Gov. Gavin Newsom celebrated a statewide drop in homelessness during his State of the State address at the Capitol on Thursday — but locals on the battered streets of Los Angeles and Santa Monica weren’t applauding.
Fuming business owners, exhausted residents and local leaders blasted the Democratic governor’s boats of a 9% decline as disconnected from the realities of rampant tent and vehicle encampments — as the out-in-the-open drug is part of the routine.
“I feel like I’m held hostage,” said business owner Rene Ruston, founder of Shelter Transport Animal Rescue in Sherman Oaks. “It has gotten exponentially worse, not better.”
Ruston — whose nonprofit resale shop donates 100% of its proceeds to high-kill shelters and animal transport — said she no longer listens after years of promises from state leaders and billions spent to combat the crisis.
“The reason I don’t listen to what the governor has to say is I’m too busy trying to combat this madness,” Ruston said.
Ruston said on one recent morning before the shop was open, a homeless man hurled a brick through the front window, scooped up armfuls of donated clothing and high-tailed it out of there.
Smash-and-grab robberies have become commonplace, she said.
Other residents questioned the state’s data and how it was calculated.
“Nine percent from when?” asked Julie Mulligan, a retired family attorney in Santa Monica. “What percentage is it actually up from the day he became governor, and how much have we spent? The policies have been a disaster — practically and fiscally.
Property owner John Alle, who owns buildings across from LA’s MacArthur Park meth-and-fentanyl ground, said “it’s easy to say the number’s down when people are dying.”
“If Gavin is claiming homelessness is down 10 percent, that doesn’t match what Karen Bass is saying, and it doesn’t account for people dying from overdoses and assaults,” said Alle, who has dealt with fallout with the park being a ground zero for the city’s meth-and-fentanyl abuse.
Research tied to RAND— a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization that provides leaders with data and analysis to make evidence-based decisions — has repeatedly warned that official homeless counts understate the true scale of street homelessness in LA’s hardest-hit neighborhoods.
In its latest analysis, Growing Inaccuracies in Official Counts Jeopardize LA Homelessness Wins,RAND-backed researchers said the county’s volunteer-led Point-in-Time count increasingly misses “rough sleepers” — people living without tents or vehicles who are the most vulnerable and the hardest to count.
In Hollywood, Venice and Skid Row, LA LEADS data showed the official count fell short by roughly a quarter in 2024 and by nearly a third in 2025.
Even inside the Capitol, lawmakers struck a restrained tone after Newsom’s victory lap.
California has poured more than $24 billion into homelessness programs during Newsom’s tenure, following years of rising increases.
In 2024, homelessness hit a record high statewide, with nearly 124,000 people unsheltered, according to federal data. Newsom did not announce an overall statewide total for 2025, and updated federal census data has yet to be released.
“I think the question always comes back to us — is it enough?” said Monique Limón, a Democratic politician serving as the president pro tempore of the California State Senate.
In Santa Monica, where the coast continues to draw homeless people from across the region, officials said the numbers fluctuate year to year. What hasn’t changed, they said, is the visible growth of unsheltered homelessness — tents and vehicles — despite regional efforts.
“Regardless of statewide numbers, the lived experience on the ground tells a different story,” said Lana Negrete, who served as Santa Monica mayor last year and remains on the City Council.
“Local governments are doing everything we can, but state policies that fail to prioritize safeguarding, treatment and accountability — while allowing drugs and untreated mental illness to dominate public spaces — continue to strain cities and harm communities,” Negrete added.
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