The Real Reason There Are So Many Homeless in California

A Tale of Two States…

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Whoever oppresses the poor to increase his own wealth, or gives to the rich, will only come to poverty. (Proverbs 22:16 ESV)

California has the nation's largest homeless population and one of the highest rates of cash-poor renters and overcrowded homes. What was once the “Golden State” is now fast becoming one big, filthy homeless camp. Even some California colleges are planning to let students sleep in their cars in specially designated lots… because they simply cannot afford local housing costs.

The majority (Democrat) politicians are apparently clueless as to how to fix the problem. California has spent billions on homelessness and publicly subsidized affordable apartments in recent years, yet the problem continues to get worse.

But the answer is right in front of their Democrat majority noses...

According to a recent study by Rand.org, a nonpartisan research organization, the average apartment in Texas costs roughly $150,000 to build… in California, building the same apartment costs about $430,000, or 286% more.

Land costs in California are over three times the Texas average. Costs related to

improving land are 2.2 times those in Texas. California's soft costs, including financing, architectural and engineering fees, and development fees charged by local governments, are 3.8 times the Texas average.

California property developers pay astronomically high fees for architectural and engineering services… triple the average cost in Texas. It's five times as much or more if you're building publicly funded, affordable apartments in the Los Angeles and San Francisco metro areas.

Development fees to local governments make up the largest soft-cost difference in California. Such fees, which were the subject of a 2024 U.S. Supreme Court case, average around $30,000 per unit. In Texas, the average is about $800.

But the biggest thing driving up California apartment rents is not simply higher building costs…

It’s the time it takes to build anything...

A privately financed apartment building that takes just over two years to produce from start to finish in Texas would take over four years in California. It takes twice as long to gain project approvals, and the construction timeline is 1.5 times longer. That all costs money…

(There are some California-specific costs for earthquake safety, but that only adds about 6%.)

Being the socialist state that it is, California apparently demands that its citizens and developers serve the god of the state instead of the state serving its people.

This is not American freedom; it is involuntary servitude to the state…

It’s not that Texas is always the perfect place to build… other states may well have lower building costs than the Lone Star State. It’s just that California’s elected officials can’t seem to see the harsh reality and the facts that are staring them in the face.

UPDATE: Because of the challenging regulatory environment, California is losing yet another important oil Refinery. Valero is shutting down its Benicia, California refinery, which generates about 12% of the fuel in the state by the end of April 2026. The reason… a toxic regulatory environment and high costs. This is in addition to Phillips 66 announcing plans to stop operations at its Los Angeles-area refinery in the fourth quarter of 2025.

This will require costly imports of fuel by emissions-heavy tanker ships. At the same time, new refineries are not being built. Valero contributes about 20% of Benicia’s tax base… good luck when that ends.