The homelessness epidemic has been a national crisis since the 1980s. California leads the country with the highest homeless population of about 161,548 homeless people; That is about 12% of the U.S. population. Los Angeles County is ranked No. 2 for the highest number of people experiencing homelessness. If you are a LA county resident, you have first-hand seen the rise in homelessness through the years on all parts of the city. Or you yourself have experienced homelessness or nearly experienced it. This seems to be a never-ending issue that is only continuously increasing with no real solution. But there are ways to at least decrease homelessness in the next upcoming years. People who are experiencing homeless need a roof over their head as well as full care. Full care meaning mental health treatment, substance abuse counseling, support groups, and job training. We need to continue funding supportive housing for those who struggle with finding stability. In order to help solve this crisis, LA must build more than 500,000 units of affordable housing. Thousands are currently being made, but we need more. The shortage of affordable housing is a major factor for increasing homelessness. We must prevent homelessness by keeping people in their homes. Tenants need rental assistance, and rent stabilization. We must increase the income and wages of working LA residents. LA citizens must earn $47.50 an hour to afford the median cost of rent. Most LA workers are not even earning half of that. Raising the wages to keep up with increasing housing costs is crucial to prevent people from living on the streets. The wages given are ridiculous compared to the housing prices of L.A. The rising rent and few laws protecting tenants from greedy landlords are serious drivers to the increasing homelessness. L.A. is beautiful to many but we are seeing an active epidemic before our eyes and we cannot allow this issue to continue. We must urge our public officials to focus and fund  the homeless epidemic by creating more units of affordable housing, keeping tenants in their homes, and raising wages to meet the housing prices. SIGN THIS PETITION TO GET OUR ELECTED OFFICIALS TO ACT ON HOMELESSNESS.