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| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| Los Angeles' homeless crisis goes from bad to worse |
| 2017-07-20 |
| [BBC] Homelessness in Los Angeles County soared by 23% in the past year and it shows. The problem has become tangible and inescapable, with makeshift tent encampments cropping up across the sprawling metropolis. Tourists are shocked to find themselves stepping over people draped in filthy blankets and begging on Hollywood's Walk of Fame. Shop owners routinely swill the pavements to wash away urine and the accompanying stench. "For the 31 years that I've been involved with homelessness... it has gotten worse far worse than I've ever seen before," says Ted Hayes, a long-time activist. Hayes says gentrification of the downtown area has begun to scatter a previously concentrated homeless population across the city. The yearly homeless count in Los Angeles County rose to 58,000 in 2017, up from 46,874 in 2016. Neighbouring areas, such as Orange County, are also experiencing the same upwards trend. Young people - aged 18-24 - are the fastest growing group of homeless people, up 64%. And children without a home increased 41%. "Something is shifting right now, we're all noticing it," Kerry Morrison, executive director of the Hollywood Property Owners Alliance says. "We could viscerally feel that something was changing maybe about two years ago." Morrison believes the problem has worsened because of combination of factors, with rising housing costs in the city at the top of that list. "The cost of housing is far outpacing the increase in incomes." Another potential factor is California's drive to reduce the prison population. The state has committed to new rules that mean nearly 9,500 people will be released early. Morrison believes that in some cases, they also end up on the streets. There's also what she describes as the "attraction" of the Golden State to Americans who find themselves in dire economic circumstances. "California seems to have this allure," she says. "'Go west and stake your claim. Make your future here.'" |
| Posted by:Skidmark |
| #17 Why, what else would one do at a desk in Gerlach? |
| Posted by: Secret Master 2017-07-20 22:09 |
| #16 LOL! My family actually has several school desks (unknown vintage, probably '30s-40s) from a school in Gerlach my Uncle dismantled - under contract.... Initials and slurs still carved into them :-) |
| Posted by: Frank G 2017-07-20 21:51 |
| #15 Frank, still one month out and northern Washoe County smells like its been crop dusted with a mixture of patchouli oil and arm pit! |
| Posted by: Secret Master 2017-07-20 21:46 |
| #14 SM - I still have relatives in Tahoe, Carson, Pyramid Lake area, Reno (family from Fallon, Fernley). I understand your WTF! |
| Posted by: Frank G 2017-07-20 21:33 |
| #13 Screw you SteveS! It's bad enough here right now as it is! (Lives in Gerlach, NV) |
| Posted by: Secret Master 2017-07-20 21:12 |
| #12 the original Skid Road is ironically in Seattle, another bastion of the homeless which also happens to be one of the epicenters of the Left. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skid_row |
| Posted by: 746 2017-07-20 17:21 |
| #11 let them pitch their tents out in the desert surrounded by concertina wire so civilized people don't have to step over them on the sidewalks Hmmm. Not a bad idea, but it needs better marketing. Let's call it the Bumming Man Festival and give out free tickets. Should be a magnet for wastrels and layabouts of all stripes. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2017-07-20 17:14 |
| #10 Isn't it amazing how the homeless problem always seems worse whenever there's a Republican president in the White House? Wait...where's Skid Row? I don't think they've toured in over ten years. |
| Posted by: Raj 2017-07-20 15:26 |
| #9 From what I understand the homeless breaks down into three groups: (1) Temp homeless, people that did everything right but bad luck hit them (2) Grifters who don't want to work (3) Drug users and the insane I don't know the numbers for each but the system works pretty well to get the first group off of the streets, and the second group survives off of the loopholes in that system. Nobody knows what to do about the third group but the answers that help the first one don't seem to work. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2017-07-20 15:05 |
| #8 Just came back from Callie and the bums are everywhere, and very aggressive. |
| Posted by: regular joe 2017-07-20 12:26 |
| #7 Back in the long long ago, middle aged couples would turn their homes into boarding houses, take in respectable singles, shared baths, a meal or two a day included, for a few dollars a week. The man of the house was also the enforcer of decorum. My parents lived in separate boarding houses up until their marriage. Mother's landlords kept an eagle eye on my future father when he came courting. Mother's landlady became her "second mother" -- mother's exact terminology. Can't imagine that happening much if at all nowadays with the current generation. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2017-07-20 12:06 |
| #6 Wait...where's Skid Row? Skid Row Basically used to have warehouse-type hotels. Basically plywood cubicles, but cheap. Plenty of bums and drunks, but they were well-behaved bums and drunks. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2017-07-20 11:43 |
| #5 "The cost of housing is far outpacing the increase in incomes." This is always a favorite response of politicians, do gooders and developers. But it's a load of crap. If these people were willing to work and manage their money for some purpose other than booze, cigarettes and drugs they could find housing somewhere. Maybe not in Los Angeles, but somewhere. Go ahead and build a high rise apartment building and subsidize the rent for them at taxpayers' expense. Watch them tear it apart and burn it down. But I think a better approach is to let them pitch their tents out in the desert surrounded by concertina wire so civilized people don't have to step over them on the sidewalks and smell their pee. We have vagrancy laws, we just need to enforce them. A taste of that might not smarten 'em up but it'd at least get them out of Los Angeles...and San Diego too. |
| Posted by: Abu Uluque 2017-07-20 11:31 |
| #4 Wait...where's Skid Row? |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2017-07-20 10:52 |
| #3 Go west and claim your EBT card. 10% of the population and 30% of the welfare recipients. Although on a normalized population basis, the largest welfare drain cohort is the US Congress. Wish I was sarcastic. Those useless tools couldn't find their own tallywackers with a 6-man search party...now /sarcoff |
| Posted by: Warthog 2017-07-20 10:00 |
| #2 I know! Pay he homeless $15 an hour to lounge somewhere else! |
| Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 2017-07-20 09:35 |
| #1 While places like Skid Row aren't around anymore to keep them warehoused, mainly it's the benign political and environmental climate. Having a good supply of drugs available is a factor as well. As an aside, L.A. County's been dumping the more-problematic population into the other counties. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2017-07-20 08:45 |