The Los Angeles Homeless Containment Thread (rentals, felony, neighborhoods)

[CA4Now]

"To the editor: I tried for more than two years to get a homeless friend into housing. The process has made me wonder how anyone can get help.

When I first tried to register my friend with Homeless Health Care Los Angeles, I was told he needed a tuberculosis test valid for 90 days. After calling every day for 18 months, I was finally told a unit was available.

By that time my friend had lost all his personal possessions, including his passport. So I had to get him a new ID. After waiting 30 days for the ID to arrive, I tried to register my friend again — only to be told I needed a current TB test. So we went and got him one.

About three months later, I got a call saying a room was available. When I brought my friend in for the interview, we were told his TB test result was 92 or 93 days old and, therefore, invalid. So we got him another test.

Then, when I went back to do paperwork for my friend, I was told he needed a medical checkup from his current physician. So we went and did that. I have no idea how anyone without a car can do all this.

As I listen to Mayor Karen Bass talk about placing homeless people into housing, I wonder if there’s a way to make our system easier to navigate. It took more than two years to get my friend into a place he can call home. I hope others have an easier time."

--Nicholas Melillo, Los Angeles

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/lett...or/hear-me-out

[skyway31]

Can anyone comment on the Marina Del Rey and Playa Vista areas? I'm looking at apartment complexes and one of them (Mirabella) had a large encampment on the back of it's property (Thacker) as of spring of 2022. Google street view from December 2022 doesn't show this, but I'm not sure if it's just a tenuous situation or not. I also believe there's been a massive homeless presence in Playa Vista near the wetlands.

MDR, despite being one of the nicer areas of L.A. county that is not its own city, is vulnerable to urban issues precisely because it is not its own city with police etc.

[CA4Now]

SB 43 has passed two Senate committees with unanimous votes.

Under current law, people can be detained involuntarily only if they’re deemed to be a danger to themselves or others, or “gravely disabled.” But all that is difficult to prove. Sen. Susan Talamentes Eggman’s bill would significantly lower the bar “so the sickest of people don’t fall through the cracks and splatter on the sidewalks,” she says.

The same coalition that fought the CARE Court also opposes SB 43, contending it would deprive people of their “fundamental rights and liberty.”

“I’m tired of people dying on the street with their rights on,” Eggman counters.

“Oftentimes they don’t even understand something is wrong with them. If they don’t want treatment, they don’t have to take it. They go back and live off the dumpster. These are folks being victimized on the street — abused, beaten up, raped.

“The goal is to get people stabilized and ultimately back into productive life,” Gallagher says. “They need shelter and services — treatment, job training, transitional housing — as opposed to just putting somebody in a hotel room without services and expecting them to get better.”

What we’ve been doing for decades hasn’t worked very well. We should try something different. It’s long past time for the state to keep a half-century-old promise.

A half-century after failing to reform mental health care, California tries again:
https://www.latimes.com/california/s...skelton-column

[dustin183]

I feel like there needs to be a separation of homeless. Not all are in the same boat.

Some simply cannot afford rent/mortgage, but are otherwise willing and able to work.

Some though have fallen under a multitude of drug addictions usually coupled with other things like mental illness, criminal record, other health issues, etc. And this is a completely different situation. It's near impossible to get out of. At least the road would be much longer.



But re the first camp, I don't see housing prices every coming down, so that will always be a catalyst for homelessness.

[Suburban_Guy]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pX5-QYUUqo

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by Suburban_Guy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pX5-QYUUqo

O thank you! Another YouTube about stuff everyone knows!

[CA4Now]

Originally Posted by Tulemutt

O thank you! Another YouTube about stuff everyone knows!

Not to mention that the RV problem has been addressed on this thread. That poster appears not to read the thread; instead he simply posts YouTube videos.

“We have not resolved the RV issue yet,” (Mayor Karen) Bass acknowledged. “But we absolutely will because it’s a very serious issue.”

Just don’t expect it to happen quickly. Nearly a year after the L.A. City Council voted to lift a pandemic-era moratorium on towing oversize vehicles used as homes that had been parked for months on city streets, there are all sorts of logistical problems.

Then as now, there aren’t enough trucks capable of removing such large vehicles, not enough space to store them, and not enough money to pay for it all. More recently, finding the owners of RVs has become a challenge because, quite often, the occupants are merely renters, making towing a legally dubious decision.

https://www.latimes.com/california/s...rv-encampments

https://www.city-data.com/forum/64971194-post8931.html

[VikingsToValhalla]

If you're homeless but living in an RV, then why not just leave?
You can drive to other cities/states that are far more affordable.
I don't understand why anyone would want to stay in L.A. if they can't afford it.

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by VikingsToValhalla

If you're homeless but living in an RV, then why not just leave?
You can drive to other cities/states that are far more affordable.
I don't understand why anyone would want to stay in L.A. if they can't afford it.

In general across the country, less than, but about, 12% of homeless are transient. They don’t move around for weather, benefits, or affordability, or scenery. They stay where they have roots and connections: friends, family, former employers, drug dealers, et al. And on average, about 75% are back in housing within less than 12 months …

They’re not looking for *new horizons*. They’re hoping to stay home.

[CA4Now]

"The reimagining of the sprawling West L.A. campus of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is primarily focused on building housing for homeless vets. But that’s not all it’s about.

The 2015 settlement of a lawsuit against the VA led to a pledge to provide at least 1,200 units of housing to homeless veterans. It also spurred the creation of a 2016 master plan to transform the north end of the campus into a community for veterans, with residential buildings surrounding a town center where they can gather, partake in a variety of services, participate in activities or just relax. (The south end of the campus is dominated by the VA medical facilities.)

The housing effort, led by three developers, has finally gained momentum with 237 units opened and most occupied and another 380 under construction or about to break ground. That’s good progress on a daunting task. Now, VA officials must figure out what the town center should look like.

“People don’t heal in housing. They heal in community,” says Jonathan Sherin, the former director of the L.A. County Department of Mental Health who was also an advisor during the 2015 settlement of the lawsuit against the VA."

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...ng-town-center