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Its pretty bad here in Florida too. Beggars in every stop light, most claiming to be veterans. A park downtown Ft Lauderdale is completely taken over by the homeless, and many are clearly mentally ill.
I know FLL pretty well . I haven't been for a couple years but I don't remember it being anywhere near as bad as in L.A or Seattle .
I don't think the city allows people to live in tents in the street in FLL right ?
I know they had a law making it illegal to feed the homeless in public but I believe that was overturned.
Things are generally kept up nicer in Florida even in lower income areas from what I've seen .
I agree . No doubt coming to L.A or Seattle is attractive to them . I just meant it's not practical to build housing for all the homeless in these cities because of the high cost .
There are more affordable areas in the country versus unaffordable .
There isn't really a reason the homeless need to live where housing is $500,000 or more.
Well I guess if you're going to hang around a street corner begging for food or cash, it really is counterproductive to do it in a slum.
So areas with money would attract them. The very wealthy have private security and upgraded police presence to protect them from that inconvenience so it pretty much fall to the middle class, like everything else in the country.
The homeless situation has gotten out of hand on the West Coast.
Since local governments can't seem to keep things under control and the more they raise taxes for the homeless the worse the situation gets.
There are now health issues with hepatitis outbreaks in multiple cities and human waste all over the streets.
It's also affecting business as mentioned in the article one man opened a wine bar and ended up going out of business because the homeless set up tents in front of his business.
In Los Angeles the same thing is happening as well.
People can't even take kids to the parks (that they pay a fortune in tax money for) because there are homeless shooting up heroin or their dogs roll around in human feces.
Should the federal government step in?
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"Official counts taken earlier this year in California, Oregon and Washington show 168,000 homeless people in the three states, according to an AP tally of every jurisdiction in those states that reports homeless numbers to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development."
"
All along the West Coast, local governments are scrambling to answer that question - and taxpayers are footing the bill. Voters have approved more than $8 billion in spending since 2015 on affordable housing and other anti-homelessness programs, mostly as tax increases. Los Angeles voters, for example, approved $1.2 billion to build 10,000 units of affordable housing over a decade to address a ballooning homeless population that's reached 34,000 people within city limits."
"Rachel Sterry, a naturopathic doctor, lives near that path and sometimes doesn't feel safe when she's commuting by bike with her 1-year-old son. Dogs have rolled in human feces in a local park; recent improvements she's made to her small home are overshadowed by the line of tents and tarps a few dozen yards from her front door, she said."
West Coast cities and inter-mountain western cities will continue to do what they have always done and that is ignore it.
The federal government should should let the cities deal with it. Why should cities that have low homeless population like Wichita and Omaha pay tax dollars to cities like Los Angeles, San Diego and Portland that ignore the issue and now it is becoming a huge public health issue.
It is becoming a public health issue now. Lots of people are getting sick because the amount of homelessness is staggering.
People can't even push the buttons on street signs to cross the street because it could mean hepatitis. There is bodily fluid and the smell of fecal matter more and more in public.
Many quick-service restaurants and coffee places don't have bathrooms for even paying employees because the constant cleaning and health risks to the employees.
It will get much, much worse also. Employers are reluctant to hire people with even city infractions and misdemeanors.
Because of section 8 and people not legally authorized to be in America there is a scarcity issue combined with lack of construction and the construction they build is luxury apartments with resort amenities.
The homeless are not going anywhere. Cities can give them tickets, so they can't ever find a decent jobs and further entrench them with the homeless.
Many jails have serious issues due to being swamped by violent crime and to jail people for being homeless is not an option.
The homeless situation has gotten out of hand on the West Coast.
Since local governments can't seem to keep things under control and the more they raise taxes for the homeless the worse the situation gets.
There are now health issues with hepatitis outbreaks in multiple cities and human waste all over the streets.
It's also affecting business as mentioned in the article one man opened a wine bar and ended up going out of business because the homeless set up tents in front of his business.
In Los Angeles the same thing is happening as well.
People can't even take kids to the parks (that they pay a fortune in tax money for) because there are homeless shooting up heroin or their dogs roll around in human feces.
Should the federal government step in?
---
"Official counts taken earlier this year in California, Oregon and Washington show 168,000 homeless people in the three states, according to an AP tally of every jurisdiction in those states that reports homeless numbers to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development."
"
All along the West Coast, local governments are scrambling to answer that question - and taxpayers are footing the bill. Voters have approved more than $8 billion in spending since 2015 on affordable housing and other anti-homelessness programs, mostly as tax increases. Los Angeles voters, for example, approved $1.2 billion to build 10,000 units of affordable housing over a decade to address a ballooning homeless population that's reached 34,000 people within city limits."
"Rachel Sterry, a naturopathic doctor, lives near that path and sometimes doesn't feel safe when she's commuting by bike with her 1-year-old son. Dogs have rolled in human feces in a local park; recent improvements she's made to her small home are overshadowed by the line of tents and tarps a few dozen yards from her front door, she said."
Anything is possible, but I doubt people in Los Angeles would accept a bus ticket to Omaha, Wichita, Oklahoma City which are far more affordable.
Part of the reason why certain cities have lower rates of homeless is not just because of low rent. Los Angeles residents in general look the other way and really ignore the situation.
The self-centered, judgemental and pretentious culture in West Coast cities also plays a role.
In Los Angeles people could walk by 100 old people in urine and feces soaked wheelchairs and have zero reaction. The city is full of residents that are immune to emotion accept when it comes to their own success and taking advantage of who ever they can.
In cities like Omaha or Wichita if there was a disabled person in a wheelchair, the police and social services would be summoned immediately.
Many of the cheaper parts of the country would file a lawsuit against a city for dumping the homeless population on their city.
Sorry, but the homeless are not going anywhere. Los Angeles will just have to deal with the situation that
they created.
The culture of the West in general is ignoring and they sort of let the homeless situation just get worse and worse.
I have no idea what to do about this problem. I will point out, however, that Mississippi has the nation's lowest homeless rate, at about 81 per 100,000. The U.S. averages about 195 per 100,000. Washington DC - The Land of Government Benefits - runs at an incredible 1,133 per 100,000! https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.95fbc0e6eb1e
Most opinions range around the "Rent Is Too Damn High" thought, and maybe they are on to something. Providing more shelter is not working. Never has.
Full employment nationwide will do it because full employment will cause wages to rise, even for the least qualified. But we are probably 10 million jobs away from full employment.
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