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But the crisis of homelessness in Los Angeles is a crisis that has been preparing for many years, without easy solution. This is a problem driven by a host of complex factors, including rising rents, a dire shortage of affordable housing, resistance to new shelter and suburban housing, and, most importantly, the lack of a safety net. consistent for thousands of people. people with mental health, substance abuse and, in some cases, recent criminal justice issues that left them with no choice but to live on the street.
"It's the height of contradiction that, amid the great prosperity of the Golden State, we are also witnessing an unprecedented increase in the number of homeless people," said the Los Angeles County Supervisor. Mark Ridley-Thomas, a leading supporter of the 2017 County Sales Tax. Measure H, which raises about $ 355 million a year for 10-year roaming services.
"These data are staggering because we hoped things would evolve differently, but we will not neglect our realities," said Ridley-Thomas after the figures were released. "No one can ignore the insecurity of incomes, the financial stress that the population is facing … (…) This state is the richest in the country and, at the same time, the poorest."
The new homeless count released Tuesday by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority showed that nearly 59,000 people lived on the streets of Los Angeles County, an increase of 12% over the previous year; and 36,300 homeless people within the city limits of Los Angeles, an increase of 16% over the previous year.
While these figures shocked many Americans who viewed Los Angeles primarily as a city of glittering wealth, they were less surprising to millions of Angelenos.
For many years, residents of the city have been creating tent camps well beyond the downtown area known as Skid Row – where the homeless population and services of Los Angeles have always been concentrated – on neighborhood sidewalks, highway dykes, urban and county parks, along business corridors and in some of the wealthiest neighborhoods in Los Angeles.
Beyond the well-being of the city's homeless population, the camps have raised a wide range of public health and safety issues. Officials from the Los Angeles Fire Department have determined, for example, that the gigantic Skirball fire that had burned houses in Bel-Air and set fire to the hillsides along Highway 405 in December 2017 was triggered by a kitchen fire at a homeless camp nearby.
In Skid Row and surrounding areas, many business owners who store their goods in this downtown industrial area have pushed the city to do more to combat the growing number of tent fires. In one of the most frightening developments, fires are being fired by gang members who are trying to collect rent from tent dwellers in some blocks, according to law enforcement officials and those without. living in tents surveyed by CNN.
Many homeless advocates and officials interviewed by CNN over the past year are also concerned that the proliferation of tents is making it much easier for gang members and other criminals to conceal trafficking in human beings. Human beings and drug trafficking, especially at Skid Row, where waste littered with used needles, a public health hazard.
Although the city does routine cleaning on Skid Row and other areas of the city, waste from abandoned campsites is a permanent source of visual pollution, spilling out of highway exits and bridges. Partly because of the risks to public health, cleanings in Skid Row are done with military precision. Advance notice is sent to homeless residents who live in this block to move their tents so that the streets can be cleared of garbage, swept by massive street sweepers, and sprayed with disinfectant on the clad workers. White jumpsuit Hazmat. It can take weeks to clean clothes and garbage accumulated in the corridors of other parts of the city.
The Mayor of Los Angeles, Eric Garcetti, who campaigned hard for the initiative of the city called Proposition HHH, which has allocated $ 1.2 billion over ten years to units intended to accommodate the homeless, described in an interview with CNN "the greatest sorrow for me and my city." The crisis was widely perceived as the main reason why Garcetti decided not to run for president in 2020.
In March 2018, when launching a project to end homelessness for around 45,000 people, Garcetti launched a city-wide campaign to encourage Angelenos to accommodate more shelters and affordable housing in their neighborhoods.
"We can not stop ourselves, we can not protect ourselves from it, we have to hide to get out of it," Garcetti told reporters at the time.
In a budget proposal for the fiscal year beginning July 1, California Governor Gavin Newsom said he was looking for a billion dollars to fight the homelessness crisis in the United States. State. The governor has asked Ridley-Thomas Mayor and Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg to co-chair his Homelessness and Supportive Housing Advisory Working Group to help local jurisdictions find the best ways to spend that money (innovative solutions such as motel conversion).
The new report had a glimmer of hope: statistics showed that the better-equipped city / county homeless crisis response system had helped 21,631 people find permanent housing last year.
But housing money has been slowly sinking. And while this housing figure was perceived as a breakthrough, Garcetti faced major resistance even as he tried to convince all 15 districts in the city to approve a temporary shelter.
At a public forum held in Venice on the west side of Los Angeles last October, Garcetti had to face protests and cries of cat for four hours while he was trying to convince residents of support the opening of a shelter in a vacant lot as part of its "Bridge Home" project. Neighborhood residents expressed concerns about crime, disturbance, garbage and needles that are already a problem in their streets.
The mayor of Los Angeles has vowed to continue this week against disappointing figures.
"We can not let a set of hard numbers discourage us or weaken our resolve," said Garcetti.
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