Bay Area Homelessness

The Bay Area’s homeless population today is larger, less sheltered, and growing faster than ever before. Between 2017 and 2020, the Bay Area’s homeless population grew by 6,878 individuals to a total of 35,118—accounting for more than a quarter of the growth in the total U.S. homeless population. During that time, 湾区无家可归者中没有基本住房的比例从67%上升到73%, the highest rate in the U.S. 越来越多的研究表明，无家可归对健康和安全造成了毁灭性的后果, especially unsheltered homelessness, COVID-19大流行和经济衰退为稳定和解决湾区无家可归危机增加了新的紧迫性.

旧金山湾区的高无家可归率与住房短缺密不可分. Between 2011 and 2017, the Bay Area created 531,400 new jobs but approved only 123,801 new housing units, a ratio of 4.3 jobs for every unit of housing, far above the 1.5 ratio recommended by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to avoid displacement and congestion. 由此造成的短缺加剧了对可用住房的竞争，并使该地区的住房市场超出了越来越多的家庭所能承受的范围. 从2012年到2017年，湾区那些收入低于该地区收入中值100%的家庭负担得起的出租公寓存量在2012年到2017年间下降了24%, and the region lost 5,为收入低于该地区中位数收入30%的家庭提供了可负担的住房.

Across the U.S., 高租金与高无家可归率密切相关，因为高成本将更多处于边缘的家庭推向街头.

住房短缺还增加了土地和建筑成本，导致无家可归, which make solutions to homelessness more expensive. In 2018, 旧金山湾区新建或重建的经济适用房的平均单价超过529美元,000. In San Francisco, a single unit of subsidized affordable housing costs $730,000. 高油价使得传统的干预措施极其昂贵且难以规模化. Using traditional construction methods, 为每个湾区无家可归的居民建造一个新的或重建的永久住房单元将耗资近170亿美元. Meanwhile, 海湾地区的大部分地区一直在取消对紧急庇护所的资助，以增加永久住房的生产(图15). 虽然这种重新确定优先次序的做法符合国家趋势和许多关于永久住房长期效力的研究, 高成本的旧金山湾区无法以比居民无家可归速度更快的速度扩建永久住房. 其结果是，在旧金山湾区的街道上，越来越多的无家可归的居民实际上成了仓库, cars. 和房车，以及区域内的住房负担转移到旧金山市, 它是湾区唯一一个在过去10年增加住房存量的县，尽管它提供的人均永久住房和住房数量远远超过其他湾区县.

旧金山湾区之所以能走到今天这一步，是因为各级政府在住房和无家可归政策上的失败. The U.S. 政府为经济适用房提供的支持大约是上世纪60年代的三分之一. 加利福尼亚州没有为那些最有可能无家可归的家庭充分优先考虑经济适用房项目, and it lacks coordination over the state’s 41 different anti-homelessness programs. 地方政府仍然有太多的权力来阻止住房建设:1999年到2023年之间, the Bay Area will have built 97,000 fewer units of affordable housing than recommended by the state (FIGURE 9), 社区经常想方设法避免为无家可归的人提供住所和住房. Faced with over 100,000 unsheltered homeless residents, 旧金山湾区(Bay Area)及其他地区的加州城市正在努力应对一个不断变化、往往相互矛盾的法律环境，即如何管理无家可归的居民对公共空间的实际私有化.

旧金山湾区和加州其他地方日益严重的无家可归危机，导致人们重新对庇护命令政策产生兴趣，比如纽约市的那些政策, Massachusetts, and the District of Columbia. 为湾区设立避难所要求州立法机构制定一项强制要求, create an enforcement agency, craft a funding mechanism, and win approval from at least 2/3 of Bay Area voters. If the mandate proposal could survive the numerous veto-points along that path, including attacks that mandates come at the expense of permanent housing, the experience of other shelter mandate jurisdictions in the U.S. 强烈建议区域授权可以显著减少湾区无家可归者的数量. 我们估计，使用舱室社区模式的区域庇护所的一次性资本支出约为2.45亿美元，服务和管理的年度支出约为4.81亿美元.

However, 在庇护命令下，湾区的庇护系统将稳步增加规模和成本，除非该地区采取额外的措施，从一开始就防止无家可归的发生, 并扩大其永久住房的库存，以从庇护所系统中创造出口. 而纽约市式的庇护命令将通过提供基本的卫生服务来改善旧金山湾区无家可归者的生活条件, the Bay Area has an opportunity, through its deficit of shelter and housing products of all types, to improve upon existing models in New York City and elsewhere. We estimate approximately $9 billion in one-time capital expenditures and $2.每年花在服务和管理上的50亿美元将使旧金山湾区的住房库存达到合适的规模, housing, and prevention services for (FIGURE 22).

The Bay Area’s homelessness crisis was created by policy failures at all levels of government; interventions at all levels of government are needed to solve it. Rather than pursuing a shelter mandate, 湾区应利用现有但尚未使用的工具，筹集100亿美元的区域新收入，以扩大其紧急庇护所和永久住房的库存. 该地区应该在这项投资的同时，为经济适用房和防止无家可归提供新的额外的州和联邦支持, especially via proven programs like Project Homekey and Section 8. 这些投资应该与国家政策改革相结合，以促进住房生产，减轻低收入租房者的压力, and to reduce local powers to halt shelter production. Although the Bay Area is a wealthy region, it cannot solve homelessness by itself.

Recommendations:

200亿美元的国家投资，用于扩大“家园计划”，并帮助各地区编制庇护所清单, housing, and prevention programs.
In less than one year, 加州的“家园计划”(Project Homekey)创造了加州历史上最大的一次无家可归者住房扩建. 加州应该从其创纪录的760亿美元2021-2022财政年度预算盈余中拿出至少200亿美元来扩大Homekey项目, make one-time investments in capitalized operating reserves for homeless services, and to help local-governments right-size inventories of emergency shelters, permanent housing, and prevention services.

100亿美元，利用湾区地区住房金融管理局扩大区域经济适用房和紧急庇护所.
一项地区100亿美元的BAHFA措施可以通过提供至多2亿美元来扩大地区庇护所，解决住房不安全范围内的住房需求, and at least $5 billion for the production of extremely-low-income, very-low-income, and low-income housing.

State policy changes to boost supply and reduce pressure (and costs) on renters
高无家可归率与全美昂贵的租赁市场密切相关.S., and expensive rental markets are a symptom of market shortages. 为无家可归者收容所和住房提供额外资金的同时，还必须改变政策，允许湾区大幅增加住房生产，以减轻租赁市场的压力，降低成本. While state policy is calling on the Bay Area to build 441,通过区域住房需求分配(RHNA)，在未来七年内新建176个住房单元, production is stymied by local anti-housing regulation. 加州应该通过目前的立法提案，允许在单一家庭地段上建造复式住宅(sb9), Atkins); eliminate barriers to building small apartments in areas where they’re currently zoned; allow cities to up-zone areas around transit and employment centers (SB 10, Wiener); guarantee loans to homeowners to install accessory dwelling units (AB 561, Ting); and make it easier for developers to convert empty strip malls and big box stores into affordable housing (SB 6, Caballero).

Reduce local barriers to building and expanding shelters
最近通过的州法律允许有意愿的城市更快地扩大住房库存. However, 在其管辖范围内不想要庇护所的城市没有义务建造它们, and can furthermore thwart efforts by third parties, including non-profit organizations or the state, to open and manage shelters. 加州应该宣布，任何无家可归人口超过10%的城市都将处于避难所危机状态, 由第三方在这些城市内提出的庇护所应“按权利”予以批准，前提是它们满足某些健康和安全要求.

Focus limited subsidies on the most housing-burdened populations
国家和地方住房政策应侧重于通过增加供应，使中等收入住房负担得起，并将稀缺的公共资金用于补贴市场发展无法提供的深度负担得起的住房产品. 海湾地区88%的极低收入居民面临严重的租金负担, meaning they spend over 50 percent of their income on housing. 加州应确保至少20%的经济适用房税收抵免资金用于为收入低于该地区收入中值30%的家庭生产住房, and 20 percent for households earning below 50 percent of area median income.

Fully Fund Section 8
Even with increased regional funding, 如果没有额外的联邦支持，湾区将无法解决无家可归问题. Yet today, the U.S. 政府对经济适用房的支持大约是上世纪60年代的三分之一. 对于联邦政府来说，减少旧金山湾区和全国无家可归现象的最直接的方法是全额资助第8条住房券，这样所有符合条件的美国人(收入低于该地区中等收入50%的家庭)都可以开始领取住房券. Today, of the 16 million Americans who qualify for Section 8 housing vouchers, Congress has appropriated funding only for 5 million.

Innovative State and Local Approaches to Land Use Regulation & Enforcement
现有的法律和规划法规没有预见到数以万计的个人实际上将公共空间私有化, 联邦法院最近支持了宪法赋予他们的在没有住房的情况下睡觉和居住的权利, shelter, or private space to call their own. While attempting to regulate and manage this burgeoning situation, 加州城市可能要对无家可归者营地不安全的条件造成的损害负责, 而且不仅要为试图改善居住在营地的无家可归居民的健康和安全标准或强制执行高影响地点的营地而承担损害赔偿责任. Consequently, the result is often paralysis. 国家应该考虑扩大最近在建筑规范中创建的条款，以加快住房建设(AB 932)，为无家可归的个人和住在汽车和房车中的家庭创建和扩大批准的露营地和安全场所. 应鼓励城市在住房和执法方面尝试创新方法，以帮助澄清马丁v. Boise.