Los Angeles is city of Homeless (insurance, mortgage, credit)

[Astral_Weeks]

Originally Posted by Petrovich

I'd suggest neighborhood watch or bum intermediation teams to drive them out of your area, however no one in downtown would give flying one about it.
People just want to drive in their fancy condo/loft buildiong and ignore all that's going on on the street, pretty much same for every fancy area. People who walk on other hand have to deal with all the trash of the earth every day.

You hate people with cars don't you? The homeless problem in LA has nothing to do with people with cars. The homeless problem is multi-faceted but it certainly has nothing to do with automobile ownership.

[adr3naline]

Originally Posted by jm1982

I think most would be surprised how gritty and shady parts of downtown look and feel , considering the nationwide media saying how hip and trendy downtown la is .
In most other cities in the US the area would of been more cleaned up ... But here we are afraid to actually do anything

DTLA is still really a hit-or-miss. Just about anywhere along Figueroa is nice & developed. But go 5 blocks southeast and you'll see LA at its worse.

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by rigizug

Back in the 1970s with the closure of most state hospitals in California, some housing 39,000 patients or more, a large percentage of them were released to the streets supposedly to halfway houses and never followed up. The majority on the streets have some type of mental illness, untreated.

Of course a majority of them are mentally ill, but even if the state hospitals had remained open you could not warehouse the homeless in them.

O’Connor v. Donaldson, 422 U.S. 563 (1975). Mentally ill plaintiff was confined without treatment for 15 years. Held: states cannot constitutionally confine, “without more,” a person who is not a danger to others or to himself. The latter category includes the suicidal and the “gravely disabled,” who are unable to “avoid the hazards of freedom” either alone or with the aid of willing family or friends. 422 U.S. at 575 and n.9. As the plaintiff received no treatment, the Court expressly reserved the question “whether the provision of treatment, standing alone, can ever constitutionally justify involuntary confinement or, if it can, how much and what kind of treatment would suffice. . . . “ Id. at n.10. The Court has never revisited this issue.

Gravely disabled is a very hard standard to meet, police officers deal with this daily and unless a person is so disabled that they no longer realize the need to protect themselves from extreme temperatures (i.e. standing outside naked in snow) or are failing to thrive, i.e not eating, then in order to involuntarily confine the person they have to be in immediate danger of harming themselves or others. If the police detain a homeless person who does not meet that criteria when evaluated by a hospital, they will be released within a few hours.

People need to deal with the reality, either get used to the mentally ill homeless on the streets, or provide housing for them and give them the choice as to whether or not they live in the housing, in Salt Lake City has reduced its homeless population by 72% through it's housing first program. But if the only housing offered is 8 hours on a cot in a shelter where residents are frequently victimized by other residents, don't wonder why they stay on the street.

[Astral_Weeks]

Originally Posted by adr3naline

DTLA is still really a hit-or-miss. Just about anywhere along Figueroa is nice & developed. But go 5 blocks southeast and you'll see LA at its worse.

Five blocks southeast of Figueroa would be the Historic Core or the Jewelry District, hardly LA at its worst. Skid Row is bad. But the rest of Downtown LA is on fire and getting better all the time....

[In2itive_1]

Originally Posted by seain dublin

It's the "City of the Angels", not the "City of Angeles".....sigh.


What do you expect? Ever been to FL? Loaded with homeless people.

If you're going to be homeless which is a horrible situation to be in where would you choose, a climate where you can live outside and not freeze to death or a place where they could find you frozen?

Let's see Chicago and being homeless, or LA being homeless.

You're also very ignorant, not all the homeless are on drugs, some are veterans, some are mentally ill. Some have lost their jobs and have no family willing or able to take them in.

Shame on you.

I appreciate this, since as you say, they are not all "drug addicts". And how do we know how often being on drugs initially got them there or if their conditions led them to drugs. There are doubtless different situations and many others could easily become homeless themselves. Overall, I feel they cannot help their circumstances, though some may if given appropriate opportunities.

What are these people supposed to do? Where are they to go? What is the city to actually do? Imagine being stuck in that environment. There have been various attempts at relieving the situation - but really...what all can be done with so many living this way? Though I know it is disturbing, I am irritated at the suggestion that they are "just a filthy nuisance needing to be gotten rid of" and feel we need to have compassion for people.

[In2itive_1]

Originally Posted by ashpelham

Then, be my guest to explain why it costs so much to rent a room in your fair city. Please elaborate why so many live in their cars or in boxes, when they might possibly even be employable, on a basic level, but could never afford to keep a roof over their heads in Southern California.

I'll step aside and wait for this....

I don't know if this was answered since I am reading posts in order, but I will tell you, housing is and has always been a major problem. Rents and homes are higher than in many other parts of the country. (If you ever see HGTV's "House Hunters" for instance, you can get an idea of the range. I will see homes shown in other states that are quite large costing little, compared to in Los Angeles). Rents are high and is not like a even a Single goes for under $1000.00 a month. One may find a Single unit for under that which could be in a lesser area, but rent increases, too. Even to rent a room in another's home may not be lower than $800.00.

Low-income housing programs and availability is limited and so saturated with those in need and waiting lists, that it is difficult to acquire. The areas in which these buildings are located will vary. Many working individuals cannot afford to manage, let alone those trying to crawl out from homelessness, possibly beginning a minimum wage job. I believe there have always been programs to help some into housing, but again, there are TOO many people in need and other issues involved.

There really should be lower rents, overall. This is one reason you see the demand for a wage increase, because many cannot afford to use most of their income for rent, working more than one job to survive or having more people per unit. Anyway, this is just one issue. Homelessness has an array of problems surrounding it.

[SandyCo]

There is a good opinion piece in today's L.A. Times from Sandy Banks about this issue:

The homeless are everywhere and there are no easy solutions - LA Times

I understand the frustrations of homeowners; I certainly wouldn't want a homeless person sleeping in their camper right outside my apartment. Everyone wants to just shoo the homeless somewhere else, but there are too many homeless now for this "solution" to be effective. I don't know what the answer is, but as the homeless population grows, things will get worse. If the L.A. City Council doesn't spend their money wisely, this will end up being very bad.

[majoun]

Originally Posted by In2itive_1

I don't know if this was answered since I am reading posts in order, but I will tell you, housing is and has always been a major problem. Rents and homes are higher than in many other parts of the country. (If you ever see HGTV's "House Hunters" for instance, you can get an idea of the range. I will see homes shown in other states that are quite large costing little, compared to in Los Angeles). Rents are high and is not like a even a Single goes for under $1000.00 a month. One may find a Single unit for under that which could be in a lesser area, but rent increases, too. Even to rent a room in another's home may not be lower than $800.00.

Low-income housing programs and availability is limited and so saturated with those in need and waiting lists, that it is difficult to acquire. The areas in which these buildings are located will vary. Many working individuals cannot afford to manage, let alone those trying to crawl out from homelessness, possibly beginning a minimum wage job. I believe there have always been programs to help some into housing, but again, there are TOO many people in need and other issues involved.

There really should be lower rents, overall. This is one reason you see the demand for a wage increase, because many cannot afford to use most of their income for rent, working more than one job to survive or having more people per unit. Anyway, this is just one issue. Homelessness has an array of problems surrounding it.

Yet there is no movement to rezone R-1 neighborhoods, and that would do more to alleviate high rents than a wage increase.

[Petrovich]

News Flash
Hollywood and Highland Tourist Stabbing
2 Off-Duty NYPD Officer Stop Hollywood and Highland Stabbing Suspect, Help Victim: LAPD | KTLA

Attacker looks like drug addict.

All this gangsta tatted up black dudes sit and watch rather than help and say "thank god cop was there to help" great logic's what if he wasn't you'd just keep shooting video or keep walking?

[jm1982]

Another "poor homeless guy" ..that is actually a violent criminal..