New data on homelessness is slowly being released to the public from different counties throughout the state. The most recent numbers released come from the South Bay and East Bay, and they only confirm what we already knew was true... Southern California has a vagrant crisis.
“It’s not numbers — these are people,” said Doug Biggs, executive director of the Alameda Point Collaborative and a leadership board member of EveryOne Home, the organization that lead the count. “These are mothers with kids. They’re brothers, they’re sisters, they’re parents, they’re grandparents that are living in conditions that nobody in this country should be allowed to live in.”
But here's what the numbers show:
Alameda County reported a 43 percent increase in homeless people from 2017 to now.
Santa Clara County homelessness is up 31 percent.
San Jose reported a 42 percent spike.
And San Mateo County will release data next month, (but you can take a guess)...
EveryOne Home also found that about 3,000 people lose their homes each year and move out onto the public streets. When will local leaders take charge and make a change?
“We all have a shared responsibility to address this crisis — every city, every neighborhood — and that means we must house homeless neighbors here and not the proverbial somewhere else,” San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo said.
Would you want homeless neighbors? Is that really how we fix the vagrant crisis?
“It’s disappointing and unacceptable, but I don’t think it’s shocking,” said Ragan Henninger, deputy director of San Jose’s Housing Department. “We know what the answer is. It’s more housing.”
Check out all of the data on The Mercury News.