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California in 2017 had an over-sized share of the nation's homeless: 22%, for a state whose residents only make up 12% of the country's total population.

The California State Auditor found in their April 2018 report Homelessness in California, that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development noted that "California had about 134,000 homeless individuals, which represented about 24 percent of the total homeless population in the nation”  The California State Auditor is an independent government agency responsible for analyzing California economic activities and then issuing reports.

Los Angeles, California
In its January 2013 census, Los Angeles County counted 39,463 people sleeping on the street or in homeless shelters. When including persons sleeping on private property with permission to stay no more than 90 days, the estimated number of homeless in Los Angeles County is 57,737. The number of people in the latter category, called "precariously housed" or "at risk of homelessness", was estimated by means of a telephone survey. The number of homeless in Los Angeles County, including the precariously housed and at risk of homelessness, was 51,340 in 2011, of which 23,539 were in the City of Los Angeles, and 4,316 were in the 50 block area east of downtown Los Angeles known as Skid Row. It is estimated that 190,207 people are homeless in Los Angeles County at least one night during the year.

The 2013 census notes that 31.4% of the homeless in Los Angeles County are substance abusers, 30.2% are mentally ill, and 18.2% have a physical disability. The census also notes that 68.2% of the homeless are male, 38% are African American, 37% are Caucasian, 28% are Hispanic, and 57.6% are between 25 and 54 years old. By 2015, there were an estimated 44 thousand homeless living in Los Angeles.

Homelessness jumped to a record level of more than 55,000 people living in shelters and on the streets in May 2017. On a given night, about 12,934 homeless people stay in a shelter.

The Board of Supervisors of Los Angeles County wrote to the State Legislature asking that the California "pass a resolution urging the Governor to declare a state of emergency with respect to homelessness" in June 2016. The California governor fulfilled this request.

The extent of the homelessness in California has been linked to increased visibility of -individuals without any form of shelter in the 1980's. Some scholars have attributed to the rise of the crack epidemic in the 1980's while others attribute this to a lack of affordable housing becoming more prevalent in the 1980's as well.

Homelessness and Policing in Los Angeles
In 2015, the LA Times reported that the city of Los Angeles spends roughly 100 million a year on homelessness with approximately half of this funding going to policing the homeless population. The Los Angeles Police Department has used citations and fines towards individuals living in public areas as part of the Safer Cities Initiative that began in September 2006. This Central Police division's initiative entailed assigning fifty full time officers to clearing out "homeless encampments" to different parts of downtown. Once these areas were cleared, they would stay for seven days before moving on to another area.