New report says the homeless crisis is so massive in the Bay Area

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Wednesday, April 10, 2019
Report says the homeless crisis is so massive in the Bay Area
Jeff Bellisario, a Bay Area Council Research Manager, spoke to ABC7 News about its report about the homeless crisis on Apr. 10, 2019.

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- You know the Bay Area's struggle with homelessness has been a focus of ABC7's reporting as we work toward "Building a Better Bay Area."

Now, a report released on Wednesday finds the crisis is so massive it's going to take a major overhaul to solve. The report says it would take nearly 13 billion dollars to house the more than 28,000 homeless residents in the Bay Area. And at the current rate of housing development, it would take until 2037 to house every homeless person.

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The report also finds the Bay Area has one of the highest levels of unsheltered homeless in the country.

Sixty-seven percent of our homeless residents are people forced to live on the streets, in tents, cars or someplace else out in the open.

RELATED: People living on street describe homeless issue as being a revolving door in Bay Area

The only places with larger homeless populations are Los Angeles and New York City.

Jeff Bellisario, a Bay Area Council Research Manager, spoke to ABC7 News' Dan Ashley and Ama Daetz.

Jeff is the lead researcher for the group that did the report.

Watch the full interview in the video above.