Rise.

The number of people experiencing homelessness in Monterey County during the 2024 point-in-time count conducted in January increased by 16 percent over 2022 totals, the Coalition of Homeless Services Providers announced Thursday, Sept. 5.

California Local Pin Marker From CalMatters...

09/04/2024
California has allocated more than $20 billion to alleviate the state’s homelessness crisis since Gavin Newsom became governor in 2019, but there’s precious little data on how the money was spent and what effect it’s had, other than the number of unhoused people has continued to climb.

California Local Pin Marker From Monterey Herald...

08/19/2024
A new housing resource hub offering navigation services and financial assistance opened at 212 North Main Street in Salinas.

California Local Pin Marker From CalMatters...

08/06/2024
A critical new federal audit calls out California for doing too little to prevent fraudulent spending of homelessness funds. Nearly $320 million was at risk.

Monterey County Weekly logo From Monterey County Weekly...

07/24/2024
Image for display with article titled Unhoused People in Salinas and Their Supporters Protest the Supreme Court’s Decision.

About a dozen people gathered at Bataan Memorial Park in Salinas on July 19, to rally support for the city’s unhoused population. They carried signs and chanted “sweeps are not the solution” and “we need a place to be safe.”