Homelessness in Los Angeles

 

Homelessness in Los Angeles

By Michelle Lopez

              The city of Los Angeles is known for a lot of things but when you get a chance to tour around the city, one thing becomes very apparent. the city of Los Angeles suffers from a severe homeless problem. In this day in the Los Angeles county area, there are thousands of people that suffer from being homeless. This is a big problem affecting the city and it's different community areas. in the article "Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority Releases 2022 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count" it states that "The official 2022 LA  County Homeless Count is 69,144 people. This is a 4.1% increase from the 2020 Count." this shows that every year there seems to be more people that are pushed to live in the streets. In areas like Downtown LA and Hollywood it can be seen that there are many tents set up and these tents keep growing as more people join count.

                                        

            Los Angeles has risen to become the number one state in the U.S to have the most population of homeless people. In the article "Homelessness in Los Angeles: A unique crisis demanding new solutions" it states that "By recent estimates, LA’s population of people experiencing homelessness has surpassed New York City’s to become the largest in the nation—and it is still growing, with about one in 150 Angelenos, or 69,000 people, experiencing homelessness". This shows astonishing numbers but what is creating this issue of hopelessness?

             There are many reasons as to why people are forced into the streets such as having a mental disability or mental illness. there are also problems such as addictions or substance abuse that cause people to turn to live on the streets. The biggest root of this homeless crisis is the low wages and high housing costs. Los Angeles is a city that collects a lot of revenue from tourism and housing many million dollar companies and industries but yet lacks better paying wages for it's citizens. therefore people are unable to afford the ever growing prices of housing in this pricey city. We have places renting one bedroom one bathroom apartments for $1,800 plus, some even leading to $2,500. Many of the people in this city do not make enough to afford the high rents or spend most of their salary on paying their rent. There is also not enough help for the people in poverty to afford housing therefore leading them to live in their cars or on the street. we have seen the prices of housing grow exponentially every year.

    

                

                Other further reason for this homelessness crisis could be old veterans who do not receive the support they need to afford housing. People who cannot find work as well are in higher probability to become homeless. The recent outbreak of COVID-19 left many people unemployed leading them to be unable to pay for their rent and living expenses. Many factors could potentially lead people to live on the streets.

               

                This is an issue that is important to me because as someone who works and lives on minimum wage and has a family that as well works on minimum wage with the current economy we live in and the rising prices of items, food, and rent, it has become hard and a possibility of this crisis affecting us. Rent control is being fought to be placed on all buildings but there are many buildings who still do not participate in rent control. This as well as seeing many people struggle out on the street and have no sort of help to get back to living in a proper home is heartbreaking as it is inhumane to allow people to live on the streets. This is an issue that must be tackled, as our streets only get more full of homeless people. 

The Community

                                    

Angel Granados (21) - " We should stop turning a blind eye to hopeless people, they need proper help in order to put them in the right direction out of living on the streets." 

Jocelyn Lopez (19) - "It is sad that we do not provide enough help to these people who have mental health or addiction problems in order for them to be able to get back on their feet, rather we leave them to fend for themselves and turn a blind eye to their problems."

Josephat Lozano (21) - "There is a real crisis regarding homelessness and we can see it all around us in our communities. There should really be something done to try to help solve this problem and prevent further growth on the homeless population."

 References: 

    Adarkar, Ashwin, et al. “Homelessness in Los Angeles: A Unique Crisis Demanding New Solutions.” McKinsey & Company, McKinsey & Company, 24 Mar. 2023 https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/public-and-social-sector/our-insights/homelessnes-in-los-angeles-a-unique-crisis-demanding-new-solutions.

 

    “City of West Hollywood.”  News. https://www.weho.org/Home/Components/News/News/10523/23#:~:text=The%20official%202022%20LA%20County,increase%20from%20the%202020%20Count. 

     Cowan, Jill. “Homeless Populations Are Surging in Los Angeles. Here's Why.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 5 June 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/05/us/los-angeles-homeless-population.html.