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A man walks past a makeshift homeless camp in Los Angeles, California. REUTERS / Lucy Nicholson

Gavin Newsom, the Democratic governor of California wants to release 1.4 billion for the homeless. His state alone accounts for more than a quarter of the homeless population in the United States. A sum which should in particular make it possible to pay the rent of vulnerable people or the construction of affordable housing.

There have never been so many homeless people on the streets of California; approximately 150,000 people sleep outside each night in this state on the west coast of the United States. A trend that continues to worsen with the explosion in the price of rents and real estate. For example in Los Angeles, a person who earns the minimum wage has to work 80 hours a week to hope to rent a two-room apartment.

Health insurance programs

Rent is one of the main factors of casualization and to try to remedy it, Gavin Newsom will ask Californian elected officials to approve a special fund of 750 million dollars to get the homeless out of the street.

The democratic governor also wishes to supplement this device by the establishment of health insurance programs because for the homeless patients, it is even more difficult to treat in a country where the health system, in particular in psychiatry, can be very expensive.