If a society is to be judged on how it treats its most vulnerable, it’s impossible to look at the sheer scope of the homelessness crisis and give our society a passing grade.
California has more than 187,084 unhoused people (including people in shelters and transitional housing), based on new federal data from the Annual Homelessness Assessment Report. That’s up from 181,399 people in 2023. In Riverside County, the report tallied more than 4,249 unhoused people, up from more than 3,725 in 2023. In San Bernardino County, the number was even higher—4,255, up from 4,195 the year prior.
This population includes thousands of children, some without the presence of an adult. It includes veterans, people with mental illnesses, domestic-violence victims and people struggling with addiction.
The housing situation is bleak, and is being worsened by climate disasters—such as the devastating Los Angeles wildfires—and ever-increasing costs of living that make stable housing and home ownership unattainable for many families. Fair-market rent based on HUD 2024 numbers put a one-bedroom at $1,611, and a two-bedroom at $2,010, in the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario area. Someone earning minimum wage, at $16.50 an hour, and working full-time takes home about $2,200 a month, leaving no breathing room to make ends meet.
Beyond the math, anyone who has logged onto a community Facebook group recently knows there are many families struggling to pay rent and stay housed. Trying to find an apartment in the Coachella Valley or Morongo Basin for less than $1,500 a month is like trying to find a needle in a haystack.
Because of this crisis, the Independent this year will be focusing more of our reporting on the issues related to affordable housing in our region—and solutions to the problem. Some of the stories we’ll explore include the status of affordable-housing developments opening to residents. We’re hoping to explore policy changes that are needed to spur more development—and what can be done to bring the costs of housing more in line with our paychecks.
Encouragingly, there are already new affordable housing developments on their way. Abode Communities is renovating the former Desert Extended Stay in Cathedral City to create permanent supportive housing with support from a state Project Homekey grant. The Rancho Mirage City Council recently signed off on a plan to create up to 120 affordable-housing units on Peterson Road to add to the city’s affordable-housing stock. There are six other projects across Coachella, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert and Indio that have received tax credits from the California Debt Limit Allocation Committee, according to the housing advocates at Lift to Rise, that will lead to the development of 803 units.
Beyond the infrastructure, we also want to highlight the change-making organizations who are working to improve the situation day in and day out, and hear what they have to say about why the state’s homeless crisis is so persistent.
The Wellness Equity Alliance sends doctors and nurses to deliver health care in the field; community health workers diligently follow up with wrap-around services.
One such organization is a street-medicine team from the Wellness Equity Alliance that started operating in the Coachella Valley last summer. The nonprofit helps deliver health-care services to unhoused and historically marginalized populations.
As of January, WEA has connected with more than 350 people, said Jennifer Art, the local deputy field team lead. It sends doctors and nurses to deliver health care in the field; community health workers diligently follow up with wrap-around services like documentation prep, hygiene kits or connections to other agencies.
“They do the most boots-on-the-ground work,” she said about the community health workers. “They’re out in the dirt, walking into camps, and really connecting with the patients. They build trust and bend over backwards trying to get each client the help they desperately need.”
The teams go wherever they are needed on a regular basis. That could be at shelters, in the trenches of water spillways, or in large areas where communities of unhoused people have formed. From there, WEA has connections with county and regional services to help get people additional aid, such as the Coachella Valley Rescue Mission and Jewish Family Services. It also partners with the Riverside University Health System and the Inland Empire Health Plan.
“We’re capable of getting help to those who want it very quickly,” Art said.
While WEA’s workers can offer mental-health services or work on harm-reduction plans, it’s ultimately up to the patients when, or if, they are ready to accept more help—and this is where the bigger challenge lies when it comes to truly decreasing the number of unhoused people in California. Art said one of the main issues underlying the homelessness crisis is that many people have both mental illnesses and substance-abuse disorders. It can be easy for such individuals to fall through the cracks of systems and end up on the streets.
This is where building trust comes in—and that means continuing the work of showing up.
“For many patients, we need to wait until they’re ready to make the change to get off the street,” Art said. “It’s really hard work—work that’s easy to throw away when times get tough. So we understand as much as we can, and we offer a safe place to land for those needing us.”
These stories are made possible in part by a grant from the IE Journalism Innovation Hub + Fund of the Inland Empire Community Foundation. To submit ideas, comments or questions to the Coachella Valley Independent about housing in the desert, head to this Google Form.
What can be sone to bring housing costs inline with our paychecks? How about bringing paychecks inline with housing?
Some land is inexpensive, lower priced or even free. Labor can be free. Your major costs are drawings, planning, permits….but most of all MATERIALS. I’d focus on bringing income inline with housing. It’s WAY out of line. Education MAY be the key…
Well it’s nice to know somebody will be joining the conversation about solving the homeless problem. Rather then joining local news affiliates dog and pony show smear campaign of propaganda against the homeless! I am so disgusted about the reporting by all television news! It’s like watching Fox news! All hate and no facts! It’s time to call out California’s upper middle class! They created the homeless problem through economic racism. With their not in my back yard attitude! While keeping the flood of cheap labor coming across the boarder! Which caused abnormal low wages for the poor! While causing their property values to skyrocket! Now nobody who owns a home wants to solve the issue! Because it will cause the value of their home to drop! Small businesses don’t want to give up their substandard low wages they gotten spoiled paying! It’s as simple as that! Economic segregation between property owners and non property owners! The property owners are the individuals in charge of our goverment! They are also the majority of the voting block! So tell me this how are you going to get them to give up their greed and profit machine that has caused the homeless epidemic! As we have seen every single time a new low income apt complex gets approved to be built! Every Karen in the neighborhood! Immediately starts protesting! Bitching about not enough parking in the neighborhood! Local news runs with it! They cancel the apt projects permit! But we all know it’s not the parking! It’s the fear that it’s going to bring down their bloated property values! It’s not rocket science! You want to solve the homeless problem. The people that caused it are going to have to take the hit! Lowering property values and raising wages! I could solve the homeless issue tomorrow! Just have to address the real issues causing homelessness! Which nobody in goverment or the media will do! Because they all stand to lose money, votes are both! Show us your different!
I have been reporting on this issue from every independent online information forum for a decade now. I have been a homeless advocate. I have been in the trenches with these people. I have watched the dehumanisation of the homeless population by the media and both sides of the political spectrum! I have watched the false narrative for years that homelessness is caused by drug, alcohol addiction and mental illness! While the same people spreading this . propaganda. Blamed the homeless for their situation. Calling them lazy, criminals, people who like being homeless because it’s a lifestyle choice! That they are living it up off of fat welfare checks and hard working tax payers dollars! While the majority of money spent on the homeless went to law enforcement and passing new laws violating the homeless individuals civil rights! While we stole from them harassed them and arrested them! Most of the state has been so brainwashed! They have no idea what these people go through and they receive very little empathy from the public because of it! As was said you can judge a society on how they treat those at the bottom! I judge us guilty of being a sick society! Who abuse thee people! All for profit and money! What would Jesus do? I guarantee none of the things out state has done! I personally am ashamed of my state! It seems we are not a state off liberals or Conservitives! Because they have become opposite sides of the same coin! We are now a state of “Haves” and “Have Nots”! Where the have nots have no voice unless they are a special interest groups! Otherwise the Have Nots have no Representation! Nobody in the media or government to fight for them! Shame Shame Shame on you California!