By Jayden Park
With the presidential elections around the corner on November 5th, millions of Americans across the board are casting their votes. According to the California Secretary of State, around 4.2 million mail-in ballots have already been accepted by county registrar’s offices from last Saturday to this Tuesday. This number is expected to climb with the opening of in-person locations in counties such as Los Angeles. Regardless of their political stances, 58 percent of California likely voters are ‘enthusiastic’ about voting for president this year, most of whom mention housing costs and homelessness when asked about the most important issue faced in California.
That issue that resonates with Californian voters for the elections aligns with current statistics: as of this month, the number of people registered for Continuums for Care (CoC), California’s homelessness response system, increased 87% from 182,680 in 2017 to 337,734 in 2023. However, this number may underestimate the amount of homeless individuals, as thousands are unable to receive aid from organizations like the CoC.
While homelessness has always been a prevalent issue in California, the matter has been enlightened due to the elections. Despite the Pitts v. Black court case, where the District Court of the Southern District of New York (S.D.N.Y.) ruled that people in non-conventional circumstances (like not owning a home) could not be denied the right to vote, the National Coalition for the Homeless reported that turnout among homeless voters is the lowest for any demographic. Using evidence from the 2008 election, people with the lowest income (families with an annual income of less than $20,000) had the lowest voter registration rate. This trend continues today: homeless individuals face a mountain of obstacles like later voting periods and eliminations of election day registration, discouraging them from casting their ballots.
Due to increasing numbers of homeless individuals, Governor Newson, along with his Homekey+ Initiative to increase funding and regional accountability, recently announced on October 30th that he was awarding $827 million to California communities to address homelessness. Newsom believes that the funds are indicative of “the hard work, accountability, and strategic planning” to address homelessness.
References:
California Health Care Foundation. (2024, October 24). 2024 Edition — People Experiencing Homelessness in California. https://www.chcf.org/publication/2024-edition-people-experiencing-homelessness-california/#related-links-and-downloads
Crystal Bailey. (2024, October 30). Newsom awards more than $827M to curb homelessness in California; Bay Area gets nearly ⅕. Fox KTVU. https://www.ktvu.com/news/newsom-awards-more-than-827m-curb-homelessness-california-bay-area-gets-nearly-1-5
Jill Castellano. (2024, October 29). About 21% of California’s registered voters have already cast ballots in the General Election. https://abc7.com/post/election-2024-21-californias-registered-voters-have-already-cast-mail-ballots/15481913/
Jin Zhao. (2012, August 9). Why We Should Care About the Homeless Vote. National Coalition for the Homeless. https://nationalhomeless.org/care-homeless-vote/
REREAD:
Marisa Kendall and Yue Stella Yu. (2024, November 1). It’s hard to vote in California when you’re homeless. Why it matters when their voices are silenced. Cal Matters.
Mark Baldassare, Dean Bonner, Lauren Mora, and Deja Thomas. (2024, October). PPIC Statewide Survey: Californians and Their Government. Public Policy Institute of California. https://www.ppic.org/publication/ppic-statewide-survey-californians-and-their-government-october-2024/