[bmitc]

What is high tax in Texas, much less insanely high? There is no income tax. Property taxes are okay-ish. It has a standard sales tax.

> Of course California also has a much larger safety net than Texas.

California alone accounts for a third of the homeless population in the U.S.

[anon291]

Texas has high property taxes. This causes people to need to move. It also spurs construction causing prices of homes to stay flat. For the typical homeowner, the total combined appreciation of your home in CA combined with the savings from the no moving property tax once you've been there a while more than covers the California tax burden.

My colleagues and direct reports in Texas constantly have to move as their property appreciates. This alone results in excess cost that is essentially a tax on not being rich.

[bmitc]

Lots of states have high property taxes. Texas does not have "insane" tax that's more than California. Everything is cheaper, like gas, food, real estate, etc., in Texas than it is in California, and so California has that additional tax.

> This alone results in excess cost that is essentially a tax on not being rich.

That's everywhere in the U.S. right now. Texas is not an outlier.

[frollogaston]

How many homeless people in California are actually from the state? Cause it seems like within CA, they move to big cities. Democrats then say that high-valued real estate is causing homelessness, and Republicans blame lack of law enforcement, but I don't see how it's either of those.

[bmitc]

Almost none are from out of state. 90% were living in California when they became homeless, and 65% were born in California. It doesn't even make sense as to why a homeless person would voluntarily move to California where literally everything, including food, is more expensive and housing is impossible. Plus, homeless people lack the means to easily move around. California's housing situation is the worst in the country. It even has the lowest percentage of homes actually owned by homeowners.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homelessness_in_California

https://calmatters.org/housing/homelessness/2024/07/californ...

[linguae]

Not disputing any of the statistics cited, but there is one advantage of being homeless in California compared to other places: favorable weather, especially along the coast. Snow is a once-in-a-generation event outside high-elevation areas, and while it does freeze on some winter nights, it’s rarely below 30 F. There are many parts of the country where temperatures sometimes get low enough to be life-threatening for those with inadequate shelter, heating, and clothing. The coastal areas of California also typically don’t get too hot. Heat is more of an issue inland, particularly the Central Valley and the desert.

[solumunus]

This. It’s simply much easier to be homeless in California, one of the easiest places imaginable. Do people think if the state was red that suddenly all those homeless people would become homed? A ridiculous notion.

[bmitc]

It's immaterial when the data says they were in California to begin with.