Homelessness in Los Angeles: Causes and Solutions

Introduction: A Growing Crisis

A prevalent and ever-growing social issue in many communities across the United States is the problem of homelessness. According to the federal government's annual report on homelessness, the number of homeless people in America recently increased for the first time in eight years. The West Coast, with its warmer climates, tends to have greater homeless populations than elsewhere in America. Even though the national economy has been expanding, the cost of housing continues to rise, and more and more people simply cannot afford a place to live (McEvers, 2017). In southern California, there is no city where this is more vividly represented than Los Angeles's Skid Row. While Skid Row is a specific neighborhood rather than a community unto itself, it reflects the core of this social issue. The homeless tend to congregate there, and in greater downtown Los Angeles, for good reason: this is where several missions are located, providing shelters, meals, and temporary housing — sometimes even permanent housing (McEvers, 2017).

The problem in Los Angeles is further exacerbated by the fact that the area where homelessness is most acute — downtown Los Angeles — has experienced a surge in development and a general boom in luxury housing. This has caused tensions to rise as the city struggles to balance the rights and needs of the homeless against those of tax-paying residents who must navigate the many encampments that have spread across the city (LA Times, 2018). Los Angeles, a warm urban metropolis, has long had a homeless problem, like so many major cities. However, in recent years the situation has grown far worse, and this paper examines why.

Extent and Longevity of the Problem

In the last six years, the number of people living on streets, in doorways, and in shelters in Los Angeles expanded from 32,000 to 55,000 — a 75% increase (Holland, 2018). Los Angeles faces a problem distinct from the rest of the nation; in fact, if the city were removed from national homeless statistics, the national homeless count would have dropped last year for the first time in a decade (Holland, 2018). This is largely because the economic recovery has left the homeless behind: rising incomes among young professionals have driven rents to exceedingly high levels (Holland, 2018). In previous years, the homeless might have found more low-income housing, but those options have all but disappeared given the volume of evictions and renovations occurring throughout the city.

Many argue that this social problem has only worsened since Mayor Garcetti took office and the Democratic Party consolidated control of the County Board of Supervisors, with more and more homeless individuals appearing in tents across neighborhoods citywide (Holland, 2018). Los Angeles lags behind the rest of the nation in its efforts to provide free or low-income housing. If the problem continues to expand at its current rate, it is in danger of becoming completely unmanageable.

Solutions and Anti-Solutions

The current approach that Los Angeles has taken is attempting to arrest its way out of the homelessness problem — a strategy that is both futile and a waste of city resources, and one that arguably exacerbates the very problem it aims to solve. For example, when a police officer encounters someone sleeping on the street, they can issue a citation carrying a fee of around $300, an amount most homeless people simply cannot pay. The homeless person is then required to appear in court to address the citation, something they often never do. Experts have found that increases in the number of arrests and citations generally follow increases in the number of homeless people rather than precede reductions (LA Times, 2018). Using arrests and citations as a means of addressing homelessness in Los Angeles is entirely counterproductive and undermines all viable solutions. Having arrests or citations on record can prevent homeless individuals from obtaining jobs or qualifying for housing. As one commentator writes, "For starters, officers need to have the resources to offer a homeless person an alternative to a citation or arrest on the spot. If they're not accompanied by an outreach worker to help persuade a homeless person to accept services and temporary housing, they need to have a phone number for one" (LA Times, 2018). Anything less than this represents a callous, narrow response that only adds to an escalating problem.

Instead, there needs to be a more aggressive and constructive solution to homelessness in Los Angeles. The city's current budget for homelessness is approximately $150 million — a modest sum relative to the scale of the crisis. With such limited resources devoted to so severe a problem, Los Angeles risks becoming a city with conditions resembling those of the developing world. More and more tent cities are spreading, and without intervention they will encroach even on the wealthiest neighborhoods. City and county officials have a serious responsibility to establish a consistent source of dedicated funding — such as through a sales tax — to address this problem (Lopez, 2016).

A $2 billion housing bond represents another viable path forward. The Mental Health Services Act of 2004, also known as Proposition 63, was championed by former California State Senator and later Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson. The act placed a 1% tax on wealthy individuals' income, generating approximately $1.74 billion per year (Lopez, 2016). Using a portion of this ongoing revenue stream to capitalize a $2 billion housing bond could transform the city's capacity to address chronic homelessness (Lopez, 2016). Until Los Angeles moves aggressively on a strategy of this kind, temporary measures must also be put in place. For example, homeless people living in cars or RVs need to be redirected into safe, city-run parking lots overnight, where they can ultimately be connected to pathways toward permanent housing (Lopez, 2016).

Conclusion and References

If this data and examination of the homeless problem demonstrates anything, it shows without a doubt that homelessness in Los Angeles is a complex problem created and perpetuated by complex forces. As this paper has discussed, rising rents, a lack of affordable housing, untreated mental illness, drug addiction, inadequate political and legislative action, and imbalanced enabling forces within the social services sector all contribute to the crisis. One thing is certain: a significantly larger investment from city government is needed to aggressively tackle this problem before it becomes wholly unmanageable. Furthermore, a frank audit of how homeless services are being used — including potential abuse of free prescription drugs intended for the mentally ill — is overdue. Unless Los Angeles officials are pushed to take proactive steps to lessen and contain this problem, it will continue to spiral out of control.

References

Holland, G. (2018, February 1). L.A.'s homelessness surged 75% in six years. Here's why the crisis has been decades in the making. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-homeless-how-we-got-here-20180201-story.html

Kruzman, D. (2016, March 9). Mind in plain sight. Daily Trojan. Retrieved from https://dailytrojan.com/2016/03/09/mind-plain-sight/

LA Times Editorial Board. (2018, February 16). Everyone knows we can't arrest our way out of homelessness. So why is L.A. still trying? Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-homeless-arrests-not-working-20180216-story.html

Lopez, S. (2016, May 11). Five ways to end homelessness in L.A. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-lopez-homeless-solutions-20160510-column.html

McEvers, K. (2017, December 8). Homeless in Los Angeles: A growing problem. NPR. Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/2017/12/08/569522376/homeless-in-los-angeles-a-growing-problem