By admin 
Sixteen million Californians — roughly 40% of the state’s people — live in households that can’t consistently afford the basic cost of living in the counties in which they reside. This series of stories and columns examines the challenges Sacramentans, Central Valley residents and others statewide face in securing shelter, food and healthcare while also assessing whether the safety net systems designed to help them are operating effectively.
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California is failing on homelessness. This Sacramento woman’s struggles show why | Tom Philp | Sept. 21, 2026: Califia Carlisle exemplifies how and why California is failing on homelessness. Her father has tried every conceivable social service and judicial process to get his daughter off the streets before she dies a premature death. But neither the law nor the judicial system has compelled the care she needs.
The Poverty Line: Millions of Californians are one setback away from crisis | Cathie Anderson | Aug. 3, 2026: “California’s safety net programs — CalFresh, Medi-Cal and CalWorks — are designed to help people who are one missed paycheck, rent increase, medical bill, illness or stolen car away from a crisis, including homelessness. But their ability to prevent homelessness and ease financial calamities has been eroded by eligibility changes enacted last year under the H.R. 1 federal budget bill.”
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She was spending half her Sacramento paycheck on rent. Then, everything went wrong | Ariane Lange | July 20, 2026: “While California researchers have found that relatively modest rental subsidies could likely save many tenants from homelessness, emergency assistance is hard to find. And the most coveted solutions don’t come close to meeting the demand. Spots in public housing or the Housing Choice Voucher program — usually called Section 8 — come with onerous requirements and waitlists that take years.”
Have a Poverty Line story idea? Email editors Scott Lebar and Marcos Bretón: [email protected] and [email protected].
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