Profound homelesness a reflection on ca people? (Los Angeles, Sacramento: low income, 2015)

[Shebabee]

I notice how profound the homeless problem is here, and how difficult it has been for me to find an apt anywhere in Sac after 3 months of looking.

The homelessness is a reflection of the culture and the attitudes and what is considered "ok" by the people here in CA.

To me, it's nothing short of savage cruelty.

I have lived in MA, CT, NM, NY, PA. In the smaller cities and towns in America, you wont find the mass scale homelessness CA has.

I'm sure you'll say, "Why dont you go back then?"
Well, if asking for a decent small apt without poop on the towels is too much for CA, well, maybe I will, but what about the people who dont have anywhere to move back to?

The shame is on you CA. (If you have the capacity to feel shame, compassion,etc, which it seems, you dont).

[czech mate]

Why don't you give them all your money? That'll help out.

[cb73]

I read an article--I'd have to find it again to quote it--that said that nearly 1/3 of all the homeless people in the entire country lived in California. Good weather, able to be outside year round, generally left alone by the police--hard to say why they come here.

Being given one-way bus tickets by other states probably didn't help, either. Or the fact that many of them have mental issues and decline treatment/medication.

If you want to "be a Californian" recognize that it means regular donations to your local food closets and supporting your local homeless programs. Cause that's what we do here. The main one for Sacramento is called Sacramento Steps Forward and they do wonderful work, but can only help those that actually want to be helped.


Edit: I'm finding some articles say 33%, some say 20% of the nation's homeless live in California. Here's an interesting article from the Los Angeles Times:
http://www.latimes.com/local/califor...120-story.html

[Tulemutt]

You've lived in MA, PA, NY and you think Sacramento has a worse homeless problem? NY is highest in the nation. LA is second, but Sacramento doesn't even break the top 25. Boston is very high on a per capita basis.

Homelessness is shameful. Anywhere. But not sure why you'd single California out compared to some of the other places you say you lived.

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by cb73

I read an article--I'd have to find it again to quote it--that said that nearly 1/3 of all the homeless people in the entire country lived in California. Good weather, able to be outside year round, generally left alone by the police--hard to say why they come here.

Being given one-way bus tickets by other states probably didn't help, either. Or the fact that many of them have mental issues and decline treatment/medication.

If you want to "be a Californian" recognize that it means regular donations to your local food closets and supporting your local homeless programs. Cause that's what we do here. The main one for Sacramento is called Sacramento Steps Forward and they do wonderful work, but can only help those that actually want to be helped.


Edit: I'm finding some articles say 33%, some say 20% of the nation's homeless live in California. Here's an interesting article from the Los Angeles Times:
L.A. tops nation in chronic homeless population - LA Times

Varying some from time to time and place to place, 75% - 85% of homeless are from the local area / state they are found in. It is a myth that lots of homeless migrate to warm climates and places with good assistance programs. Most homeless prefer to stay where they have history, family, contacts. There are several studies proving this. You can look them up. Not hard to find.

The bus tickets story is another mostly myth. The number of homeless who are sent to anywhere from anywhere is statistically an insignificant number. Furthermore, the only "bus / airline tickets"programs are run to return people to their home states, and tickets only authorized where family or friends or organizations have agreed to house the recipients when they arrive. So, other than a brief, small scandal involving Nevada mental health hospital sending a small number of patients to California, any homeless arriving in California via paid fares from elsewhere, are - Californians coming home.

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by Shebabee

I notice how profound the homeless problem is here, and how difficult it has been for me to find an apt anywhere in Sac after 3 months of looking. The homelessness is a reflection of the culture and the attitudes and what is considered "ok" by the people here in CA. To me, it's nothing short of savage cruelty. I have lived in MA, CT, NM, NY, PA. In the smaller cities and towns in America, you wont find the mass scale homelessness CA has. I'm sure you'll say, "Why dont you go back then?"
Well, if asking for a decent small apt without poop on the towels is too much for CA, well, maybe I will, but what about the people who dont have anywhere to move back to? The shame is on you CA. (If you have the capacity to feel shame, compassion,etc, which it seems, you dont).

No, I am not ashamed because you had a roommate who was crazy, and I am not ashamed because you moved to Sacramento without first checking into the availability of affordable rentals. In your other posts you have inferred that all of this has happened to you because people in Sacramento are mean. I suggest that you spend some time reflecting on what you might have done differently that would have spared you this angst.

[JohnS_15]

Originally Posted by Shebabee

I notice how profound the homeless problem is here, and how difficult it has been for me to find an apt anywhere in Sac after 3 months of looking.

The homelessness is a reflection of the culture and the attitudes and what is considered "ok" by the people here in CA.

To me, it's nothing short of savage cruelty.

I have lived in MA, CT, NM, NY, PA. In the smaller cities and towns in America, you wont find the mass scale homelessness CA has.

I'm sure you'll say, "Why dont you go back then?"
Well, if asking for a decent small apt without poop on the towels is too much for CA, well, maybe I will, but what about the people who dont have anywhere to move back to?

The shame is on you CA. (If you have the capacity to feel shame, compassion,etc, which it seems, you dont).

We do have a homeless problem in CA. We are constantly trying to figure out a way to better address the problem.


What do you propose we do?


I'm interested to know the "smaller cities and towns in America" you have lived where you didn't find homeless problems? All the states you have lived in -- they have some of these same problems with homelessness, but maybe you were sheltered from them there.


Sorry you are having a rough time finding a place to live, but it's well documented that CA has an extremely high cost of living compared to the rest of the U.S. It's very competitive in this state and likely only to become more so as populations continue growing.

[b.hughes]

Another thing to note is that many places with low homeless populations have become that way by effectively criminalizing homelessness. Many cities all over the US bus their homeless out or use other similar means to make their homeless disappear. So if you want to talk about no compassion you are looking at it backwards.

Homelessness is an incredibly complex issue but Californian's comparatively pay a very large amount in taxes that go to supporting programs that assist the homeless and low income population.

My guess is that your assumption is that homelessness is caused by a lack of affordable housing but the issue of why certain people are homeless is way more complex and multifaceted than that.