The Los Angeles Homeless Containment Thread (San Francisco: contractors, system, orthodox)

[jm1982]

More proof of failure in L.A

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California is doing a poor job of sheltering the nation's largest homeless population and needs to provide statewide leadership to address the problem, the state auditor said Thursday in a report that also singled out problems with homeless services in Los Angeles County.


California doing a poor job on homeless crisis

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by jm1982

More proof of failure in L.A
California is doing a poor job of sheltering the nation's largest homeless population and needs to provide statewide leadership to address the problem, the state auditor said Thursday in a report that also singled out problems with homeless services in Los Angeles County.

California doing a poor job on homeless crisis

For once we agree on something. and it's not just LA, it's statewide. I ran across a young couple living in their car with a four year old while I was out for a walk. I've stayed in touch with them and taken them food a few times and I've been making phone calls all over trying to find shelter for them. There are very, few family shelters and every assistance program seems to be run by a different non profit and there doesn't seem to be any coordination of services. It's a big mess and I don't see a solution other than the state administering the entire program.

[jm1982]

Originally Posted by 2sleepy

For once we agree on something. and it's not just LA, it's statewide. I ran across a young couple living in their car with a four year old while I was out for a walk. I've stayed in touch with them and taken them food a few times and I've been making phone calls all over trying to find shelter for them. There are very, few family shelters and every assistance program seems to be run by a different non profit and there doesn't seem to be any coordination of services. It's a big mess and I don't see a solution other than the state administering the entire program.

That is nice you have been trying to help them. Really sad to hear about a four year old especially living in a car.

[rodentraiser]

Originally Posted by Matadora

Do you have any family or friends that can lend you a temporary fix? Distant cousins, grown nephews or nieces? Do you have any life long friends that can lend you a helping hand so you won't have to live in your car?

I don't think I explained this very well. If I live where I am, I can reasonably expect to save maybe $300 to $500 a month. If I move out into my car, I can save upwards of $700 to $1000 a month. That makes a big difference in how soon I can get a property cleared (if I buy a cheap one that isn't), get septic on it, get a trailer on it, and then hook up to utilities. I can do all this in half the time if I move out from where I'm at and into my car.

No, there are no family or friends to help me. I wouldn't ask them to, anyway.

Years ago when I was doing SAR work, one of the things they had us do was go out in the woods and spend the night, minus our daypacks. We had to keep ourselves warm and safe throughout the night. I realized what that had done for me when an SAR group I was in several years later got deeper into the woods than we thought. The one thing you don't do when you're out in the boonies is wait till dark to set up a campsite. So as sunset came along, I was perfectly willing to camp out in the woods that night. The other group members ignored my suggestion and kept going, getting more and more worried, and wouldn't quit breaking trails through the brush as it got darker. Fortunately, we broke out into a road right before night. For them, the thought of spending a night out in the woods was something scary to be avoided, because they'd never done it before.

The point is, once you do something "scary" and survive it, the situation doesn't hold a lot of fear anymore. I've been homeless under the worst circumstances. Moving out into my car when I have land, water, a place to camp during the day, an SSDI check coming in every month, and money in the bank, pfffttt. Child's play.

I wish that could be true for everyone out on the street.

The moment you listened to those telling you what you should do with your money and encouraging you to buy a house.

Hey, I wanted to buy a house, too. And I had no way to tell if it was a good decision or a bad one. But as I said, hindsight is 20/20. If I could do it over again, I wouldn't. But I'm not going to get that chance, am I? So the best thing to do is to quit worrying about it, learn from it, and move on.

Originally Posted by pittsflyer

Most people just want them to go away, out of sight out of mind, NIMBY alive and well. Because .... I got a masters degree. I bet there are homeless with masters degrees too, perhaps not living in a tent in central park looking like a disheveled lunatic but homeless all the same, bouncing from couch to couch using library internet, etc. There are a lot of people living out of vans or making a go of tiny home living, all kinds of stuff because finding a good job is a hellish nightmare and COL is so completely out of control people are doing desperate things to find alternatives.

There are Google workers and other tech workers in Mountain View and Sunnyvale living out of vans and campers in their employers' parking lots right now. Some are doing it because they want to save money and some are doing it because even with what they're being paid, they can't afford a place to live in the Bay Area.

In 1981, I rented a small house and a yard for $330 a month. A one bedroom apartment then for $400 a month was expensive. When I came up to Washington state, I was able to rent a two bedroom apartment for $545 a month and had no problems making that rent. Today, you can't find a one bedroom apartment in this small city that will rent under $1300.

Rents are out of control. Again, depending on the source, homelessness increases anywhere from 4% to 15% for every hundred dollars rents go up. People laugh because the largest homeless populations live on the West Coast. It might be the weather, but it's no coincidence that the West Coast also has the highest rents in the country. And the many of the "new" homeless are families and people who up till now, have been working full time and paying rent.

It's way past time we look at the correlation between rising rents and homelessness.

Originally Posted by NyWriterdude

If you can't afford life in California, MOVE!

I've been looking throughout the US for cheap places to live. Guess what? The cheapest and most affordable places to live are far from larger towns and services. I've even been turning those towns down because it does me no good to save money on a place to live if I have to spend the same amount of money for gas driving an hour each way just when I need groceries, or a doctor's appointment. And for people who need to work for a living, forget it. Even if they get the money to move, even if they manage to find a place to live in after they move there, the lack of jobs in some of these cheaper places is appalling.

I myself moved to the Puget Sound area when California got too expensive. It cost a lot of money and I had a place to live and a job waiting when I got here. It wiped out my savings to move here, but I can only imagine how much more it would have cost if I had had to stay a month or more in a motel if I didn't have a job to go to or a place to live the next morning.

And as I've asked over and over, where do you move when all the cheap places are gone? I moved here because I couldn't afford California. Now I'm faced with moving again to someplace cheaper. What happens if the taxes go up so high I need to move once more and I find myself basically priced out of the US? You laugh at that, but it's coming. There are no places where the average apartment rent can be paid on minimum wage anymore.

We know the middle class is going. Does it have to end up on the street before anyone decides something has to be done?

[CaliRestoration]

Originally Posted by CA4Now

But the article you quoted says that the main reason for this is that rents are going up faster than income in N.Y., California and Hawaii.

So there goes your "throwing more money at it" theory.

Those are TWO completely unrelated points.

What do "rental prices" have to do with social services and entitlement spending? Please explain.

[CaliRestoration]

Originally Posted by 2sleepy

It's a big mess and I don't see a solution other than the state administering the entire program.

That would make it worse. Much, much worse. The state isn't good at anything at all especially administering large bureaucratic taxpayer funded agencies. It would create more homeless people.

[SportyandMisty]

Originally Posted by CaliRestoration

Yeah, I'm looking at LA and thinking "What lessons?"

That spending $1.4 billion on the homeless over a 16 year period is a complete waste of money?

Well, for one, it employed an army of public sector employees and consultants to study the problem.

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by CaliRestoration

Those are TWO completely unrelated points.

What do "rental prices" have to do with social services and entitlement spending? Please explain.

Rising rents lead to increases in the number of people who become homeless because they can no longer afford rent.

[CaliRestoration]

Originally Posted by SportyandMisty

Well, for one, it employed an army of public sector employees and consultants to study the problem.

With CalPERs pensions attached for 20-30 years.

[jm1982]

Originally Posted by 2sleepy

Rising rents lead to increases in the number of people who become homeless because they can no longer afford rent.

There is a radio show in L.A on KFI 640 .. the John and Ken show and they talk about the homeless issue a lot .

I’ve heard them talk about this theory . They’ve said if you see the cost of living is so high in an area why not move to an area that has lower rents .

Many lower income and middle income people have done this which is why so many are moving from CA to TX for example .

Even if someone has a rent increase coming they have notice of it. Especially in L.A

Rent hasn’t been affordable in L.A for years or even decades .

Who wouldn’t choose an affordable city to move to instead of becoming homeless ?

Why not just move to an affordable city and then move back to L.A when in a better financial position ?

It’s the definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over expecting different results .

Seems a bunch of people are waiting for affordable housing promises from the politicians and believing their lies .. better to move to an affordable area . Aka not L.A , SF NYC

These false promises are just doing people a disservice .