The Homeless crisis

[testboner]

Unless you live under a rock, everyone is pretty well aware of just how serious a crisis the homeless population condition is in the US.
This is my city, Los Angeles — “My city” in the context that it’s where I was born (Queen of Angels hospital), raised, and lived for many years.
I’m posting this simply for some casual feedback. I’m hoping that most will refrain from a hard, callous, purely denigrating response. I’ve heard it all, as well as thought it all at one time or another.
But this is a true humanitarian crisis — It doesn’t get any more real nor painfully tragic and sad.

TRY and refrain please, from the “… fucking liberal Democrat run state” shit.
Let’s hear some real human responses — Not more political favorites hate speech cultic programming.
Ultimately most all of us (public / society) bear some degree of responsibility for its continued existence.

I don’t plan on investing much posting time on this here; I just wanted to share this fairly short look for consideration.
There’s a LOT to be expressed about it all.
I will share this; In my early 20s I had an interest from compassionate concern about it, and for a personal understanding and experience, myself along with a friend chose to spend close to a week living / camping on skid row. Amazing experience and education in many ways.

 

[beefnewton]

Don't care anything about it aside from the animals they force into being their pets. I have a callous view of it. Let them kill themselves off with drugs. Sure, some had genuine misfortune to have arrived at that point, but the vast majority were weak-minded and weak-willed to start and have no desire to be better. They've found that bare minimum where they can subsist, and a lot of it has them preying on the system and the kindness of others. Fuck 'em. Can't cherrypick who to save. Death could very well come for me today, or I could lose my job and end up with no income myself. Life is not fair. I'm very familiar with hopelessness and despair, but I've kept on. People are not special. Humanity is not special. We are animals.

 

[rot-iron66]

Yet, this c0mmie-admin wants to roll out the red-carpet to the illegals. Makes zero sense. (Like everything they do and touch, its a disaster).

 

[genetic freak]

I was homeless for almost a year when I was a kid. Six of us living in a car and tent when the weather permitted. Showered at a local campground with a community bathroom when it was open and snuck into a roach motel with a community bathroom when it wasn't. My parents made poor choices that put us in that situation.

I feel bad for the kids, but that is really it.

 

[Pig Vomit]

I probably have better insight than most people here.

The LA area has been my home my entire life. Although I'm a bit to the south in OC, and it's not *quite* as bad here, it's fairly bad and getting worse all the time. The homeless walk past my house every single day. Our rental properties have been vandalized and broken into by the homeless. Our downtown commercial building has been broken into by the homeless, who also camp out on the roof. We have involvement with a charity involving an historical building, and a couple nights ago we had to roll out there and meet with the police because a homeless person kicked in a window (antique, historical), broke in, set up camp, etc. They have caused fires in the building, one very serious, which caused a lot of damage.

I was also a police officer for over 15 years in a jurisdiction with a lot of homeless people. Homeless calls made up 50% of our calls. Daily, multiple interactions with the homeless on every single shift. That gave me real insight as to the problems, criminal histories, where people are from.

There is a significant percentage who are homeless due to severe to moderate mental illness, mostly bipolar and schizophrenia. Although I'm calling the percentage "significant", it's maybe only about 20% of the people out there. The balance are homeless because of drugs, alcohol and laziness without an underlying mental illness.

Those with the significant mental illnesses have access to free meds, but they don't take them. Those that do take them for awhile, do much better, convince themselves that they are "cured" and no longer need the meds. They go off the meds, the severe symptoms come back, but part of schizophrenia and bipolar is not realizing just how poorly you are doing because those illnesses can really give people the feeling like they are masters of reality.

I've arranged for some of the homeless to get into supportive housing and other programs. They usually fail out due to an inability or unwillingness to follow the house rules, and they'd rather be on the street where there are no rules to follow them and they can drink and drug to their liking without penalty, because California's justice system is too overburdened and the politics of jailing homeless so distasteful to a significant portion of the population. One guy was an especially hard loss. Grew up in town, had dealt with him for years, thought he had potential, ended up in prison, got out, OD'd on heroin and died. No mental illness. I really tried hard with him.

The majority of the homeless, as I previously indicated, are there because of their like of drugs and alcohol, or an aversion to work and rules, or both. There were plenty of NA and AA meetings all day long in my city, and I always offered to give homeless rides there (they all have free gov supplied bus passes anyway), but not once did anyone ever take me up on it. That majority of homeless are from other states. When asked they will lie and tell you they are locals and grew up in California or the area, but once you run them and especially when you arrest and see their rap sheets you realize the vast majority are from other states.

There's also another problem.... Just as college students use to camp across Europe after graduation as they saw it as a once in a lifetime adventure, there is now a romanticism in a lot of young people about living on the street. It's an adventure, and nothing to be ashamed of. Movies like "Nomadland" only serve to reinforce that it's an adventure that everyone should try rather than a hardship or something to be ashamed of.

Why California? The weather. Would you rather be homeless in the Midwest where you freeze your ass off in the winter and sweat your ass off in the summer while being eaten alive by bugs, or would you rather have the temperate climate and relatively bug free climate that California provides?

The homeless problem in California may have been solvable around 15 years ago when the numbers were much lower, but now there are so many that it cannot, and will not, ever be solved no matter how much money is thrown at it.

Perhaps people aren't aware, but there was a 9th Circuit decision governing western states which indicated anti-camping ordinances are illegal unless the city can provide enough beds for the homeless population. Police can't cite people for camping in public unless the call the nearest shelter, confirm the availability of beds for that particular date, AND show that the homeless person was previously provided with local shelter information (we'd hand it out and write a courtesy notice verifying they had been given the materials so it would be in our records that someone was provided with shelter information). Most cities do not have the resources to provide enough beds for the homeless.

Then there's the issue of "if you build it, they will come". The more resources you have available for homeless, the more you attract. It's a vicious cycle.....increase homeless services because of the need, and more homeless people from out of state hear about how easy it is to be homeless in California, the more come only to find out it's a nightmare but they have no money to get back to their home state.

A contributing issue was the state's population passed a couple of ballot initiatives which made possession of all drugs in personal use amounts no more than a misdemeanor. It was frustrating when I would come across a heroin addict literally with a needle stuck in his arm, but hadn't injected yet and wasn't overly high.....and the most I could do was issue a citation. Even if you arrest/cite someone for drugs, the courts just toss it out....along with every other misdemeanor homeless crime. So....if you're a drug addict, would you rather be an addict in a state which will charge you with a felony and throw you in jail for possession of your drug of choice, or would you rather be in California where your addiction can rage out of control with no real downside?

As for those initiatives.....when people would call the police about someone shooting up in the alley behind their home or in the parking lot of their business, and all we do is issue a citation, they'd be flabbergasted as to why we didn't arrest the person. I would ask them if they voted for the propositions, and most of them did. When I told them that those initiatives changed the drug laws so that we couldn't arrest for most drug or theft crimes and could only issue citations, without fail they would state they had no idea that was what the propositions did. A completely uninformed electorate basing voting decisions based upon highly misleading political ads.

Most people in California, even the uber liberals, recognize that the coddling of the homeless has to stop. Thanks to the 9th Circuit, the coddling will continue.

I've blathered on quite a bit without putting much thought into this...don't have to, know the issues inside and out. Interested in reading other peoples' thoughts on this, especially people who live in the highly populated areas of California.

 

[searay]

I think it's a sad state of affairs. This country has the funds to deal with this. How expensive is it to house and feed someone? I'll bet it's a lot less than that the medical bill for a meth cook that gets burned from head to toe. $1,000,000 for 1 yr of care and recovery paid for out of our back pockets. We seem to find a way to take care of someone who causes more damage and expense than a 1000 homeless people. I know, some people choose that lifestyle so leave em alone. Some people who do get help abuse the system. But there are some who need help and deserve it. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to send the money, we do have, in the right directions. I recently sent a fraud alert to the state on a single woman getting housing support, $250 mo. for a 2 bedroom, 2 full bath, condo. She was renting out the 2nd bedroom for $500 mo. plus half the utilities. Shouldn't be bragging to the world about your scams. We need to stand up and hold people accountable for stealing funds someone really needs. And maybe try not to be so judgmental and assuming of other peoples character.

 

[Pig Vomit]

Make no mistake....I am all for long-term supportive housing paid for by the gov for people whose mental illnesses cannot be sufficiently controlled by medications (that's a pretty small percentage). I'm also for short-term supportive housing for families who are the victims of circumstances beyond their control. Funny thing.....in all my years on patrol, I never ONCE encountered any homeless families, as they tend to avail themselves to services willingly and early so they were already in shelters and supportive housing.

 

[trentracks]

I speak from Portland Oregon which I just came from and it’s a mess there’s hardly any in Kokomo Indiana where I live now. Oregon all drugs are legal and tons of resources to live free, so it was loaded with them. But most had more compassion than the regular working class so I don’t know depending on your conception of what makes a person a good person they would win hands down

 

[HardManifest]

I am from Los Angeles and the RV shit is something new within the last two and half years. I never use to see RV's. Now these are everywhere like roaches. I cannot fucking understand how this libtard State taxes us hard up the ass and doesn't do shit to have clean streets.

Here what I think has been happening in the last few decades.

• Too many dumb people reproducing dumb people.
• No one is studying Engineering, Mathematics, or some form of computer science. too many unskilled for the professional job market.
• Indoctrination camps from grade school to high school has been useless. Thanks to the libtard agenda
• Those that have reproduced at a low income have already created themselves a disadvantaged for their offspring.
• The average adult now still lives with their mother and father. What the fuck is the point of reproducing just to have a 40 yr old child living with you?
• libtard gov't handouts - food stamps and some form assistance
• People that have children should be taxed at a higher rate. 60%+ that's my opinion obviously. That would help people think twice before popping out over 2 children per household. This whole 4-6 children is fucking excessive.
• A household making less than 240k should not be reproducing.
• Times have changed. No more manufacturing. It's all overseas with cheap labor. whats your child going to do for income?
• The list can go on. From a broad perspective that's what I think. When a society reproduces in just a short time, exponentially, everything just becomes musical chairs.
• Too bad the pandemic wasn't real. Most of those would have been first to go.

For myself. I decided not to reproduce because I want everything I make for myself. Yes, all for me. I put myself through college, I paid for my education, bought my house with the little earnings I had at the time, and now have a high salary paying career. Two of neighbors asked me if I was ever going to have children. Being in my early thirties I said fuck no. There isn't a shortage of people. I still say fuck no.

 

[JackD]

I truly think the crisis has gotten worse and I feel very bad for all of them. All the major cities I’ve lived in have a huge homeless population and it’s clear these individuals need help. I’m all for the government to start funding this. They can stop with the loan forgiveness and other stupid stuff and focus on a true problem. Several years ago I was looking to start an organization to get socks to the homeless. You think about it, any little bit can help. Anyways just my .02 cents.

 

[testboner]

I probably have better insight than most people here.

The LA area has been my home my entire life. Although I'm a bit to the south in OC, and it's not *quite* as bad here, it's fairly bad and getting worse all the time. The homeless walk past my house every single day. Our rental properties have been vandalized and broken into by the homeless. Our downtown commercial building has been broken into by the homeless, who also camp out on the roof. We have involvement with a charity involving an historical building, and a couple nights ago we had to roll out there and meet with the police because a homeless person kicked in a window (antique, historical), broke in, set up camp, etc. They have caused fires in the building, one very serious, which caused a lot of damage.

I was also a police officer for over 15 years in a jurisdiction with a lot of homeless people. Homeless calls made up 50% of our calls. Daily, multiple interactions with the homeless on every single shift. That gave me real insight as to the problems, criminal histories, where people are from.

There is a significant percentage who are homeless due to severe to moderate mental illness, mostly bipolar and schizophrenia. Although I'm calling the percentage "significant", it's maybe only about 20% of the people out there. The balance are homeless because of drugs, alcohol and laziness without an underlying mental illness.

Those with the significant mental illnesses have access to free meds, but they don't take them. Those that do take them for awhile, do much better, convince themselves that they are "cured" and no longer need the meds. They go off the meds, the severe symptoms come back, but part of schizophrenia and bipolar is not realizing just how poorly you are doing because those illnesses can really give people the feeling like they are masters of reality.

I've arranged for some of the homeless to get into supportive housing and other programs. They usually fail out due to an inability or unwillingness to follow the house rules, and they'd rather be on the street where there are no rules to follow them and they can drink and drug to their liking without penalty, because California's justice system is too overburdened and the politics of jailing homeless so distasteful to a significant portion of the population. One guy was an especially hard loss. Grew up in town, had dealt with him for years, thought he had potential, ended up in prison, got out, OD'd on heroin and died. No mental illness. I really tried hard with him.

The majority of the homeless, as I previously indicated, are there because of their like of drugs and alcohol, or an aversion to work and rules, or both. There were plenty of NA and AA meetings all day long in my city, and I always offered to give homeless rides there (they all have free gov supplied bus passes anyway), but not once did anyone ever take me up on it. That majority of homeless are from other states. When asked they will lie and tell you they are locals and grew up in California or the area, but once you run them and especially when you arrest and see their rap sheets you realize the vast majority are from other states.

There's also another problem.... Just as college students use to camp across Europe after graduation as they saw it as a once in a lifetime adventure, there is now a romanticism in a lot of young people about living on the street. It's an adventure, and nothing to be ashamed of. Movies like "Nomadland" only serve to reinforce that it's an adventure that everyone should try rather than a hardship or something to be ashamed of.

Why California? The weather. Would you rather be homeless in the Midwest where you freeze your ass off in the winter and sweat your ass off in the summer while being eaten alive by bugs, or would you rather have the temperate climate and relatively bug free climate that California provides?

The homeless problem in California may have been solvable around 15 years ago when the numbers were much lower, but now there are so many that it cannot, and will not, ever be solved no matter how much money is thrown at it.

Perhaps people aren't aware, but there was a 9th Circuit decision governing western states which indicated anti-camping ordinances are illegal unless the city can provide enough beds for the homeless population. Police can't cite people for camping in public unless the call the nearest shelter, confirm the availability of beds for that particular date, AND show that the homeless person was previously provided with local shelter information (we'd hand it out and write a courtesy notice verifying they had been given the materials so it would be in our records that someone was provided with shelter information). Most cities do not have the resources to provide enough beds for the homeless.

Then there's the issue of "if you build it, they will come". The more resources you have available for homeless, the more you attract. It's a vicious cycle.....increase homeless services because of the need, and more homeless people from out of state hear about how easy it is to be homeless in California, the more come only to find out it's a nightmare but they have no money to get back to their home state.

A contributing issue was the state's population passed a couple of ballot initiatives which made possession of all drugs in personal use amounts no more than a misdemeanor. It was frustrating when I would come across a heroin addict literally with a needle stuck in his arm, but hadn't injected yet and wasn't overly high.....and the most I could do was issue a citation. Even if you arrest/cite someone for drugs, the courts just toss it out....along with every other misdemeanor homeless crime. So....if you're a drug addict, would you rather be an addict in a state which will charge you with a felony and throw you in jail for possession of your drug of choice, or would you rather be in California where your addiction can rage out of control with no real downside?

As for those initiatives.....when people would call the police about someone shooting up in the alley behind their home or in the parking lot of their business, and all we do is issue a citation, they'd be flabbergasted as to why we didn't arrest the person. I would ask them if they voted for the propositions, and most of them did. When I told them that those initiatives changed the drug laws so that we couldn't arrest for most drug or theft crimes and could only issue citations, without fail they would state they had no idea that was what the propositions did. A completely uninformed electorate basing voting decisions based upon highly misleading political ads.

Most people in California, even the uber liberals, recognize that the coddling of the homeless has to stop. Thanks to the 9th Circuit, the coddling will continue.

I've blathered on quite a bit without putting much thought into this...don't have to, know the issues inside and out. Interested in reading other peoples' thoughts on this, especially people who live in the highly populated areas of California.

PV, Thank you for sharing all of that. There’s much to touch on in your post, and I’m thankful for your level of both compassion and understanding expressed throughout.
BTW, 20 years in OC myself (Rancho Santa margarita, Newport, and Dana Point). Quite a bit of interaction with the homeless in both Laguna and DP as well.

 

[testboner]

I think it's a sad state of affairs. This country has the funds to deal with this. How expensive is it to house and feed someone? I'll bet it's a lot less than that the medical bill for a meth cook that gets burned from head to toe. $1,000,000 for 1 yr of care and recovery paid for out of our back pockets. We seem to find a way to take care of someone who causes more damage and expense than a 1000 homeless people. I know, some people choose that lifestyle so leave em alone. Some people who do get help abuse the system. But there are some who need help and deserve it. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to send the money, we do have, in the right directions. I recently sent a fraud alert to the state on a single woman getting housing support, $250 mo. for a 2 bedroom, 2 full bath, condo. She was renting out the 2nd bedroom for $500 mo. plus half the utilities. Shouldn't be bragging to the world about your scams. We need to stand up and hold people accountable for stealing funds someone really needs. And maybe try not to be so judgmental and assuming of other peoples character.

Yes. Thank you