Homeless cave city found in California (12 photos + 1 video)
California's homeless are living in caves 20 feet below ground level, furnished with household furniture, as the state tries to crack down on vagrancy and Los Angeles begins an annual count of those living on the streets. 
Over the weekend, Modesto police and volunteers raided and cleared eight caves dug along the banks of the Tuolumne River. Some of these caves were decorated with “rock paintings”, somewhere the floor was tiled, and in one cave there was even an improvised fireplace with a chimney. 
The caves were emptied of belongings, furniture and piles of rubbish, filling two trucks and a trailer. They were also freed from people who believed that this was their home. 
“There are frequent roaming and illegal encampments in the area, which is a concern due to the fact that these encampments are actually caves dug into the banks of the river,” the Modesto Police Department said. This is not the first time police have cleared the caves, and they are often inhabited. 
The cave dwellers carved makeshift staircases into the hillside leading to them. The caves reportedly had to be vacated due to safety concerns.
Local resident Tracy Rojas told CBS: “If one of them had collapsed, it would have been terrible. All this will collapse and go into the water. It’s dangerous not only for the people who live there, but also for those who walk there.” 
According to Rojas, some caves were fully furnished: bedding, clothes, food, hooks on the walls, a makeshift fireplace, a shelf for medicine, etc. The homeless need more attention, she said. They are in such a state that it is clear that they are in despair.
Report about the cave city of the homeless
Evicting homeless people from caves may again prove temporary. Local residents understand that very soon everything can return to normal.
“It's already been proven that people dig them up, so I don't think they can be covered with any material. We don't really have a solution on how to deal with this,” said volunteer Chris Guptill.
California is in a "state of emergency" due to rising homelessness as crime rises as a result. Crime rises and business goes away.
Los Angeles is hosting an annual homeless count to try to determine how many people are living on the city's streets. More than 6,000 volunteers from the Los Angeles Department of Homeless Services are participating in the three-day count. They are trying to determine how many people are homeless and what health or physical health services these people may need.
More than 75,500 people were homeless in Los Angeles County on any given night, up nine percent from 2022, according to last year's count. Since 2015, homelessness has increased by 70 percent in the county and by 80 percent in Los Angeles itself.
Tents on the sidewalk in Los Angeles during bad weather on January 20
California was home to about a third of the nation's homeless population last year, and Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland and other Golden State cities have some of the largest homeless populations in the country.
Temporary shelters for those who do not have a roof over their heads
According to this count, Los Angeles had the most homeless people in the state, with 65,111 people. However, five other metropolitan areas—San Jose, Oakland, Sacramento, San Diego and San Francisco—also ranked among the top 10 most disadvantaged cities in America, each with about 10,000 homeless people.
Mayor Karen Bass committed to combating the homelessness crisis as soon as she took office last year.
About 70 percent of Californians said the state's biggest problem is homelessness and housing costs, according to a poll by the Public Policy Institute of California.
Gun attacks, sexual assaults and incidents involving homeless people have increased
