With homelessness on the rise, the Supreme Court weighs bans on sleeping outdoors

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court wrestled with major questions about the growing issue of homelessness on Monday as it considered whether cities can punish people for sleeping outside when shelter space is lacking. It's the most significant case before the high court in decades...

Record numbers in the US are homeless. Can cities fine them for sleeping in parks and on sidewalks?

WASHINGTON (AP) — The most significant case in decades on homelessness has reached the Supreme Court as record numbers of people in America are without a permanent place to live. The justices on Monday will consider a challenge to rulings from a California-based appeals court that...

California governor pledges state oversight for cities, counties lagging on solving homelessness

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Nearly $200 million in grant money will go to California cities and counties to move homeless people from encampments into housing, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday while also pledging increased oversight of efforts by local governments to reduce homelessness. ...

Can homeless people be fined for sleeping outside? A rural Oregon city asks the US Supreme Court

GRANTS PASS, Oregon (AP) — A pickleball game in this leafy Oregon community was suddenly interrupted one rainy weekend morning by the arrival of an ambulance. Paramedics rushed through the park toward a tent, one of dozens illegally erected by the town's hundreds of homeless people, then play...

How effective are California's homelessness programs? Audit finds state hasn't been keeping track

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California spent $24 billion to tackle homelessness over the past five years but didn’t consistently track whether the huge outlay of public money actually improved the situation, according to state audit released Tuesday. With makeshift tents lining the...

California spent $24 billion on homelessness in 5 years but didn't consistently track outcomes, state audit finds

California homelessness measure's razor-thin win signals growing voter fatigue

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A key measure to combat homelessness personally backed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom has barely passed despite his multi-million-dollar campaign supporting it, reflecting voter fatigue and frustration about the crisis that continues to dog the state’s Democratic...

Micro-apartments are back after nearly a century, as need for affordable housing soars

SEATTLE (AP) — Every part of Barbara Peraza-Garcia and her family’s single-room apartment in Seattle has a double or even triple purpose. The 180-square-foot (17-square-meter) room is filled with an air mattress where she, her partner and their children, ages 2 and 4, sleep....

California voters pass measure pushed by governor to tackle homelessness crisis in razor-thin win

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California voters have approved a measure that will impose strict requirements on counties to spend on housing and drug treatment programs to tackle the state’s homelessness crisis, in a tissue-thin win for Gov. Gavin Newsom, who personally campaigned for the measure's...

California voters pass measure requiring counties to spend on housing, drug treatment programs to tackle homelessness