01/06/2026
California adopted a housing-only approach to homelessness in 2016, directing billions of dollars toward subsidized apartments with no requirements for sobriety, treatment, or work — ever. The results were the opposite of what was promised.
Homelessness rose nearly 35% nationally under this approach. In California it surged 40%, and in Sacramento County the homeless population more than doubled. A volunteer group, the River City Waterway Alliance, removed nearly 4 million pounds of waste from Sacramento waterways over three years, including 29,000 needles and 19,000 shopping carts. Meanwhile, the death rate among the homeless population more than doubled over that same period.
The author, who spent time on Sacramento's streets and with cleanup crews, argues the real crisis is not housing. It is the systematic removal of accountability from a system that was supposed to help people recover.