FRESNO, Calif. (FOX26) — Homelessness and drug use continue to be major challenges across California, and a recent report from the Public Policy Institute of California is examining whether changes in the state’s criminal justice system may have had unintended consequences.
The report looks at trends in homelessness and drug use over the past two decades, as well as the potential effects of major criminal justice reforms, including Proposition 47.
What is Prop. 47?
Approved by California voters in 2014, Proposition 47 reclassified certain drug possession and property offenses from felonies to misdemeanors. The measure reduced incarceration and criminal justice enforcement for those offenses.
According to the Public Policy Institute of California, the reform was also associated with changes in homelessness, drug-related harm and access to treatment.
PPIC reports that California’s homelessness rate has increased by more than 60% since 2014. The increase has been driven primarily by unsheltered homelessness, which includes people living on the streets, in vehicles, tents or other places not intended for habitation.
In 2025, California had the sixth-highest homelessness rate among states and the second-highest rate of unsheltered homelessness, behind Oregon.
The report estimates that Prop. 47 was associated with roughly a 10% increase in unsheltered homelessness.
The report also examined several measures of serious drug-related harm, including overdose deaths, hospitalizations and emergency department visits.
According to PPIC, Prop. 47 was associated with an estimated 7% to 8% increase in these measures.
At the same time, drug treatment admissions declined by roughly 20%. PPIC says that decrease was driven largely by fewer referrals to treatment from courts and criminal justice agencies.
The report suggests that because Prop. 47 reduced certain criminal justice contacts, it also reduced one pathway through which people were referred to drug treatment.
The report does not conclude that Prop. 47 alone caused California’s homelessness crisis.
PPIC also examined housing and economic conditions and found that counties with higher rents generally had higher homelessness rates. However, researchers did not find a statistically significant relationship between county-level changes in homelessness and changes in housing markets or broader economic conditions during the period studied.
Other factors identified in the report include changes in disability assistance and the availability of permanent housing for people experiencing homelessness.
The report also notes that changes in how unsheltered homelessness is counted may affect comparisons over time.
While Prop. 47 reduced incarceration, PPIC says other criminal justice reforms and changes during the COVID-19 pandemic also substantially lowered incarceration. Researchers did not find a consistent impact from those other changes on homelessness and drug use.
Overall, the report suggests Proposition 47 achieved its goal of reducing incarceration but may also have produced unintended consequences, including increases in unsheltered homelessness and serious drug-related harm, along with a decline in drug treatment admissions.