The number of hard-core drug users has skyrocketed. I worked at Civic Center Plaza in the late 80's when there was a large tent encampment. Mayor Art Agnos was voted out because he refused to remove it. It was messy then, but hardly the cesspool it is today. I walked from Civic Center BART to the Courthouse last week and passed people shooting up in broad daylight! People writhing on the sidewalk. They remove tents after a day or two, but despite $250M in services, the homeless are more and in worse shape then ever.
All I know is that when I drive on some sections of Sunset Boulevard and the sidewalks on both sides of the street are packed solid with shopping carts and make-shift shelters, an actual number seems rather irrelevant. Freeway underpasses look like the cliffdwellers in Mesa, AZ. Wednesday morning is trash pickup day, it's also the day that many of the unseen homeless come out and make sure anything recyclable doesn't go to waste.
1
Homelessness will only get worse as housing prices continue to skyrocket in California due to the shortage of supply. The next recession will exacerbate homelessness even more as people already struggling to pay for housing are unable to make the next payment
2
The century old 1200 sf house and lot next to me about six months ago for 900 thousand dollars. A developer bought it, added 4000 sf of opulence and it's now for sale asking 2.5 million. When opulence has become the norm, homelessness is the simple result. Priorities are everything.
2
Living near Oakland, and traveling through Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver, I have been watching this evolve over the last 35 years. Much of the reporting and commenting is amazingly shallow and uninformed. There are many, many different types of "homeless" people. Some have made very bad decisions and have messed themselves up. Some have had very bad luck. Some are completely unemployable and always will be. Some could, with motivation and training and assistance, go back to work (I see "Help Wanted" signs everywhere). Some are terribly mentally ill and need treatment, but don't want it. Some are drunks, some are opioid addicts.
One aspect, rarely discussed, is the large, growing number of street people who are there voluntarily; the urban nomads who are everywhere in the Western US (of the "Me and You, and a Dog Named Sue" variety), and the expanding van culture.
This is a very complex problem, and most folks are very hesitant about getting real about it, again, for many reasons. I would suggest folks do a little more research by actually talking to some homeless folk, volunteering at a food pantry, taking food to the streets, etc.
One aspect, rarely discussed, is the large, growing number of street people who are there voluntarily; the urban nomads who are everywhere in the Western US (of the "Me and You, and a Dog Named Sue" variety), and the expanding van culture.
This is a very complex problem, and most folks are very hesitant about getting real about it, again, for many reasons. I would suggest folks do a little more research by actually talking to some homeless folk, volunteering at a food pantry, taking food to the streets, etc.
4
I was a volunteer cook at the local homeless shelter here in Pasadena for a while. Since then the problem has only gotten worse. Maybe I was a better cook than I thought and word spread.
2
Yes, yes, yes, the homeless are likely undercounted everywhere and are definitely undercounted in CA. Homeless encampments are all over CA cities with many more, and increasing all the time, human beings sleeping all over: in the nooks of storefronts to be sheltered from wind and rain (when there is rain), to parks. CA cities increasingly push the homeless out of parks.Where do we think they go? Humans have to sleep, humans need toilets, humans need food.
Like Pablo, I am astonished by the number of homeless people I see when in CA and walking around. And the number of homeless is rising a lot faster than most people seem to realize.
One scary thing to me, and I'd like to see more news coverage of this, is the seemingly rapid rise in the age of homeless people. If someone is sixty and older and becomes homeless, odds are high that person is not going to earn their way back into a home. Just as our evil presidente and his goon squad are doing their best to reduce housing support for low income citizens and reducing survival safety net services, the baby boom generation is turning elderly. The future for the poor, and for the souls of the evil who eviscerate their safety net, does not look good.
I am reminded, too often, of that scene in Apocalypse Now in which the Marlon Brando character, gone mad by the hell all around him, says 'the horror, the horror'.
Like Pablo, I am astonished by the number of homeless people I see when in CA and walking around. And the number of homeless is rising a lot faster than most people seem to realize.
One scary thing to me, and I'd like to see more news coverage of this, is the seemingly rapid rise in the age of homeless people. If someone is sixty and older and becomes homeless, odds are high that person is not going to earn their way back into a home. Just as our evil presidente and his goon squad are doing their best to reduce housing support for low income citizens and reducing survival safety net services, the baby boom generation is turning elderly. The future for the poor, and for the souls of the evil who eviscerate their safety net, does not look good.
I am reminded, too often, of that scene in Apocalypse Now in which the Marlon Brando character, gone mad by the hell all around him, says 'the horror, the horror'.
4
The headline here should be "Do we utterly fail to understand what is happening on our streets?" Long time residents of the neighborhoods most impacted by these sprawling tent camps have been ringing the alarm bell for years, but are largely ignored. These are not homeless encampments. They are shooting galleries of the type that used to be hidden inside dilapidated buildings. The drug of choice is cheap synthetic heroin and with mild weather and lax law enforcement, cities in the west like Portland, San Francisco, Oakland and Los Angeles (and even the state capital, Sacramento) have been overrun. Thousands of needles litter the streets. Petty crime (especially car break-ins, bike theft and muggings) doubles annually and the camps now spill brazenly into the streets, forcing pedestrians to avoid entire blocks in order to walk safely. Its not a homeless epidemic, its an opioid epidemic.
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All you have to do is walk around Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley and see the many homeless encampments to know there are many more homeless out there than the official count. And, don't forget the rolling homeless, living on the streets in their old RVs in unclean conditions......with no jobs and no where to go....
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"Using the estimates in the study, Los Angeles has 60,000 homeless...and San Francisco has 9,000 homeless..."
why the difference? LA has about 4.5 times the population of SF. maybe warmer weather in LA?
urban trash is another factor that is under-reported or under-assessed. which major city is the most clean? why?
why the difference? LA has about 4.5 times the population of SF. maybe warmer weather in LA?
urban trash is another factor that is under-reported or under-assessed. which major city is the most clean? why?
Um, gee, Tom, looks to me, using the same numbers you have quoted, that LA has about 4.5 times more homeless than SF, without allowing for the warmer weather.
Are you comparing 'urban trash' with homeless human beings? It reads like you are.
Kindness. Compassion. Help. Every human born on this earth has an inalienable ownership share in the planet and its resources. Capitalism enables human greed and selfishness. Time to change our economic realm of human culture.
Are you comparing 'urban trash' with homeless human beings? It reads like you are.
Kindness. Compassion. Help. Every human born on this earth has an inalienable ownership share in the planet and its resources. Capitalism enables human greed and selfishness. Time to change our economic realm of human culture.
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i meant literal trash or litter strewn about streets/alleys/sidewalks/parks. this is a problem too, although probably less serious than homelessness. the two can be associated, but i was not denigrating homeless people. both homelessness and dirty streets are hard to fix.
9000 x 4.5 = 40500 < 60000
9000 x 4.5 = 40500 < 60000
The homeless do leave trash about when they are forced off of an encampment site.
However, most of the trash on California's streets and highways is NOT coming from homeless people. It is coming from the cars and trucks that used the streets and highways. I have witnessed for decades people throwing trash out their car windows. A close examination of the trash on the sides of our highways indicates that people in vehicles are dumping trash on the verges during the night hours when no one is there to witness. The trash is not the kind homeless people can carry with them. Garden clippings, broken machines, broken furniture, automobile parts.
California has an "adopt a highway" program. Organizations and business get a sign with their name on the miles they adopt to keep clean. It is not working well. Many of the sign owners do not appear to make any effort to keep their adopted miles of highway clean.
Massachusetts has fairly trash free highways. I understand that high school students are required to spend part of a summer picking up highway trash in order to graduate high school. Now that seems like an effective idea that is two-fold. Any student who has had to pick up highway trash is less likely to throw trash out their car windows for the rest of their life.
However, most of the trash on California's streets and highways is NOT coming from homeless people. It is coming from the cars and trucks that used the streets and highways. I have witnessed for decades people throwing trash out their car windows. A close examination of the trash on the sides of our highways indicates that people in vehicles are dumping trash on the verges during the night hours when no one is there to witness. The trash is not the kind homeless people can carry with them. Garden clippings, broken machines, broken furniture, automobile parts.
California has an "adopt a highway" program. Organizations and business get a sign with their name on the miles they adopt to keep clean. It is not working well. Many of the sign owners do not appear to make any effort to keep their adopted miles of highway clean.
Massachusetts has fairly trash free highways. I understand that high school students are required to spend part of a summer picking up highway trash in order to graduate high school. Now that seems like an effective idea that is two-fold. Any student who has had to pick up highway trash is less likely to throw trash out their car windows for the rest of their life.
1
Zillow hired a statistician from New Hampshire to create a model to estimate homeless people in California cities? So glad Zillow was able to find a statistician from the East Coast, because, of course, we have no statisticians in California, nor people who can write algorithms. Sad.
I am trying to think of the various reasons Zillow, a real estate company, would be so concerned about homeless numbers in California.
This brilliant NH statistician could streamline so much that needs counting by creating more of his models. Why do the annual bird count when he could use a model to estimate populations of bird species? Why do a census to count people? Why have election to count ballots? The statistician and his models could replace all counting of things.
My city does not just count homeless in shelters. There are not enough beds in the shelters for the homeless. Plus many homeless do not like the rules at the shelters. I already knew this from talking to random homeless people. I now have a brother in law who is a psychologist at the women's jail. He has said that some women there were homeless women who committed crimes in order to be arrested, plead guilty, and end up in jail. Apparently, they would rather be in jail than in a shelter.
I am trying to think of the various reasons Zillow, a real estate company, would be so concerned about homeless numbers in California.
This brilliant NH statistician could streamline so much that needs counting by creating more of his models. Why do the annual bird count when he could use a model to estimate populations of bird species? Why do a census to count people? Why have election to count ballots? The statistician and his models could replace all counting of things.
My city does not just count homeless in shelters. There are not enough beds in the shelters for the homeless. Plus many homeless do not like the rules at the shelters. I already knew this from talking to random homeless people. I now have a brother in law who is a psychologist at the women's jail. He has said that some women there were homeless women who committed crimes in order to be arrested, plead guilty, and end up in jail. Apparently, they would rather be in jail than in a shelter.
2
Who cares! I've had it with these people. Never have I known such a ruthless and ungrateful community. I volunteered to distribute food in a Los Angeles suburb and my group was chased and attacked because we didn't have the food they wanted! And contrary to popular opinion- LA's homeless want to be out in the streets - they do not want a permanent residence because they are "checked" - and building landlords will not allow them to hoard their junk. Put them in prison or bus them out of state- my patience has expired.
1
Great values, Aaron. Put them in prison or ship them out of state. The homeless aren't cockroaches to be exterminated. They are living, feeling, breathing children of God who need compassionate help.
1
How's this for a conundrum? A homeless lady in the Fairfax district of LA goes into the free food bank there but refuses to take it because it's not kosher. It's for sure a complex problem.
1
Then it's settled, to Ottawa for a better life.
One thing that people most fear in life is being homeless. The thought of someone having to live on the street with no place to be a permanent home for them is devastating. The people that are in charge of counting how many homeless there are is doing an awful job. There is a man that I always see sitting in the same spot. People only see the people as just homeless. There is also a chance that they might be a very important person like a veteran or a person that has done something beneficial to help the country. There are still many more homeless men and women still on the street. Some of the homeless adults even have children with him. The thought of knowing of how wealthy we are hurts, and knowing the fact the we take it for granted hurts even more.
The officials working on the study need to work a little bit faster. Homeless people have started to become desperate to try to get food or any type of help. The study is a good idea and undercounting people is very bad. There are some major flaws with this idea that is starting to be created. One of the problems might be that they are counting during the day, when it's hot and the most people are on the street. They should be counting at night because that is when it is cooler outside, less people, and that's when the homeless start looking for places to sleep. They article says that there is a much higher percentage of homeless in shelters than on the streets. I still see people on the streets everyday.
The officials working on the study need to work a little bit faster. Homeless people have started to become desperate to try to get food or any type of help. The study is a good idea and undercounting people is very bad. There are some major flaws with this idea that is starting to be created. One of the problems might be that they are counting during the day, when it's hot and the most people are on the street. They should be counting at night because that is when it is cooler outside, less people, and that's when the homeless start looking for places to sleep. They article says that there is a much higher percentage of homeless in shelters than on the streets. I still see people on the streets everyday.
The homeless people who migrated to my part of town are being helped by churches, such as my husband's mainstream Presbyterian church. The church cannot be turned into a shelter but does give away food and clothing and blankets to the homeless people who come knocking on its door. The food, clothing, and blankets are donated by church members. Sometimes one or two homeless people will sit in the back of the church during the Sunday service. They are welcome to share after church coffee and cakes, or cookies, or fruit. They are never shooed away.
There is a Catholic church in the Willow Glen area of San Jose that has been serving hot meals daily to poor and homeless people via its Martha's Kitchen since I was a teenager. I am in my sixties now. We also have the Second Harvest food bank that provides grocery bags or boxes food to hungry poor people.
We care. We are feeding them.
There is a Catholic church in the Willow Glen area of San Jose that has been serving hot meals daily to poor and homeless people via its Martha's Kitchen since I was a teenager. I am in my sixties now. We also have the Second Harvest food bank that provides grocery bags or boxes food to hungry poor people.
We care. We are feeding them.
I truly find it hard to believe we have this many homeless in our major cities. Such a blight....
The police need to tear down these shanty towns with all their garbage, filth and disease. Not only is it disgusting, it's a health hazard.
Get those that need mental help help. The other able bodied/ sane ones need to get it together and move on (off the street).
A lazy nation of whiners we are.
The police need to tear down these shanty towns with all their garbage, filth and disease. Not only is it disgusting, it's a health hazard.
Get those that need mental help help. The other able bodied/ sane ones need to get it together and move on (off the street).
A lazy nation of whiners we are.
Our current mayor did tear down a large homeless encampment near the Guadeloupe River. It costs the city $2M to tear that homeless encampment down. (He had tried to get the federal EPA to pay for it but they turned him down.) There were bewilder homeowners from near the encampment who asked why it was done. They had not complained. Those homeless people were keeping to themselves in their shanty town.
Now those displaced homeless people have spread thoughout the city. I see them every day. Some have even spread as far as a nearby more exclusive town like Los Gatos that had never had homeless people before.
I was angry. The US has a history of shanty towns that go way back. The US also has a history of using force (military or police) to destroy shanty towns. It does not turn out well. This tearing down of the shanty town exacerbated the problem rather than solved it. Now the city is trying to play catch up: trying to figure out how to get the dispersed homeless people from that town into residences. Nothing has worked so far.
On a side note, I watched the old 1930s movie "My Man Godfrey" last week using my Kindle prime account. It starts in a shanty town of "forgotten" men, homeless people living by the river in NYC. You ought to watch it.
Now those displaced homeless people have spread thoughout the city. I see them every day. Some have even spread as far as a nearby more exclusive town like Los Gatos that had never had homeless people before.
I was angry. The US has a history of shanty towns that go way back. The US also has a history of using force (military or police) to destroy shanty towns. It does not turn out well. This tearing down of the shanty town exacerbated the problem rather than solved it. Now the city is trying to play catch up: trying to figure out how to get the dispersed homeless people from that town into residences. Nothing has worked so far.
On a side note, I watched the old 1930s movie "My Man Godfrey" last week using my Kindle prime account. It starts in a shanty town of "forgotten" men, homeless people living by the river in NYC. You ought to watch it.
I do not think they are being undercounted. Every week there are articles in the newspaper about the homeless people or local government plans. My city is quite aware of our homeless problem.
I sometimes talk to homeless people. After the last financial crash, I met a homeless woman who was sleeping in her car. She came from a Mid Western state. She had been a small business owner who had a nursery and gardening service. She catered to new home buyers, helping them with their gardens. The foreclosures on homes caused her business to drop off. She went bankrupt. She lost her home. She ended up with only her car. After being homeless for a certain amount of time, while talking to other homeless people, she was told that due to the weather and other factors, it was easier to be homeless in California. Of course, that is only one person who came from another state.
Another woman I talked to was panhandling on the sidewalk near an exit from the large grocery store my mother uses. He husband was laid off. She was trying to raise enough money to pay the rent on her family's apartment.
Homelessness became a problem after the state insane asylums were shuttered decades ago. We still have some with mentally ill or senile homeless but more articulate homeless people appear to be making up the bulk of the new homeless. Some read books. Some have tents. Many have sleeping bags. Some have their pets with them.
It is much more complex than it used to be.
I sometimes talk to homeless people. After the last financial crash, I met a homeless woman who was sleeping in her car. She came from a Mid Western state. She had been a small business owner who had a nursery and gardening service. She catered to new home buyers, helping them with their gardens. The foreclosures on homes caused her business to drop off. She went bankrupt. She lost her home. She ended up with only her car. After being homeless for a certain amount of time, while talking to other homeless people, she was told that due to the weather and other factors, it was easier to be homeless in California. Of course, that is only one person who came from another state.
Another woman I talked to was panhandling on the sidewalk near an exit from the large grocery store my mother uses. He husband was laid off. She was trying to raise enough money to pay the rent on her family's apartment.
Homelessness became a problem after the state insane asylums were shuttered decades ago. We still have some with mentally ill or senile homeless but more articulate homeless people appear to be making up the bulk of the new homeless. Some read books. Some have tents. Many have sleeping bags. Some have their pets with them.
It is much more complex than it used to be.
3
McPhate is a late comer to the are of click bait.
I live in the east - currently visiting CA.
I'm astonished by the number of people
on the streets. The difference is
immediately apparent.
I'm astonished by the number of people
on the streets. The difference is
immediately apparent.
10
Like East California? East L.A.?
Regarding the San Francisco Chronicle story “Mom panhandling with newborn sparks polarized debate.” Note she said she went to San Francisco "on a Greyhound bus five years ago seeking medical marijuana for her pain and that she now uses no hard-core drugs." Hmm... unintended consequences of the new law passed by state residents.
7
I can't help thinking that if California were to get its own single payer healthcare we would soon be hosting many more refugees from the rest of the country. As it is our mild climate and liberal benefits attract many who are unprepared to deal with the cost of living here.
3
Okay, she came for medical marijuana. There are other homeless who came from other states, but they did not come for legal marijuana. I also do not think that medical marijuana caused her to become addicted to the hard stuff. Sounds like an oversimplification to me.
Not a single one of the homeless people I have talked to has smelled like a marijuana user. They were also too cleared headed and articulate to have been high or drunk.
Not a single one of the homeless people I have talked to has smelled like a marijuana user. They were also too cleared headed and articulate to have been high or drunk.
1
That's a completely ignorant statement. California has had a problem with homelessness for decades, just like NYC. The difference in NYC is the city government houses people.
2