According to the U.S. federal government, there are more than 550,000 homeless people in the United States, 47% of whom are located in California. Why does the nation's richest state have the worst homelessness problem? What took away Americans' homes?
Vanishing home
Located in the San Francisco Bay Area, Sausalito is one of the most expensive cities in the United States, and these ocean view homes are built against the mountains and waters. However, there is a special group that neighbours them, and this group is locally known as the "castaways".
Homeless Arthur: When you open it, there's an extra countertop, and my family and I sit here and eat. There are sinks, as well as toilets.
Arthur, 43, from Texas, bought the old ship, built in 1963, six years ago, but settled on board after the coronavirus pandemic.
Homeless Arthur: My son had his finger scratched by this window the first time he slept here, and I had to take him to the hospital, and my daughter's head often hit here.
Arthur is a novice among the "castaways", many of whom have been "floating" on the bay for decades.
Homeless Jeff: I've lived here since the early 2000s, and now this is the fourth I've ever lived in.
The tradition of "rafting" on San Francisco Bay dates back to the early 20th century, when people who lost their homes in the San Francisco earthquake stayed on boats, and it gradually evolved into a trend.
The pursuit of a free-spirited lifestyle is a common denominator of "castaways," but there is a connection between the expansion of this ethnic group and the sharp rise in housing prices in San Francisco.
Powyson, coordinator of the California Homeless Coalition: Housing prices are so high that people have to choose to live in housing that they can afford, and there is nowhere to go except to find ways to stay in these temporary homes.
However, for nearly a year, a panic has spread over the bay, and many "drifter" boats have inexplicably disappeared.
Homeless Arthur: The residents who live on the boat go out to work, only to return home to find their boat towed to the harbor and crushed.
The Sausalito Port Authority's approach stems from California regulations that require vessels not to stay in the bay for more than 72 hours. But it also stressed that law enforcement agencies have the right to destroy vessels only if they are judged to be "marine debris" that no one owns.
Powyson, coordinator of the California Homeless Coalition: Port authorities sometimes tow five to six boats a day, falsely claiming that the "castaways" live in marine debris as an excuse to destroy their homes and destroy their boats. Without any legal procedures, without any avenues of appeal, the vessel was simply towed away for destruction.
CCTV reporter Liu Xiaoqian: For a long time in the past, there were about 200 ships like this on this bay, but after more than two years of cleaning up and cracking down by law enforcement agencies, this number has dropped to more than 60. The local government's goal is to expel all "drifters" from the bay by 2026.
Homeless Arthur: I have several friends who died because of this, and they were very scared to leave the ship, too sick to go to the doctor because they were afraid to come back and find that the boat they had lived on for more than 50 years had been towed away.
Who is to blame?
If the San Francisco Bay Area is stretched thin, it has created a serious housing problem. So isn't this small group of people living on boats just enough to solve the problem? Why did the local government force them out?
The tiny cabin, which is difficult to turn around, is the home of the "drifters", and is the vast San Francisco Bay no longer able to accommodate this century-old ethnic group?
CCTV reporter Liu Xiaoqian: Law enforcement agencies will drag the "drifter" boats to the port to crush them, and when these "castaways" go out to shop and return to the shore, they will find that their homes are gone.
Homeless Jeff: The Port Authority selects the most vulnerable households, such as the elderly and women, families with young children, and targets them.
The "drifters" who lost their homes were forced to "go ashore" and moved into makeshift homeless camps. In February, the city of Sausalito declared a state of emergency due to the serious escalation of homelessness in the area and sent police to violently evict homeless people who did not accept a negotiated agreement, until civil rights groups stepped in to temporarily compromise.
Powyson, coordinator of the California Homeless Coalition: This kind of violent law enforcement can be observed all over California, where police take away the homes of ordinary people because they are poor. For example, people living in cars and tents, their homes and personal property are illegally destroyed, they are illegally arrested.
In order to encircle those still on the bay, the city of Sausalito continues to put up more obstacles.
CCTV reporter Liu Xiaoqian: In order to suppress the living space of "drifters", the management department of the bay has closed down many landing sites like this that were originally public use.
Homeless Arthur: They illegally closed four disembarkation points, and some elderly people needed to row a mile with their bare hands to get ashore to purchase drinking water.
What is driving the local government to erase the living space of "castaways"? Just look around and you might be able to catch a glimpse. Real estate and tourism are Sausalito's main sources of income, with local home prices rising more than 70 percent year-over-year in September, a new high in California. Any factors that may affect the appreciation of the property are given special attention.
Powlsson, coordinator of the California Homeless Coalition: Property prices are the main starting point for local governments to destroy the homes of the poor, and whatever we get, they have to take away.
California officials have long been keen to play homelessness victims, but is that really the case?
CCTV reporter Liu Xiaoqian: What has the municipal government done to solve the problem of homelessness?
Homeless Arthur: They exacerbated the homelessness crisis, they worked with the Gulf Authority to make it worse, they supported violent law enforcement, they created new homelessness, and then they blamed the economic crisis on homelessness.
Homeless Jeff: It's a shame for the country. When land is left with only property value, without regard for human rights, when a society judges a person by how much money he can contribute to the economy, it ceases to be a human society.
In this endless vicious circle, who will be the next person to lose their home?
Source: CCTV news client