“Los Angeles approved a bond measure for $1.2 billion in 2016 to build housing for the homeless. They were told it would mean 10,000 units of housing for the homeless. Five years later, the city had only completed a fraction of them. One project cost $837,000 to house each resident. The comptroller described the costs of construction as ‘staggering.’ That money went where all California’s massive budgets go: to overpaid city contractors, convoluted union deals, and incompetent spending. And despite all the money, the unsheltered homelessness in the city increased 14 percent from 2022 to 2023.” – Nellie Bowles