Roughly a third of the nation’s homeless population reside in California, according to a new study.

The University of California, San Francisco’s Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative released Tuesday a study that found that 30% of the country’s homeless people live in the state.

Most of the state’s homeless residents are native Californians (90%) and many have lived in the same county where they were last housed (75%), the study found. Researchers also found that the homeless population is aging, with nearly half (47%) of all homeless adults being 50 or older.

The median age of the state’s homeless population is 47 years old and the median amount of time people have been homeless is 22 months.

More than a third of the homeless people who spoke with researchers were victims of physical or sexual violence while they were on the streets, and a similar percentage of homeless people had visited the emergency room in the past six months. Two-thirds reported having a mental health condition of some kind.

Drug use is common among the state’s homeless population as well. Nearly two-thirds said they regularly used illicit drugs at one point in their lives, and roughly 60% told researchers that they were heavy drinkers at one point (the study classified a “heavy drinker” as someone who gets drunk at least three times a week).

Study authors pointed to California’s high cost of housing as a primary driver for homelessness in the state. According to mortgage loan company QuickenLoans, California homes have the highest median sale price in the nation.

Researchers collected their data by administering 3,200 questionnaires and conducting 365 interviews with homeless adults throughout the state between October 2021 and November 2022. Study authors touted it as the “largest representative study of homelessness in the United States since the mid-1990s.”

• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.