Homelessness in Los Angeles - Kimberly David

Civic Engagement "Action" Project

Civic Engagement: What is it?

    According to Wichita State University (2017), civic engagement means any collective effort to support the needs of a community or society through intentional outreach programs or initiatives. Likewise, New York Times (2000), defines civic engagement as working to make a difference in civic life (i.e. within communities and gaining the skills and knowledge to make that difference). My definition of civic engagement is an individual who is willing to facilitate some sort of help whether it'd be within the community or society in general. It is the difference someone can make that can be beneficial to other members of our community or the transfer of knowledge that one has about a certain issue that can improve our society's way of living. Thus, this can include trying to make a difference by attending events such as rallies or protests because someone who knows they can make a difference may attend, pursuing the problem to gain more information about it and to stand for what they believe in. Perhaps an individual wants to raise awareness about body shaming, so they part-take in a protest or a march that focuses on that topic. Or maybe an individual like myself, would like to shine a light on the issue of homelessness in our society. Hence, the following issue in my community that I would want people to take more notice in is the high rise in homelessness in the city of Los Angeles.

Homelessness Crisis in Los Angeles: How does this issue affect me?

Dovarganes, Damien (NYDailynews, 2015) - Tents & the L.A. Skyline

 
      According to the New York Times (2016), in 2015 there was a decrease in family homelessness and homeless veterans due to the slight expansion of temporary shelters provided for this population. However, there was still an overall 5.7% increase in homelessness in our city of Los Angeles alone and is still continuing to rise (New York Times, 2016). The population of homeless people in our city consists of 9% individuals who are age 18, 30% females, 30% who are chronically homeless, 18% of age 18 and over individuals who have substance abuse disorders, 30% suffering from mental illness, and 30% are/were victims of domestic violence (Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, 2017). Linked below is a short YouTube video on the rapid rising of the homeless population in Los Angeles. You may click or copy and paste the link if you wish to get a greater understanding of this issue and refer back to this page.

Rise of Homelessness: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODZnYUqxYiM

      My action is to create a higher awareness of homelessness. In the city of Los Angeles, the population of homelessness is steadily on the rise. In places such as skid-row or even in my neighborhood, there are so many homeless people who roam around looking for new things to use to create a stable home. This is a major issue to me because sometimes, though many homeless people are harmless, it still saddens me to see the same five to six homeless people in my neighborhood alone asking for money every day. I also feel heartbroken when I see them with barely anything to keep themselves warm during cold times. On top of that, some of them even have pets.

      Another reason why I hope to shine a brighter light on this issue in my community is that about ten minutes from my house there is a gas/electric company building whose streets and sidewalks behind it are usually empty. However, it is now accompanied by a small community of about 30 homeless people. There are about four long sidewalks and on each, there are about eight tents somehow connected with what seems about four people living in each. If you really think about it, that's a pretty big group of homeless people for an area that is just one street away from a decent neighborhood. I pass by this almost every day and I even come here every Christmas to pass out food. It's truly heartbreaking to see all these homeless people sleeping in super hot/cold weather. I actually met one homeless man who lived in one of the tents last Christmas (2016) named Tony. He said, if enough money to buy his own house wasn't going to happen, one thing he wished happened was at least a couple of nights stay in a shelter a week. I feel like that's just it. We don't have enough shelters to house most homeless people and we should! Many people think that these street dwellers are homeless for a negative reason and they believe that these homeless people deserve to be where they are. What I think is that homeless people need all the opportunities for help they can get to be back on their feet even if that means offering them a $2.50 hourly job cleaning tables at a local corner restaurant!

Through this project, I met a few people who had a few words to share about this issue in our community:

"Homelessness affects my community because there are always break-ins into people's homes and cars. The homeless community also go house to house rummaging into trash, leaving garbage all over the street. Even though there isn't a definite bright side, I do what I can to help whether it's giving recyclables, spare change, old clothes, and food, I try to help anyway I can. If only there were an increased amount of space in our local homeless shelters.. maybe there wouldn't be that many homeless individuals on our streets." - Jerome De Rosas

"I believe we are a product of our surroundings. Homelessness affects me and my community both aesthetically and mentally. People with no homes may tend to dig through the neighborhood's trash usually never picking up after themselves and leaving the neighborhood to look & feel like a bad place to live in. With that being said, when I see an area filled with homeless people I personally, automatically feel like that the area is not a suitable place to build a community around." - Nehemiah P. Guerrero

"When I see the homeless in my community I feel compassion for them. It doesn't deter me in any way but, only encourages me to give or do what I can at the moment with what I have. In addition, I think familiarizing myself with the services of my local church or homeless shelter and passing that knowledge onto the homeless will benefit them long term wise. Society as a whole can also support city, state, and federal measures by voting to reduce/aid homeless." - Kyong Cho

    Homelessness is a serious issue that many people choose to ignore due to the steady increase. Because of this, people start to think it's a problem that is becoming too much to handle. However, if we came up with a way to provide the proper funding we can eventually get more people out of the streets by creating permanent stay shelters. We can even provide them with job opportunities that build a base for them to get back on their feet! One step at a time we can all make a difference. I hope this post has had you think twice about the homeless community in our city or in any city that you become familiar with and that you join me in helping them out any way you can. Whether it'd be donating your old clothes, donating blankets and pillows, giving away old purses or bags with feminine products inside to help homeless women on the streets, or even giving away leftover food especially during the holidays in exchange for the good feeling you get after helping someone in need. Anything helps and counts!