How One Law in California, “Costa-Hawkins,” Produces more Homeless than can be Helped, and has other Significant Unintended Consequences

This paper argues that a California law, entitled the “Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act” is a primary cause of homelessness in that state. The origins of that law will be discussed. The exact system by which that law produces homelessness will be modeled. The paper argues that that law is the primary reason why the homeless population in California is exceptionally high, nearly twice that of the next state. That law is also the single most important reason why all the state’s efforts, and billions of dollars spent, to alleviate the problem have failed to even stop the increase in the number of homeless. Among the unintended consequences of the law are sever mental and emotional stress for those persons who live on the threshold of becoming homeless.