California's homeless crisis soars while Florida sees huge drop - staggering stats
California has seen homelessness rise by 45 per cent over 10 years
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New figures have laid bare the contrast in homeless levels in the US.
Research from the Department of Housing and Urban Development showed that homelessness was up by 45 per cent in California from 2013 to 2022.
There was a rise from 161,548 in 2020 to 171,512 in 2022.
Meanwhile in Florida, homeless was down from 27,487 in 2020 to 25,959 in 2022.
WATCH: Ron DeSantis on homeless crisis in San Francisco
It comes as Governor of Florida Ron DeSantis criticised the homeless problem in San Francisco earlier this year.
In a campaign video posted on X, formerly Twitter in June, Governor DeSantis said: "We're here in the once great city of San Francisco.
"We came in here and saw people defecating in the street. We saw people using heroin, we saw people smoking crack cocaine.
"This city is not vibrant anymore. It's really collapsed because of leftist policies. And these policies have caused people to flee this area."
Governor of Florida Ron DeSantis has slammed the Democrats about homelessness in California
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A homeless camp in San Jose, California
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However, Governor DeSantis was criticised by lead organiser at charity Coalition of Homelessness Miguel Carranza.
Carranza has experience on the streets, as he was homeless for ten years.
He said: "When you suffer so much, when you pass through so much, when you've been treated really, really badly, when you have these skills and these opportunities, and everywhere you go, everybody is closing your doors.
"But when you have one door open, and that door is open, is when you really know what you have inside your heart, what you really want to do."
Director of the Coalition of Homelessness Jennifer Friedenbach also criticised DeSantis' video and stressed the importance of action over criticism.
Jennifer Friedenbach said: "I'm not that interested in political stunts. These are human beings that we're talking about.
"They're not pieces of trash in the way that they've been referred to, and they deserve dignity.
""We've been pushing the state, and we need the Federal government to step in because the reality is that none of these presidents, Republican or Democrat for many, many decades have really seriously addressed this problem that we have in the United States"