(Jacob Bruns, Headline USA) Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen acknowledged in an ABC News interview on Sunday that there was no reversing the damage that has been done by Democrats’ inflationary economic policies, Red State reported.
Throughout his term, President Joe Biden has made outlandish claims about inflation, calling it “transitory” and blaming Russia and large corporations. Now, as polls show him trailing former President Donald Trump in his bid for re-election, Biden has insisted that the economy is booming, despite evidence to the contrary.
Biden brags about overall prices (up 17.3% during his presidency) and gas prices (up 30% from when he took office) pic.twitter.com/vHGneMScgk
“Inflation’s coming down, it’s now lower in America than any other economy in the world,” he said at a recent campaign event in South Carolina, citing dropping egg prices, chicken prices, and gas prices.
Nonetheless, the president also suggested that “there are still too many corporations in America ripping people off.”
Yellen, however, did not get the memo regarding the latest economic messaging. Instead, she tried to downplay the now-permanent price hikes as old news that voters had grown to accept as the “new normal.”
“Well, I think most Americans know that prices are not likely to fall,” Yellen said, insisting that such objectives were entirely outside of the purview of the nation’s financial institutions.
“It’s not the Fed’s objective to try to push the level of prices back to where they were,” Yellon added.
For years now, the American working class has been ravaged by Biden’s inflationary policies as government spending and the Federal Reserve’s addition of new “money” into the U.S. economy devalue the dollar at rates unseen since the end of the Jimmy Carter administration.
Still, the president and his administration have denied or downplayed inflation’s existence all along the way while attempting to redefine the word “recession” so as to avoid association with the recent economic downturn.
In a now-infamous tweet, for instance, Biden employed the term “Bidenomics” while claiming that inflation was at 0%, despite a 3.2% increase in prices in the quarter to which he was referring.
Inflation was 0% last month – and our economy grew by more than 5% last quarter.
U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security chairman Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., says the letter is too little, too late.
The committee is meeting Tuesday to mark up articles of impeachment filed by Green and will then vote on them. The articles are then expected to be sent to the full House for a vote to impeach.
Two articles were filed, “Willful and Systemic Refusal to Comply with the Law” and “Breach of the Public Trust,” after the committee held over a dozen hearings and issued multiple reports over the past year. They cite examples of how the committee says Mayorkas is derelict of duty.
Throughout the process Mayorkas failed to respond to subpoena requests, obstructed a DHS Inspector General investigation and audit, and repeatedly made false statements to Congress, the articles state. A coalition of Republican attorneys general and state lawmakers have also called for Congress to impeach him. Democrats have said impeachment is a political ploy while also acknowledging a border crisis has occurred under Mayorkas’ watch.
On Tuesday, Mayorkas wrote a 7-page letter to Green with attachments refuting his claims. The secretary said he takes “very seriously my responsibility to cooperate in good faith with Congress’ oversight function” and that he testified 27 times before Congress, “more than any other member of the Cabinet.”
Mayorkas also cited actions taken by the department to address fentanyl, remove illegal foreign nationals from the country, and implement a range of programs. However, he argued, the problems at the border “need a legislative solution only Congress can provide.” He again pointed to the administration’s request for additional funding, which some Republicans have argued would only facilitate current policies, which violate the laws established by Congress.
The articles cite over a dozen new parole programs created by Mayorkas, which states they are illegal.
In response to the impeachment proceedings, Mayorkas said, “Whatever proceedings you initiate, however baseless, my response of this to oversight requests will not waiver. The department has been committed to responding and will continue to respond in good faith to congressional oversight requests. I will defer a discussion of the constitutionality of your current effort to the many respected scholars and experts across the political spectrum who already have opined that it is contrary to law. What I will not defer to others is a response to the politically motivated accusations and personal attacks you have made against me.”
He then described his personal and professional background in more than two pages.
In response, Green said, “Secretary Mayorkas’ 11th-hour response to the Committee is inadequate and unbecoming of a Cabinet secretary. Our investigation has established that Secretary Mayorkas has willfully and systemically refused to comply with the laws of the United States and breached the public trust.
The Committee would have preferred he accept our multiple invitations extended to him since last August to appear before us in person. A letter at 4:48am on the morning of our markup, repeating the same false claims and doubling down on his commitment to his continued lawless conduct, indicates the contempt with which he views Congress, the American people, and the Constitution he swore an oath to defend.”
Green also notes that Mayorkas spent roughly one-third of the letter “sharing personal, biographical information, referencing awards received more than 30 years ago. These obviously fail to offer a defense of his willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law or his breach of the public’s trust as secretary.”
He also said the committee asked Mayorkas to testify multiple times, which he rejected, including DHS stating Mayorkas had “limited capacity” to support a hearing request.
The committee has also published examples of “political games” it says Mayorkas played with the committee to avoid appearing in person to give testimony.
“THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT is conducting a criminal probe into @CoriBush, according to six sources familiar with the investigation,” Sherman tweeted, promising an article later Tuesday. “The Justice Department subpoenaed the House Sergeant at Arms for records relating to the misspending of federal security money.”
🚨BREAKING NEWS — THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT is conducting a criminal probe into @CoriBush, according to six sources familiar with the investigation.
The Justice Department subpoenaed the House Sergeant at Arms for records relating to the misspending of federal security money.…
Sherman’s information follows a Monday report by Punch Bowl about the DOJ investigating an unnamed Democrat for the misuse of House funds.
The DOJ’s investigation is likely related to Bush paying her husband thousands of dollars to be her bodyguard. Cortney Merritts, who worked as a security guard for the “Squad” member before marrying her earlier this year, has pocketed more than $100,000 from Bush’s campaign since Bush added him to her payroll in January 2022.
His payments were initially marked as a “security” expense, but were changed to “wage expenses” in April.
Bush and Merritts were married in February of this year, but her campaign acknowledged they had been together for more than a year while it was paying him for “security” services.
It is still not clear what “security” service Merritt provides. As of February, he did not have a private security license, and his name did not appear in a Washington, D.C., database of licensed security specialists, according to Fox News.
When Bush has been criticized for her defund the police stance and her use of taxpayer funds to purchase private security, the leftist lawmaker has responded with more hypocrisy.
“I have had attempts on my life and I have too much work to do. They would rather I die?” she hysterically asked in 2021.
“You would rather me die? Is that what you want to see? You want to see me die? You know because that could be the alternative,” she said.
(Mike Maharrey, Money Metals News Service) Could the commercial real estate market be the next thing to pop in this bubble economy? According to a recent working paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, the answer is yes.
And that could kick off the next major financial crisis.
Based on the NBER’s research, approximately 300 regional banks are at risk of collapse due to problems in the commercial real estate (CRE) sector.
Remember Silicon Valley Bank?
Kind of like that.
A blog published by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) also warned about stress in the commercial real estate market, saying it is “under intense pressure globally” due to rising interest rates.
The U.S. has the biggest commercial real estate market in the world. According to the IMF, commercial real estate prices have tumbled by 11 percent since the Fed started hiking rates in 2022. This precipitous drop in commercial real estate value erased the previous two year’s gains.
The IMF points out that commercial real estate prices have plunged far more than during previous monetary tightening prices.
Part of this divergence in price behavior between the recent and past monetary policy tightening cycles may be attributed to the steep pace of monetary policy tightening this time around, a factor that has contributed to the sharp increase in mortgage rates and commercial mortgage-backed securities spreads. It has also notably slowed private equity fundraising—an important source of financing for the sector in recent years, as noted in our recent Global Financial Stability Report.
The CRE sector faces the triple whammy of falling prices, falling demand, and rising interest rates. The post-pandemic rise of telecommuting and work-at-home programs crushed demand for office space. Vacancy rates in commercial buildings have soared.
This has put significant stress on commercial real estate companies. The biggest bankruptcy in 2023 was the failure of the Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust. The company had loaded up with more than $1 billion in liabilities.
The Commercial Real Estate Collapse Is a Big Problem for Banks
The collapse of the commercial real estate market could easily spill over into the financial sector. That’s because a lot of loans are coming due.
According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, around $1.2 trillion of commercial real estate debt in the United States will mature over the next two years.
According to Trepp (a real estate data provider), $2.56 trillion in commercial real estate loans will mature over the next five years, with $1.4 trillion held by banks.
All of that debt will have to be refinanced. That’s a big problem for debtors who face much higher interest rates to borrow money on buildings with much lower values.
Trepp said, “With rates rising and credit conditions tightening, many loans may face an uphill battle as refinancing becomes more costly, especially if banks and other lenders look to reduce their CRE exposure as we saw happen during previous recessionary cycles. This could lead to lower property values and larger losses for lenders.”
As the IMF put it, “Higher financing costs since the beginning of the tightening cycle and tumbling property prices have resulted in rising losses on commercial real estate loans. Stricter lending standards by US banks have further restricted funding availability.”
There is also a growing number of commercial real estate defaults.
For instance, according to Bank of America’s Q3 financial statement, the total value of non-performing loans (at least 90 days past due) increased to nearly $5 billion. That was up from $4.27 billion in Q2. The big increase was largely due to its commercial real estate portfolio.
A Reuters report last fall warned, “Weak demand for offices could trigger a wave of borrowers to default on their loans and put pressure on banks and other lenders, which are hoping to avoid selling loans at significant discounts.”
Small and midsized regional banks hold a significant share of commercial real estate debt. They carry more than 4.4 times the exposure to CRE loans than major “too big to fail” banks. According to an analysis by Citigroup, regional and local banks hold 70 percent of all commercial real estate loans. And according to a report by a Goldman Sachs economist, banks with less than $250 billion in assets hold more than 80 percent of commercial real estate loans.
The IMF summarized the situation.
Financial intermediaries and investors with a significant exposure to commercial real estate face heightened asset quality risks. Smaller and regional U.S. banks are particularly vulnerable as they are almost five times more exposed to the sector than larger banks. … Rising delinquencies and defaults in the sector could restrict lending and trigger a vicious cycle of tighter funding conditions, falling commercial property prices, and losses for financial intermediaries with adverse spillovers to the rest of the economy.
Mainstream economists and Fed officials insist that the banking system is sound. Economists claim the issues in the commercial real estate market don’t pose a systemic risk. Everything will be OK, they claim. But these same people told us the subprime problem in 2007 was “contained,” inflation was “transitory,” and quantitative easing was a “temporary program” that would be unwound.
In other words, they have a pretty awful track record.
Rabobank asked the operative question.
What happens when all of those regional US banks with balance sheets loaded with dubious commercial real estate loans can no longer pledge underwater securities at par?
The Federal Reserve Broke the Commercial Real Estate Market (And A Lot of Other Things)
Most people will blame problems in the commercial real estate sector on the pandemic and the drop in demand for commercial real estate space.
This is certainly part of the equation.
But ultimately, the Federal Reserve created this problem, and it wasn’t the recent interest rate hikes that mainstream analysts tend to focus on.
The central bank sowed the seeds for this problem more than a decade ago when it slashed interest rates to zero and launched the first round of quantitative easing in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. It doubled down on these policies during the pandemic, slashing interest rates to zero again, and injecting trillions of dollars of new money into the economy.
This incentivized excessive borrowing and created all kinds of malinvestments in the economy.
When price inflation forced the Fed to hike rates, it exposed these problems. It was inevitable that things in the bubble economy would go “pop” when the central tried to raise interest rates in order to fight the price inflation it caused with its loose monetary policy.
Easy money is the mother’s milk of the economy and the financial system. The Fed started draining that lifeblood away when it stepped in to fight the price inflation it could no longer write off as transitory. There was no way the central bank wasn’t going to break something.
The first crack in the dam was the failure of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank last March. The Fed managed to paper over problems in the banking system with a bailout. But issues in the commercial real estate market may well lead to an even bigger series of bank failures, similar to the way subprime mortgages crashed the financial system in 2008.
The commercial real estate market serves as just one example of the many distortions Fed monetary policy created in the economy. Similar malinvestments and structural problems lurk under the surface in many economic sectors, from finance to manufacturing, to tech.
Commercial real estate is a good candidate to be the thing that breaks creating a domino effect throughout the economy and setting off the next major crisis. But it could be something else.
The bottom line is that no matter what the pundits and government people tell you, everything in the economy is not “fine.” The foundation is cracked and it’s just a matter of time before things start falling down.
(Mike Maharrey, Money Metals News Service) How much would it cost to buy a pound of gold? It actually depends on what you mean by “pound.” Yes. There is more than one kind of pound.
We typically talk about the price of gold in terms of ounces. As I write this, the spot price for gold stands at $2,046 per ounce.
But there’s a catch.
There’s also more than one kind of ounce!
When we quote about the price of gold, we’re not talking about the same kind of ounce that we would use to discuss an ounce of cereal or an ounce of flour. Gold and silver are generally priced in “troy ounces.”
One troy ounce is a little heavier than a standard ounce, equalling 31.1 grams. A standard ounce comes in at 28.35 grams.
Here’s another little catch.
You probably know that a standard pound equals 16 ounces. But a troy pound is only 12 troy ounces.
Doing the math, we find that a troy pound of gold at the current spot price would cost $24,553. (12 x 2,046).
And what about a standard pound?
That math is a little trickier.
I’ll start by calculating the price of gold per gram. This comes to $65.79. (2,046/31.1)
When we multiply the price per gram by 28.35 (the number of grams in a standard ounce), we find that a standard ounce of gold currently costs $1,865.16.
Multiply that by 16 and we find that a standard pound of gold would cost $29,842.56.
If we do the same math using the current spot price of silver ($23.43 per troy ounce), we find that a standard pound of silver would cost $340.16.
Of course, that’s not the actual price you would pay on the retail market. Whenever you purchase precious metals, you pay a premium along with applicable taxes.
In simplest terms, a premium is the amount you over the spot price for an ounce of gold or silver. The premium covers the seller’s overhead and profit and the underlying minting costs. The premium also reflects shortages or surpluses that may exist in the marketplace for that item at any given time.
You might balk at paying a premium, but the fact is every investment comes with costs above the value of the asset. For instance, if you buy a stock or a bond, you will pay transaction and brokerage fees.
We don’t generally include fees, premiums, and taxes when we talk about the price of an investment asset. We focus on changes in the market price over time.
Fees and premiums go up and down over time based on market conditions. A trusted dealer like Money Metals can be counted on to consistently provide excellent buy AND sell prices.
And according to the Daily Beast, one of Bowman’s poems was about the 9/11 terrorist attacks being an inside job—espousing several theories that have varying degrees of plausibility.
The personal website of Bowman was deleted before he was a member of Congress, but the Daily Beast found it in the internet archives.
And the 9/11 poem is a doozy.
“2001/Planes used as missiles/Target: The Twin Towers,” Bowman began in his poem about the terror attack. “Later in the day/Building 7/Also Collaspsed [sic]/Hmm…/Multiple explosions/Heard before/And during the collapse/Hmm…”
According to the Daily Beast, the poem then pursues even more obscure conspiratorial musings.
“Allegedly/Two other planes/The Pentagon/Pennsylvania/Hijacked by terrorist [sic]/Minimal damage done/Minimal debris found/Hmm…” Bowman wrote.
“We blamed Osama/Went to war in Iraq/Captured Saddam/Killed him,” he added. “Bin Laden is Afghan/So we went to war there too.”
As readers can likely tell, Bowman made a rudimentary factual mistake by calling Bin Laden, who was a Saudi Arabian, an Afghan. His line about planes shooting missiles, and his suggestions that flights 77 and 93 were hoaxes also seem bizarre.
But while the Daily Beast said Bowman’s reference to Building 7 was also debunked long ago—”Building 7 buckled and fell after debris from its taller peers struck it and ignited a blaze inside, undermining its structural integrity,” the outlet said—there are engineers still arguing that the structure collapsed via controlled demolition.
Indeed, the Journal of 9/11 Studies published a new paper last June, further making that case. The authors of the research said their measurements indicated that the entire roofline of Building 7 entered free fall instantaneously and simultaneously to within two-tenths of a second—which indicates a controlled demolition, they said.
Building 7 and other conspiracies aside, Bowman’s poem fails to mention the most compelling evidence that government may have had something to do with 9/11: The CIA attempted to recruit at least two of the hijackers months before the attack.
According to a sworn statement from Office of Military Commissions investigator Don Canestraro, at least two FBI agents told him that the CIA had attempted to recruit Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar.
The public could soon know more about the recruitment efforts. In November, a military judge ordered the FBI to produce 3,000 pages of documents about Omar al-Bayoumi, an alleged Saudi and CIA intelligence asset who acted as the handler for two of the 9/11 hijackers.
However, Bowman might not be interested in those records. He has purportedly disavowed his questions about 9/11 as misguided.
Bowman told the Daily Beast on Monday: “I don’t believe anything that these cranks have said, and my life’s work has proven that. As a Congressman, I’ve written a Congressional Resolution condemning a dangerous conspiracy theory, I’ve stood up to MAGA extremists, and I’ve called out the endless bullshit of the far-right.”
He reportedly added that he has “learned how misinformation spreads” since the time of the blog post and “I regret posting anything about any of these people. Anyone who looks at my work today knows where I stand.”
(Matthew Doarnberger, Headline USA) Israeli intelligence reports revealed that around 10% of staffers with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which is responsible for providing assistance for nearly two million Gaza refugees, have ties to Islamic terrorist organizations, according to the New York Post.
The reports also claimed that 12 members were actively involved in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, in which Hamas raped, tortured and killed an estimated 1,200 Israelis while taking hostage more than 200 others.
In light of this information, the United States has temporarily suspended funding of the UNRWA. Great Britain, Japan and Austria have now joined the U.S. in halting their funding of the organization, as well. Together, these countries provided more than 60% of the organization’s budget for 2022.
“UNRWA’s problem is not just ‘a few bad apples’ involved in the Oct. 7 massacre—the institution as a whole is a haven for Hamas’ radical ideology,” said a senior Israeli government official.
Following the report, UNRWA fired nine of the 12 staffers accused of the Hamas attacks. Of the three remaining, two have since died, and the status of the third is unclear.
The agency’s Commissioner–General Philippe Lazzarini criticized the decision to halt funding following the Israeli report.
“Our humanitarian operation, on which 2 million people depend as a lifeline in Gaza, is collapsing,” Lazzarini said.
“I am shocked such decisions are taken based on alleged behavior of a few individuals and as the war continues, needs are deepening and famine looms,” he added. “Palestinians in Gaza did not need this additional collective punishment. This stains all of us.”
The United States had previously halted funding to the UNRWA under former President Donald Trump in 2018 due to how the Palestinians “continue to bash America” and that the agency itself was an “irredeemably flawed operation.”
Funding had been restored under the Biden administration in 2021. The president is now asking for an additional aid package for both Israel and the Palestinians.
(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones has revealed the members of an investigative committee tasked with examining potential wrongdoing by Fani Willis, the embattled district attorney for Fulton County, the Daily Caller reported on Monday.
Jones, a Republican, stated on Monday that the committee will comprise six Republicans and three Democrats, all of whom will focus on the infamous affair between Willis and anti-Trump prosecutor Nathan Wade.
In a letter addressed to Georgia Secretary of State David Cook, Jones announced that Georgia Sens. Bill Cowsert and Greg Dolezal, both Republicans, will serve as chair and vice-chair of the committee.
The committee will also include the following Democrats: Sens. Jason Esteves, Harold Jones and Gloria Butler, along with Republican Sens. John Kennedy, Blake Tillery, Bo Hatchett and Steve Gooch.
Dolezal, the chief deputy whip of the Senate, led the passage of the committee last Monday, according to Atlanta News First.
“The multitude of accusations surrounding Ms. Willis, spanning from allegations of prosecutorial misconduct to questions about the use of public funds and accusations of an unprofessional relationship, underscores the urgency for a thorough and impartial examination,” said Dolezal, as reported by Atlanta News First.
“We owe it to the public to ensure transparency, accountability, and the preservation of the integrity of our justice system,” he added.
This move follows the approval of the committee by the Georgia Senate on Friday, with a vote of 30 to 19. The bipartisan lawmakers will delve into disturbing evidence showing that Willis took several vacations with Wade.
However, The trips were allegedly funded by Wade through his income from his special prosecutor’s appointment to prosecute former President Donald Trump, along with 18 other co-defendants in the presidential election case.
Willis has not denied the allegations, choosing instead to raise racism — not potential ethical violations — as the motive behind the attacks.
In addition to the Senate investigation, Willis is under scrutiny from a Fulton County commissioner’s probe, along with a U.S. Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., urging the State Bar of Georgia to investigate potential ethics violations in the affair between Willis and Wade.
(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris faced mockery on Monday on the fourth anniversary of Jussie Smollett’s “MAGA country” hoax. The incident prompted both then-presidential candidates to issue heartfelt messages in solidarity with a hate crime that never occurred.
From invoking “homophobia” to labeling it a “modern-day lynching,” Biden and Harris seized on a crime that, three years later, still lingers in their social media posts, inviting sarcastic attacks from many.
On January 29, 2019, Smollett triggered a left-wing uproar after falsely accusing supporters of then-President Donald Trump of physical assault.
“This is MAGA country,” the alleged attackers shouted as they stomped on Smollett. However, it was later revealed that Smollett orchestrated the entire incident, leading to state charges and the downfall of the now-embattled actor’s career.
In a January 29, 2019 tweet, Biden decried the crime hoax, emphasizing that it must never be tolerated.
“We must stand up and demand that we no longer give this hate safe harbor; that homophobia and racism have no place on our streets or in our hearts. We are with you, Jussie,” Biden said.
What happened today to @JussieSmollett must never be tolerated in this country. We must stand up and demand that we no longer give this hate safe harbor; that homophobia and racism have no place on our streets or in our hearts. We are with you, Jussie. https://t.co/o8ilPu68CM
Similarly, Harris described Smollett, who was later exposed for paying the attackers—two black men—as “one of the kindest” and “most gentle” human beings she knew.
“I’m praying for his quick recovery,” Harris claimed. “This was an attempted modern day lynching. No one should have to fear for their life because of their sexuality or color of their skin. We must confront this hate.”
.@JussieSmollett is one of the kindest, most gentle human beings I know. I’m praying for his quick recovery.
This was an attempted modern day lynching. No one should have to fear for their life because of their sexuality or color of their skin. We must confront this hate.
Shortly after widespread condemnation, the details of the case were scrutinized, as the story did not add up for many. The men allegedly wrapped a rope around Smollett’s neck, yelling, “This is MAGA country,” further igniting a meme about the phrase.
Following an investigation, it was revealed that Smollett paid two men for the hoax in a bid to increase his salary and gain sympathy. The result? State charges, cancellation of his show, and widespread mockery that effectively ended the actor’s career.
Each year, critics take to Twitter to highlight the posts of Harris and Biden. Below are some reactions:
The report that was released on Jan. 25, 2024, by Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies revealed that about 653,000 people reported being homeless in January 2023.
The report added that this is up about 12% from the same time in 2022, which was the largest single-year increase ever recorded. It was also revealed that about 71,000 more people were homeless in 2023 than the year before.
The 2023 number was about 48% higher than the homeless population in 2015.
The reason why that happened was because of incredibly high rent prices, inflation and the end of COVID-19 pandemic relief like eviction protections.
“Rapidly rising rents, combined with wage losses in the early stages of the pandemic, have underscored the inadequacy of the existing housing safety net, especially in times of crisis,” the report said.
Rent.com also said that the median rent in the U.S. was $1,964 in December of last year, 23% higher since the pandemic.
The Daily Wire reported that, even though the rental market is cooling, rent prices are still much higher than they were before 2020 and wage growth has not kept up.
Government figures showed that median weekly wages grew only 1.7% between 2019 and 2023.
The report also noted that people who are earning between $45,000 and just under $75,000 a year saw the biggest increase in newly “cost-burdened” renters. About 41% of those renters were spending between 30% and 50% of their monthly pay on housing back in 2022, which is a 5.4% increase over how many spent this much before the pandemic, and nearly double how many people did back in 2001.
At the same time, low-cost rental units are disappearing, with more than half a million apartments with rents under $600 disappearing between 2019 and 2022.
Due to spiking housing costs, the states of Arizona, Ohio, Tennessee and Texas were some of the places that saw the biggest rise in homelessness.
In the states of California and Washington, both of which became infamous for their chronic homelessness problem and overburdened shelters, the issue became only worse.
In 2023, homelessness increased 9% in Los Angeles County, totaling an estimated 75,000 people. In the Bay Area, there are about 38,000 people who are homeless, which is 35% up since 2019. In San Francisco itself, there are more than 7,000 people who are homeless.
The number of homeless people in the state of Washington rose 11% to 28,036 in 2023, which is probably an undercount, the state data said.
