Homelessness in Los Angeles by Karen Cruz

 Homelessness in Los Angeles

Karen Cruz

    When you think of Homeless you might think about homeless in your neighborhood or community. The biggest area where you will find more homeless in the city of Los Angeles is Downtown. Homeless in Downtown Los Angeles has taken over most areas of the city making it easy to be seen when passing by in a car, on public transportation, or even walking. Homelessness has been an ongoing issue in Los Angeles making it considered a major social issue. 

    Here are some reasons why individuals become homeless:    

• They are having trouble affording or finding affordable homes
• They want to escape their past if they experienced some type of domestic violence 
• Teenagers who have run away from home
• They could have a mental health issue or disability
• and etc...

    In the article "Growth in L.A. County homeless population slowed during pandemic, count finds," by Ruben Vives and Doug Smith talk about the count of homeless in L.A. and how it has slowed down during the pandemic. In the article, they both shares, "The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, which coordinates the annual count for most of the county, found that the region's homeless population grew by 4.1% from 66,436 in 2020 to 66,144 in 2022. The percentage of those individuals living indoors in shelters increased from 28% to 30%" (Vives and Smith). What I think about this information is that the amount of homeless has increased more in the year 2020 especially when the pandemic started to hit. The pandemic has been a major factor in making the homeless population grow because when the pandemic started the state declared everyone to stay home and quarantined making the people who worked lose their jobs and have trouble living their life when everything was close. 

    In the article "Los Angeles county is home to more than 69,000 unhoused people, count finds," by Sam Levin, he talks about the count of homeless in L.A. and also talks about racial disparities that are along the homeless population. In the article, he shares, "There continues to be severe racial disparities in the crisis, with Black residents making up 30% of unhoused Angelenos, while accounting for only 9% of the broader population. There has also been a substantial increase in unhoused Latino residents, who now make up 44% of the unhoused population. Latinos make up 49% of LA county residents" (Levin). It is important to consider the races in the homeless population because it can help out determine what was the issue of the individuals becoming homeless. I think the reason why we have more Black and Latino residents unhoused is that there have been imbalances for the individuals of those races going on. For Black, there is racism and injustice towards them and for Latinos well, the case is that they are most likely immigrants and they are having trouble finding a job and shelter. 

Personal Importance

    This social issue is important to me because no one deserves to be homeless and they deserve to have a safe and warm place to live. I feel personally affected by this social issue because in my neighborhood homeless have taken over an entire sidewalk by the grocery store which does not make it safe for the rest of the people since we have to basically walk on the street. Sometimes they bring more trash and basically almost take over half the street making it not safe for cars to pass by and people to walk to the grocery store. The reason why I choose this social issue is that I feel like homelessness needs to be talked about more and there should be more ideas on how we can encourage those who live on the streets to go live in the shelters that were made for them. If we all come together we can get more helpful ideas to get the homeless out of the streets since it's not safe for them to live in the streets. Homeless run the risk of dying of natural causes, the cause of climate change or getting hit by a very dangerous accident. 

Those Affected in the Community

"Homeless need a safe place to sleep especially right now the weather is getting colder at night." -Lesly Cruz

"Getting homeless and everyone else a safe place should be important." -Roberto Ramirez Garcia

"I think homeless people who live on the street have certain limits in their health plan, for example, there are times when they are sick and have nowhere to go because of their appearance, food for them is also limited because there sometimes they don't have anything to eat, they struggle to have food on the table, it's sad and now that I see many homeless people on the streets of Los Angeles, it makes me sad to see that there are many more young boys, now I remember that in 1999's there weren't many people but now after 25 years, it is something that one sees and is surprised. I hope that the homeless find a home because they deserve to live in a house where they can sleep in peace and not have to worry."- Elvira Valencia

Resources 

Levin, Sam. "Los Angeles County Is Home to More than 96,000 Unhoused People, Count Finds." The Guardian News

and Media, 8 Sept. 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/sep/08/los-angeles-homelessness-unhoused-people-number.

 

Vives, Ruben, and Doug Smith. “Growth in L.A. County Homeless Population Slowed during Pandemic, Count Finds.”

Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 8 Sept. 2022, https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-09-08/l-a-county-homeless-count-shows-homelessness-grew-slightly-a-possible-sign#:~:text=The%20Los%20Angeles%20Homeless%20Services,from%2028%25%20to%2030%25.