Who's unhoused in California? Largest study in decades upends myths

[usonian]

Most unhoused people are from in state and desire to find housing, while Black and older people are disproportionately affected
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/20/california-affordable-housing-crisis-homelessness-study-myths-older-black-residents

Emphasis mine.

Nearly half of all unhoused adults in California are over the age of 50, with Black residents dramatically overrepresented, according to the largest study of the state’s homeless population in decades.

University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) research released on Tuesday also revealed that 90% of the population lost their housing in California, with 75% of them now living in the same county where they were last housed. The study further found that nearly nine out of 10 people reported that the cost of housing was the main barrier to leaving homelessness.

The research from UCSF’s Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, based on a representative survey of nearly 3,200 unhoused people, contradicts several persistent myths about the population, including that most unhoused people come from out of state to take advantage of services, as well as stereotypes that homeless people are mostly young adults who prefer to live outside and don’t want help.

“People are homeless because their rent is too high. And their options are too few. And they have no cushion,” Dr Margot Kushel, initiative director and lead investigator, told the Associated Press. “And it really makes you wonder how different things would look if we could solve that underlying problem.”

The full UCSF report is here https://homelessness.ucsf.edu/sites/default/files/2023-06/CASPEH_Report_62023.pdf (3.5MB PDF)

There are 8 more paragraphs of summary at the Guardian site if you don't want to download the full report.