The Issue of Homelessness in Los Angeles
Homelessness
has always been a growing issue in Los Angeles that has affected thousands of
people who now live on the streets. People are becoming homeless everyday in
Los Angeles due to a number of causes such as limited employment opportunities
and expensive housing. These causes have been very difficult to fix. The homelessness
issue is one that will take years of tremendous effort and money. This greatly
affects the Los Angeles community has a great amount of trash on the streets which
can be harmful to the environment and unsanitary to the community and it overall makes the truth of how bad the issue has come to in Los Angeles.
In
the article, “Applying a Prevention Framework to Address Homelessness as a Population
Health Issue”, mentioned that “According to the January 2018 point-in-time
homeless count the homeless population is just over 53,000 individuals,
including more than 9000 who became homeless for the first time in 2017.” (Nicholas
& Henwood, 284-285). In other words, there are is a huge number of +people
who are becoming homeless in Los Angeles and as the years go by this number has
been increasing. This is getting out of control, but the causes of this issue
will be growing as well. Driving in Los Angeles and seeing tents in almost
every street is very sad and the homeless have no choice but to sleep on the
streets. According to the article “Los Angeles: Why tens of thousands of people
sleep rough”, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority did a survey on where
homeless people sleep and they found that most of the homeless sleep on the
streets.
From the survey, there are
emergency shelters that help a lot with the homeless being less on the streets.
However, there aren’t enough shelters in Los Angeles and neither affordable
housing. In the article “How California's Housing Crisis Turned Into A Homeless
Crisis” mentioned that “About 29 percent of California renters spend more than
half their income on rent, according to a study from the Joint Center for
Housing Studies of Harvard University. Paying more than about a third of income
on housing can make it hard to afford basics like food, clothing, transportation
and health care, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development.” (Hill). This explains why a lot of people have a hard time paying
rent and end up living on the streets.
The minimum wage and lack of
employment opportunities make it tough for people to afford a home. In a news
report by City News Service on NBC Los Angeles stated that “A minimum-wage
employee would have to work 79 hours a week at $13.25 per hour to afford the
rent in an average one-bedroom apartment, Lynn said.” This means that the minimum
wage in Los Angeles is not enough for any person to make a nice living with an affordable
home. Therefore, the minimum wage has to increase, and this will lead to less
people becoming homeless. There are a lot of factors that are involved with the
homelessness issue in Los Angeles, but unaffordable housing and unemployment are
the main ones that need to make a change.
Why does this matter?
This issue is important because
Los Angeles is a city that is full of diversity and lots of great places to
visit. However, it is sad to go down on Skid Row and see so many tents and trash
on the street. It is unfortunate that people who are trying to make a living in
the community but cannot because the prices for housing are so high and the
unemployment rate is increasing. I chose this issue because I have had difficulty
looking for a place with a minimum wage job to the point where I have had nowhere
to lay my head at night except in my car. I cannot imagine or come close to
knowing how the homeless people sleeping every night on those cold streets in
Los Angeles must be like. A lot of community members have volunteered to give food and shelter to the homeless but it is the Mayor's job to tackle the issue. I really hope the Mayor of Los Angeles will do better
in opening more shelters for the homeless. The homelessness issue is a growing issue, there needs to be action taken and the sooner, the better. In the future, hopefully we could
see more affordable housing and higher minimum wages so that people won't be living on the streets of Los Angeles.
Sources:
City News Service. “New Report
Says LA County’s Homeless Population Increased by 12 Percent Over Past Year”. Published June 4, 2019. https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/streets-of-shame/homeless-count-los-angeles-skid-row/148462/
Flaming, Daniel., Blasi, Gary. “Los
Angeles: Why Tens of Thousands of People Sleep Rough”.
Economic Roundtable and UCLA Law School. 19 September 2019. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-49687478
Hill, Adrienne. “How California's
Housing Crisis Turned Into A Homeless Crisis”. August
27, 2018. https://laist.com/2018/08/27/housing_homelessness_and_the_california_dream.php
Nicholas, C. Will., Henwood, F.
Benjamin. 2018. “Applying a Prevention Framework to Address Homelessness as a Population Health Issue”. J Public
Health Pol. 39:283–293 https://doi.org/10.1057/s41271-018-0137-9
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