HOMELESSNESS has long been a problem, both back home in the UK and here in our beautiful Golden State. It can’t be fun being homeless anywhere, but given the choice I think it’s probably better to suffer through a Southern California winter than one in say, Chicago.
Like most people I’m a member of a neighborhood app called Nextdoor where popular topics of conversation usually go along the lines of “have you seen my missing cat?” “there goes the mountain lion” or “anyone know of a good handyman?” But this week the main topic is how many homeless encampments have popped up all over Hollywood, where I make my home. Driving through the Gower tunnel pretty much every day it saddens me to see people living in such squalor. We had one of the hottest summers on record and these folks are suffering with barely enough drinking water and almost zero sanitation. And to top it all off we are in the still in the middle of a deadly airborne virus. So the question remains – how did we get here?
Let’s talk statistics: homelessness in California increased by more than 22% over the last decade. In our great state 72% of people experiencing homelessness are unsheltered, which is the highest share of of any state. And nationwide, more than half of the people experiencing unsheltered homelessness reside in California.
Now let’s get even more specific and look at LA county: on top of high rents and a shortage of affordable housing, the Homeless Services Authority points to stagnant wages and systemic racism that affect housing, health care, justice and economic policies as major contributors to the crisis. The agency reports that black people make up only 8% of the total population but 34% of people experiencing homelessness. Proving yet again that to some, black lives don’t matter.
There are many reasons one becomes homeless, and it’s so easy for us to judge and blame it on idleness, drugs, alcoholism or just “bad choices” But seriously it’s so much more complicated, it’s truly a hard decision to live life on the streets. Back in London I once met a homeless man who was needing 20p to call his daughter to pretend he was doing well in the ‘Big Smoke’ (ask your parents to explain) so she wouldn’t worry about him. He started to well up when he told me this story. It was in that moment I understood that the narrative out there… the smelly tramps (bums to you Americans) begging on the street to go drink or use, wasn’t always the case or true. Everyone has their own unique story of how they ended up there.
Some were low-wage workers who lost their jobs or needed expensive medical care. Others are victims of domestic violence or sexual abuse. Far too many are LFBTQ youth being turned out of their homes by their so-called loving parents. Many are veterans returning from deployment hugely damaged physically and emotionally who have precious few resources to call on to help them adjust. Then there are the mentally ill without health insurance, and recently-released felons, who have nowhere to go. There seems to be countless reasons why people wind up on the streets. But these are human beings and they deserve better.
So what is being done to help our homeless or more importantly what can we do?
If (like me) you are tired of reading comments on Nextdoor and elsewhere to just “get them out of our neighborhood” let’s get involved, start by demanding our representatives do better. Call them, email them, Twitter to them.
Mayor Garcetti recentlt released this statement on the issue: “we are deploying unprecedented resources – thanks to dual ballot measures (Measure H and Proposition HHH) approved by an overwhelming majority of voters, and millions of dollars in new state funding – to build thousands of units of supportive housing, expand bridge housing to help Angelenos transition off the streets, and hire an army of outreach workers, housing navigators, mental health experts, anti-addiction specialists and other professionals to be the heart, brains, and muscle of the movement to end the crisis on our streets.”
But do you think it’s good enough? How do you think this will end? Can we “cure” homelessness all together? However this ends, I hope you will give a second thought to the shame a homeless person carries when they are begging on the side of the road, because they haven’t a pot to pee in, to pay for a bottle of water to keep from dehydrating. Let’s think of the story that might be behind the tired, sunburnt eyes. Let’s be generous, show compassion and take pity. For all we know someday that could be someone we used to know….or even you or me.
By Craig Young
