Sharon Ramirez
Homelessness in Los Angeles County
A major social issue that affects
the city of Los Angeles is homelessness. This is a very complex problem because
housing in Los Angeles is extremely expensive. According to Zillow a 1 bedroom,
1 bath apartment in down town Los Angeles is approximately $1,400 usd.
Some social factors that contribute to homelessness is lack of affordable
housing. Individuals who are homeless have financial burdens many times they
are unemployed and cannot afford the ridiculous prices of 2018 housing. As a
Sociologist student, I have learned that Homeless people sometimes suffer from
mental health, addictions and domestic violence. I believe members of the Los
Angeles community should develop more programs to reduce the homeless
population. According to the Los Angeles Times the population of homeless has
increased “L.A County now has 58,000 homeless people”. Homelessness affects me
as well as my community because as we drive on California State highways we see
homeless standing with a banner and begging/ asking for change. As I
drive onto the 5 north highway to get to school I see multiple homeless people
asking for change while holding a banner. I use to spare a dollar or two but
now as a college student I can’t because I have my own expenses with rent and
College tuition.
Homelessness has become a problem and WE as Americans should help and do
something about it. The Los Angeles Committee should develop more programs such
as affordable housing. Rent in Los Angeles have been climbing therefore leaving
families homeless and without a shelter. I would like to see a change and would
like to see those 58,000 homeless individuals with a shelter over their heads;
as no one deserves to be homeless in America. There is a bill SB-918
Homeless Youth Act of 2018, “…. this bill would establish the Office of
Homeless Youth in the Department of Housing and Community Development. The bill
would set forth the duties of the office, including, but not limited to,
setting specific, measurable goals aimed at preventing and ending homelessness
among youth in the state.” If the community begins by preventing the youth from
becoming homeless we can then move on to the other homeless individuals in Los
Angeles County and just like the Artist JR we can figure out a way to raise
awareness to Americans about homelessness in the city of Los Angeles.
The
questioned I asked Miss.Villa was "How does homelessness affect you and
your community? "
Laura
Villa she stated " Homeless affects my community be making people feel
unsafe because some of them can approach you in an aggressive way. Also
affect the economy people avoid places where there us a Large amount of
homeless and that affects businesses around it. Homeless make the streets
dirtier and unhealthy because they do their needs in the streets.
I also asked "How can we prevent homelessness in
our community?"
Laura stated " we can prevent homeless by
creating a law that controls the cost of housing. Build low income houses and create
programs that can help homeless people that
need rehab.
The following person I interviews was Kimberly
Bernal.
I asked Miss. Bernal "How does homelessness
affect you and your community?"
She
stated " Homelessness affects me and community in the sense that it has caused
my community it's values that it should have. Homelessness makes my area look
unsafe and dirty. Even though I have nothing against homeless people on a
personal level, I do not appreciate the amount of items collected from the
homeless and brought back into my neighborhood.
Homelessness has also affected the safety in
my community in a way that children are not encouraged to play outside with homeless
around. People assume that most homeless people are "bad" and even
though that is not necessary true. The idea of having homeless around makes
surrounding communities feel safe. Overall, Homeless is more of a negative than
a positive issue in our society. Homeless should be encouraged to live in
shelters insteed of affecting other communities and the life styles that are
already there in their homes.
The next person I interviewed was Ms. Victoria
Ramirez
I asked Ms.
Ramirez "How does homelessness affect you and your community?"
She stated " Homelessness affects my community
in a big way because as a home owner homelessness decreases property value. Homeless
affect pubic areas because it makes it unsafe although it shouldn't be that
way, unfortunately many Americans are homeless in the United Sates and we
should put a stop to it. As a community we should raise money to build shelters
for individuals in need.
We should all be good citizens and help those in
need because we will all be affected if we don't put a stop to homelessness. If
there are already 58,000 homeless people in the streets of Los Angeles. What
will the statistics be in 5 to 10 years from today? Los Angeles should set in
place a law that Controls the Cost of housing so people can afford housing.
Finally
I interviewed The fourth person Miss. Kimberly Hernandez I asked
Miss. Hernandez "How does homelessness
affect you and your community?"
She stated " Homelessness is a big issue in
neighborhoods that are populated with them. Not only does homelessness decrease
the value of the properties and areas but they create an unsafe environment.
Families who have children are restricted from being able to walk down the
streets due to homelessness encampments. In a lot of cases homeless people are
messy and do not clean up for themselves. Leaving streets messy with garbage.
not only does it affect communities but it also affects individuals itself which
progresses to health problems and increases the risk of violence. With all
these health issues that homeless have they also have an effect on medical providers, being a
burden to hospitals.
While
combining the information from the four individuals I discovered that all of them
where worried for there safety and the over population of homeless. A big concern for them was the dirty living condition homeless where living in and the amount of unsanitary garbage they where leaving behind in the their committee. The lack of sanitation causes health problems wish can affect those around the community. Also the over population of homeless can increase the risk of violence since people claim territory. With the over population of homeless in the City of Los Angeles many hospitals are over populated and it causes overwhelming stress to medical providers and a burden to hospitals.Two specific individuals Ms. Ramirez and
Miss.Villa suggested there should be a Law Set in place to control the cost of
housing in Los Angeles and I agree. According to Zillow web sight a 1 bedroom, 1 bath apartment in down town Los
Angeles is approximately $1,400 usd. Individuals can't afford that with a
minimum wage job. Even full time college students with part time jobs can make
enough to cover dormitory rent. Costa Hawkins is a state law that sets some
requirements for the 15 cities in California with rent control—Los Angeles
included. "There are two main provisions: It protects a landlord’s right
to raise the rent to market rate on a unit once a tenant moves out.It prevents
cities from establishing rent control—or capping rent—on units constructed
after February 1995. LA’s main rent control law is the Rent Stabilization
Ordinance, or RSO. It restricts rent control to units built prior to October
1978, even earlier than the 1995 cutoff imposed by Costa Hawkins." Costa
Hawkins is a California State Law that places limits on rent control. It should
definitely be modified and controlled because individuals still can't afford
the cost of living in Los Angeles.
As
a former United States Census bureau employee I was assigned to count the
Population in the City of Los Angeles. I was part of their non respondent team
and was Enumerating homes in the City of Los Angeles. I was impressed with the
amount of people that lived in each home. California's population is
39,536,653 and the population per smiles in 2017 is 253 . The Hispanic and
Latino percent as of July 1, 2016 is 38.9%. the White alone, Not Hispanic or
Latino percent as of July 1,2016 us 337.7%. Black and African American alone is
6.5%.The median gross rent as of 2012 -2016 in California is $1,297. The median selected monthly home owner costs-
with a mortgage is $2,157. It is expensive
being a home owner in Los Angeles. The median Household income in 2016 is
2012-2016 in California $63,783 and per
Capita income in past 12 months in 2016 2012-2016 is $31,458 . The Statistics for
this is accurate and the numbers is really impressive. I believe rent control
in Los Angeles is Important because the cost of living is expensive and because
of that there are a lot of homeless. The four individuals I interviews were concern with the amount of homeless in there community in the city of Los Angeles. I am also concerned with the over population of homeless and I believe we should definitely try to raise money to
build more centers such as the Midnight mission to help rehabilitate and build
lives. The midnight mission has programs for homeless individuals in Los
Angeles county. They target areas such as Skid Row where there are hundreds of homeless
individuals. The mission is to help
reduce the condition of homelessness in DTLA. The Midnight helps rebuild a
safety net for homeless and the goal is to find them a secure and successful
future by helping them find jobs and stabilize them sleeves. With the help of individuals and the community this mission has been around for a century and it continues to grow. The individuals I interviewed want a healthy and happy society without the burden of homeless. With the help of the Midnight Mission and the volunteers we can help rehabilitate people and get them out of Skid Row and the surrounding cities of Los Angeles.
Works
Cited
Anon, (2018).
[Online] Available at: http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-los-angeles-shelter-shortage-20170929-htmlstory.html[Accessed 14 Mar. 2018].
Costa Hawkins Available
at: https://la.curbed.com/2018/1/12/16883276/rent-control-california-costa-hawkins-explained
Census Statistics : https://www.census.gov/popclock/?intcmp=home_pop
Leginfo.legislature.ca.gov. (2018). Bill Text -
SB-918 Homeless Youth Act of 2018.. [online] Available at: http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB918 [Accessed 14 Mar. 2018].
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