Yolo County Homelessness Digest

Despite a decrease of 15% compared to the last count in 2022, the number of homeless veterans in Sacramento County remains high.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

A Solving Sacramento report on the September 7 Solidarity Summit on Homelessness.

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.

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.

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.

The Daily Democrat takes a close look at the 2024 Point-in-Time Count of local Yolo County homeless and local homeless programs.

In an effort to be in line for more low-income state housing funds, the City of Woodland is considering the policies and initiatives necessary to be designated as "pro-housing."

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.

On August 3, Davis firefighters were dispatched to two separate fires at homeless encampments.

On August 7, California Governor Newsom declared that counties needed to do more to clear homeless encampments or risk loss of state funding.

Residents of Camp Resolution in Sacramento announced their intention of remaining on the city-owned lot despite the lease expiring, and are seeking an injunction preventing eviction.

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.

In 2021, responding to reports that the state’s homeless shelters were dirty and dangerous, the state Legislature crafted a plan: It would require local governments to inspect their shelters after complaints and file annual reports on shelter conditions.

The Supreme Court’s decision on homelessness will test a shelter system that’s full of problems – and lacking accountability.

On July 12, local nonprofit Yolo County Homeless and Poverty Action Coalition released the results of a report on the 2024 Yolo County homeless point-in-time count.

Taking advantage of new state funds, some California healthcare providers are starting to offer what their homeless patients really need: housing.

There’s a lot of misinformation floating around out there about homelessness in California. We use data to dispel several common myths.

The ruling by the conservative court majority means cities no longer are prohibited from punishing homeless people for camping if they have nowhere else to go.

The Supreme Court 6-3 ruling in the City of Grants Pass v. Johnson case found that the fining and arresting of homeless people does not violate Eighth Amendment rights.

A spotlight on the Yolo County Civil Grand Jury report for 2023-2024 on the issue of homelessness in the county.

A panel at the CalMatters Ideas Festival debates how to reduce homelessness without punishing poverty. There’s worry about a potential $1 billion cut in state funding.

It’s the billion-dollar question. That’s how much cities and other local governments have been receiving from the state each year to deal with California's ever-increasing population of homeless people.

A bill to ban homeless encampments statewide near parks, schools and transit hubs failed to get out of the same legislative committee as last year.

Residents and supporters of self-governing homeless "Camp Resolution" marched to Sacramento city hall on May 15 in opposition of city plans to close the camp.

There’s so little data available, it’s impossible to even tell if several of California’s largest homelessness programs are working, according to a statewide audit released Tuesday.

Sutter Health invested $569K in West Sacramento's Mosaic Village for for people impacted by substance-use, homelessness and mental health illness.

I thought my journalism and others’ could change policy, perhaps even inspire a New Deal-style response equal to the challenge. Such was my naiveté.