We know homelessness is a problem in Tuolumne County. What is unknown to most people living here is how much of an issue it is. Homelessness affects everyone in the county as we all wind up paying for things like law enforcement and first responder time spent on people who have nowhere to go. It costs our hospital and clinics to treat people who never get over ailments due to their living conditions. It costs more to educate homeless children, so our schools have a cost too. The list goes on. It is startling to think we have a higher percentage of homeless people in Tuolumne County than Los Angeles County, but the annual Point In Time (PIT) count shows this to be true. Resiliency Village could actually wind up saving the county money by investing in services to treat the causes of homelessness and help restore the dignity of work to people on the margins. One of the unknown but significant costs of homelessness is the loss of human potential. We can recover that loss with housing, healing, and hope.
How Do We Compare?
US Cities With The Highest Homeless Numbers
Rank | City | Number of Homeless | Total Population | % |
1 | New York City | 78,676 | 8.623 m | 0.01 |
2 | Los Angeles County | 49,955 | 10.16 m | 0.005 |
3 | Seattle/King County | 12,112 | 2.189 m | 0.006 |
4 | San Diego County | 8,576 | 3.338 m | 0.003 |
5 | San Jose/Santa Clara County | 7,254 | 1.938 m | 0.004 |
6 | Washington DC | 6,904 | 702,455 | 0.01 |
7 | San Francisco | 6,857 | 884,363 | 0.008 |
Tuolumne County | 424 | 54,248 | 0.008 | |
Summer 2017 PIT | 711 | 54,248 | 0.014 |
US City figures from Statistica.com based on Continuum of Care data and most recent US Census.
Tuolumne County figures from January 2019 Point In Time Count and September 2017 Summer Point In Time Count, and most recent US Census.