It is so on trend right now for most everybody to talk about the homeless problem; liberals, conservatives, advocates
government agencies, politicians, residents.
But who is not talked about? The working class, specifically blacks, who get bounced from rental to rental. Unable to save. Charged exorbitant rents. Losing money to moving expenses.
Read "Evicted" and try to not feel angry to what is happening to the working poor. We can talk about both homeless and this crisis.
The view of Los Angeles is often distorted by the media. It is not just Hollywood, Santa Monica, or Disneyland (which, I might add, is not even in the county of Los Angeles but rather in Orange County). Los Angeles County claims 4,084 square miles and is the most populous county in the United States (lacounty.gov); naturally, with that many people residing within one place it is not uncommon to have economic inequity. You may have figured already, but the natural state of something does not make it morally acceptable. All too often I have witnessed the mistreatment of the homeless; ranging from slander to dehumanization and everything in between. The criminalization of homelessness is a moral crime: as if it is always the person’s fault that their wage is not enough to pay rent, that gentrification displaced them, that they lost their job or are afflicted with an illness or disability they could not afford to treat. Housing is a human right, yet houses stand empty while homelessness grows. Affordable housing or homeless housing will not devalue the worth of your or any neighborhood, as can be witnessed by the actions of Pacific Palisades.
Why would anyone want to ride share for a commute, particularly with total strangers? During a commute, truly Hell is other people.
Nah. Hell is being so poor and desperate to work that you have a long commute and the risk of getting fired for calling in sick. Let's get real about what misery is.
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Single Room Occupancy wood frame 6 story buildings are the only answer. With 800 square foot apartments renting for $3000 in our area, 150 square foot rooms with a shared bath and a hotplate/mini-fridge kitchen could be rented out for $500 at a profit.
There are not technical issues. The issue is location. Nobody who worked to save money to buy property is going to want this building and all its problems next to them. That is the purpose of skid row. Keep problem people away from me. If someone has a suggestion for location, I would love to hear it.
As a Californian and former liberal Democrat, it’s crushingly disappointing to see from the inside the complete failure of Democratic governance and principles. It’s one thing to read of the issues in Balitmore or Chicago, but to see the squandering of the [former] Golden State daily ought to be an abject lesson in humility for all progressives. Common sense tells me to turn away from what clearly doesn’t work, and embrace conservative principles which do seem to be working.
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Nothing new for California. In the 70' - 90's in San Diego the Rancho Santa Fe community, second wealthiest in the country, had camps of migrant workers in the canyons. I haven't been there since the early 90's but understand that they started to remove the camps in the mid 90's, although some people stayed for years after that. Usually there are other barriers to people in poverty so that residents don't have deal them, but there are so many homeless that it is hard to keep that up. NIMBYism usually overrides other 'values' so the hypocrisy can become rather profound.
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Keep making Rigo of Malibu the face of homelessness so I never have to feel guilty anymore every time a homeless person hits me up for change. Perhaps Rigo should learn to paint with cheap acrylics rather than expensive oils like the rest of us.
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