The Los Angeles Homeless Containment Thread (San Francisco, Sonoma: house, live in, bus)

[Finper]

Originally Posted by CA4Now

Actually, expensive housing is still an issue for many homeless, or soon to be homeless.

"In downtown L.A., I met Courtney Manlove, 32.... She runs her own sales and marketing company focused on the music business. She told me she used to own a Mercedes. But she sold it and most everything else of high value she owned after she was diagnosed with colon cancer and her chemotherapy wasn’t covered by her insurance. She’s now cancer free, but she ended up more than $200,000 in debt, which, of course, ruined her credit.

“I make six figures but I can’t get approved for an apartment,” she said. “That’s why Los Angeles is becoming the No. 1 homeless capital in the world — because everyone makes it so hard.”

In Westwood, I met Susan Sherwin, 69, whose Malibu house burned down in 2007. She told me she spent years in a messy divorce fight that kept her from selling the property. She was living in her RV in a mobile-home park until she found PodShare..."

https://www.latimes.com/california/s...-or-a-bunk-bed

Those pods are a good alternative way of living and a way for a person who lost their job to not have to hit the streets but 1000 a month for a bed is pretty pricey. I actually think this should be built for the homeless instead of 500k rooms but developers would never allow it.

It's definitely not a good option for introverts like me and what do couples and people on dates do? I can see why extroverts would love it though

[CA4Now]

"This housing project has become a lens through which they (Chatsworth residents) view the ills of the big city: The developers are greedy, the mayor is grandstanding, city officials are inept and no one listens to them."

How do we stay humane when housing homeless people comes with a view to your backyard?
https://www.city-data.com/forum/newre...e=1&p=56392284

[jdahunt]

Originally Posted by Kings Gambit

None of the above. You sound like one of the regular guys here who constantly complain and complain and complain about things in LA but wont move.

Lots of the homeless who are not suffering from mental health issues or substance abuse problems are here from other parts of the U.S. because of our high minimum wage and weather. They know that if they can find a job ANYWHERE, they will be make much more than anywhere else in the country which gives them a better chance of getting off the streets even with the high cost of living in Los Angeles. Also, its much better to be homeless in sunny southern California than homeless in Michigan or Ohio.

Now the homeless people who suffer from substance abuse and mental issues are another story altogether. This problem goes all the way back to when Reagan (who was lobbied by pharmaceutical companies) defunded mental health facilities which ended up putting a LOT of these types of people on the streets. His (and their) thinking was that it would be cheaper and easier to treat these types with medication instead of physical facilities and we are STILL suffering from this as of today. The old "Lets give them a shot of this medication and they'll be normal again" doesnt work and hasnt worked.

Another problem with the mental health/substance abuse homeless is that many of them came from parts of the country where they were ingrained with "dont trust the government" mindset. So even if/when they are give help, or taken to place that offers them help, they leave after a day or two to go right back on the streets.

I know some may think its cute to start threads about homeless (some here even create new/alternate profiles just to complain) but if you are REALLY interested and if you REALLY have that big of a concern about it, there are many places you can volunteer to help.

Reagan didn't do anything, the dems were in charge of the house were bills originated and no bill went to Reagans desk without the Dems approval.

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by jdahunt

Reagan didn't do anything, the dems were in charge of the house were bills originated and no bill went to Reagans desk without the Dems approval.

It's a bit more complicated than that....

... What Reagan is not readily known for is the long term effect of a law he repealed that essentially deinstitutionalized mentally ill patients at the federal level (Roberts, 2013). While some of his fiscal policies had a positive effect on the U.S. economy during the 1980s, his decision to deinstitutionalize mentally ill patients had a much more deleterious effect on these patients, their communities, and the agencies that were left to contend with these individuals’ mental health issues (Honberg, 2015).

The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (OBRA) is the statute that repealed President Carter’s Mental Health Systems Act which was supposed to continue federal funding for mental health programs. Reagan gave the appearance of making a consequentialist ethical decision because he presented his repeal of OBRA as an action that would best serve American society and do more good than harm as a result. The OBRA gave mental patients a choice to seek treatment outside of a mental institution, an option to seek treatment at clinics at the state level, and the freedom to administer their own medication (PSY533, 2017) (Pan, 2013). However, Reagan was hasty in taking unsound advice to repeal OBRA because his real motive was to cut the federal budget (Roberts, 2013). He was a leader who “never exhibited any interest in the need for research or better treatment for serious mental illness” (Torrey, 2017).
https://sites.psu.edu/psy533wheeler/...omment-page-1/

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by Finper

Those pods are a good alternative way of living and a way for a person who lost their job to not have to hit the streets but 1000 a month for a bed is pretty pricey. I actually think this should be built for the homeless instead of 500k rooms but developers would never allow it.

It's definitely not a good option for introverts like me and what do couples and people on dates do? I can see why extroverts would love it though

Building cheaper alternatives for the homeless is the only option, whether that means, tents, tiny houses or partitioned warehouses - or even safe parking lots, it's absurd to build exorbitantly priced housing units. Social workers in New York pushed for single occupancy apartments for the mentally ill but it's becoming clear that the seriously mentally ill do better in a group housing situation, left alone their condition frequently deteriorates.

[CA4Now]

One sobering article.

When the Homeless Man Is Your Son:

https://www.ocregister.com/2019/10/0...n-is-your-son/

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by CA4Now

One sobering article.

When the Homeless Man Is Your Son:

https://www.ocregister.com/2019/10/0...n-is-your-son/

Yeah. Ouch.

The mother of my children is now passed away. When we were living together for many years and our kids young, her youngest brother came to live with us as a troubled teen from a broken home. He was a fine young artist and pretty sweet kid in general. After a time he became inspired by my military service and joined the Marines as soon as he was of age. For whatever combination of reasons - genetics, stresses, his teenage drug use prior to enlistment - he fell to severe schizophrenia right after he finished his boot camp. Between his mother, and sister and I, and the VA we guided him and cared for him for over 20 years. Sometimes he’d stay heavily medicated and reasonably compliant. Sometimes he rebelled against the effects of the medications and we’d have to have him institutionalized until he was controllable again.

If it weren’t for the VA I don’t know how we could have managed him.

And so many don’t have such a resource.

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by CA4Now

One sobering article.

When the Homeless Man Is Your Son:

https://www.ocregister.com/2019/10/0...n-is-your-son/

It sure is. I have friends with adult children who are homeless, it's really tragic.

[expatCA]

Originally Posted by 2sleepy

It sure is. I have friends with adult children who are homeless, it's really tragic.

Now, why is this becoming more and more common?

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by expatCA

Now, why is this becoming more and more common?

You tell me..

29 year old with Dissociative Psychosis. He first developed symptoms when a young teen. His parents are both retired and live in a very nice part of Sonoma County. They employee a full time live in caretaker for their son who regularly escapes and makes his way to San Francisco where he will live on the streets for a few weeks until he gets really bad and the cops detain him. Most of the cops know him by sight and immediately call his parents when they see him. The house is alarmed, the windows are locked with key locks, but he still gets out. When he's on his psych meds he does well, but they usually quit working or start giving him side effects after a few months, and when that happens it's very hard to get him in to see his psychiatrist because he doesn't trust anyone. He has gotten progressively sicker and doctors don't have a good prognosis.

44 year old with seizure disorder and brain damage. He was in a car accident when he was in his 20's and ended up losing about 1/3 of his brain. He has trouble remembering and he has angry outbursts. His seizure medication has to be changed every few months in order to keep his seizures in check. He can't drive and he doesn't function well on public transportation, he usually doesn't know where he should get off the bus or why. Last month he walked away from his parents home and ended up in a City Park about 2 miles away. The cops found him there 3 days later, he had been beaten and robbed. It's not the first time that he had ended up homeless just because he gets confused and lost and I doubt if it will be the last. His father is dead, his mother is a retired RN and lives with her son in Solano County.

But please...tell me why this is becoming more and more common because I don't have a clue as to where you are going with that. And I know more than those two, but don't want to waste everyone's time.