- Over the last two years, cities including San Jose (+42% to 6,200), Oakland (+47%) and Los Angeles (+12% to 59,000) have reported spiking homeless populations.
- Mental illness, substance abuse and skyrocketing housing prices are the main drivers.
- Residents complain about tent camps overtaking their sidewalks and homeless people leaving trash, feces and scattered needles.
- To deter them, some residents have erected boulders on sidewalks.
- Non-profits complain about pushback against local shelters, citing that many residents don’t want to live around homeless people.
