Wednesday, April 18, 2018

Homelessness in Los Angeles County


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 



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].

 Midnight mission. http://www.midnightmission.org/program-services/healthy-living/
















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