Democracy Now!
Housing Prices Are on The Rise in California — And So Is Homelessness
“Homelessness in San Francisco has spiked at least 30% since 2017. In Oakland, it’s grown by nearly 50%. As more people have been forced onto the streets, encampments have popped up from Los Angeles to the Bay Area and in other city centers. Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness, says that rent is higher than ever and as a result “all renters in San Francisco are insecure.” More people are coming to the realization that the cost of rent, housing instability, and homelessness are intimately linked. Even housed residents are seeing the homelessness crisis as “potentially affecting them,” she says. Shanna Couper Orona, known by many as “the people’s medic,” is one such resident. She says after her divorce she “lost everything” and was forced onto the streets. “I can pay rent. I just it’s hard to come up with that, you know, $3,000 for first, last and deposit.”
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