Since I wrote this six months ago, the estimated California homeless population has increased to 160,000, the California General Fund budget has increased to $196.4 billion, and the average cost of an apartment has increased to $1,488 per month. You could put every homeless person in an apartment for less than 1.4% of the California General Fund Budget.

It is not unusual for existing short-term programs to spend more than $1,499 per month on homeless individuals.

Why don’t we just do it?