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 [ STATE WATCH ](https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=385)

#  Stop Managing Failure: California’s Homelessness Crisis Demands Prevention, Not Excuses

Written by Mihran Kalaydjian.

 ![](https://www.citywatchla.com/images/stories/Apr-2026/028h.jpg)

April 09 2026

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THE BOTTOM LINE - California has spent billions trying to manage homelessness and the result is undeniable: more tents, more encampments, and more public frustration.

Now, a different idea is gaining traction, and it exposes just how flawed the current system has been all along.

Instead of waiting for people to fall into homelessness and then spending tens of thousands of dollars trying to stabilize them, a growing number of programs are doing something radically simple: stopping the fall before it happens.

**And it works.**

In Santa Clara County, a prevention model led by Destination: Home is proving what common sense has been screaming for years it is far cheaper, far more humane, and far more effective to keep someone housed than to rescue them after they hit the street. With an average intervention of roughly $6,500, the program has dramatically reduced the likelihood that at-risk individuals will become homeless.

**Let that sink in.**

California routinely spends tens of thousands per person after someone becomes homeless on shelters, outreach, healthcare, policing, and bureaucracy. Yet a fraction of that cost can prevent the crisis entirely.

So why did it take billions of dollars and years of visible failure for leaders to finally consider prevention?

Because the system wasn’t built to prevent homelessness it was built to respond to it. Entire bureaucracies, funding streams, and political narratives have grown around managing the crisis rather than solving it. The result is a cycle where governments celebrate incremental placements into housing while ignoring the steady pipeline of new people falling into homelessness behind the scenes.

**For every person housed, others take their place.**

That is not progress. That is churn.

Prevention disrupts that cycle. It forces policymakers to confront a reality they have long avoided: homelessness is not just a housing problem it is a failure of early intervention.

The data is clear. Individuals who receive targeted financial assistance are significantly less likely to become homeless. Programs across the Bay Area and Los Angeles County are showing the same trend.

Even more telling is what these programs reveal: most people on the brink of homelessness are not beyond help. They are one missed paycheck, one medical bill, or one unexpected crisis away from losing everything.

And yet, under the current system, they are often told to come back only after they have already fallen.

**That is not policy. That is negligence.**

Of course, prevention is not without risk. Critics argue that resources could be misallocated that some recipients might have stabilized without assistance. But that argument collapses under scrutiny. The cost of being wrong on prevention is a few thousand dollars. The cost of being wrong on inaction is a human life destabilized and a public system burdened for years.

**The real risk is continuing what California is already doing.**

Los Angeles County is now experimenting with predictive tools, including artificial intelligence, to identify those most at risk before they fall into homelessness. It’s a step in the right direction but it also raises an uncomfortable question:

**Why are we just now getting serious about prevention after years of failure?**

A proposed statewide strategy would finally push California toward a coordinated prevention framework. But without real funding and political will, it risks becoming another well-intentioned document that gathers dust while the crisis worsens.

California does not need another study. It does not need another pilot program buried in bureaucracy.

**It needs a shift in priorities.**

Stop rewarding systems that react to failure. Start investing in strategies that prevent it.

The homelessness crisis will not be solved by expanding the same approaches that created it. It will be solved by confronting the problem earlier, cheaper, and smarter before people lose everything.

**The solution has been in front of us all along. What’s been missing is not money. It’s leadership.**

*(**Mihran Kalaydjian** is a public affairs and government relations professional with more than 20 years of experience in legislative affairs, public policy, and community relations. A respected civic leader and education advocate, he has led initiatives that shape public dialogue and advance reform, with a focus on transparency, accountability, and public service across Los Angeles. Mihran hosts the Bottom Line interview series on CityWatchLA.)*

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