Wayne Mellinger: Santa Barbara County Homelessness Crisis Reveals Who We’re Willing to Leave Behind

Wayne Mellinger: Santa Barbara County Homelessness Crisis Reveals Who We’re Willing to Leave Behind

The 2025 Annual Homeless Update to the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors offers more than just numbers. It provides a mirror — a mirror in which the county, with all its scenic beauty and economic contradictions, must reckon with what it is becoming. The good news is there: a reduced rate of growth in overall homelessness, and more than 1,300 individuals moving into permanent housing. But the underlying story is more complex, more soberi…

Government ‘throwing the kitchen sink’ at fixing homelessness crisis

The Government has ‘thrown the kitchen sink’ at the homelessness crisis, a minister of state has said. Christopher O’Sullivan TD said that it has been a really ‘difficult challenge to tackle’, but that it is a priority for the Housing Minister. His comments come as the latest figures released on Friday show homelessness has reached another record high. Christopher O’Sullivan. Pic: Fianna Fáil Some 15,747 people are now in emergency accommodatio…