My Personal Thoughts on our Homeless Crisis

Los Angeles County, City and the State of California and the politicians and the bureaucrats that run our institutions have failed the citizens. They bounce from office to office making grand promises and proclamations, while our citizens are literally dying on our streets. 1500 people die every year on our county streets, that's avg of 5 a day! dying many times alone in a tent, cardboard box, or just in the clothes on their backs. We have at last count 65K Homeless citizens of this country living on the streets, many estimate it to be up to 90K or more due to Covid-19 business closures, job losses and eviction moratorium that has ended resulting in people our Government at all levels chose not to support, while they sent millions of people home with NO way to support themselves.

There are many facets to homelessness, here in La County/City it starts with Mental Health or the lack thereof, then it moves on to addiction and the Meth and Fentanyl Crisis that is plaguing our streets and our Homeless citizens, who are barraged by gangs of drug dealers that prey on the vulnerable living on our streets. Many who ended up homeless who weren't addicts before end up addicts from sleep deprivation (could you sleep if you were worried about being mugged, having what little possessions you have left stolen or worse killed). So they turn to drugs like Meth which is cheap and easy to get to make it through the night. this drug just ravages their brains. Then you have the addicts that have lost family and friends due to their destructive habit and behavior due to addiction. Refusing help to get clean, not being able to hold a job or pay their bills, families and friends exasperated and NO where to turn, turn them out to the street, where they turn to crime and begging just to make enough to get their next fix.

Then there are those that for whatever reason are truly down on their luck through divorce, domestic violence, sudden job loss, careers that have been moved off shore and don't have skills needed for todays job market. and there are a lot of these people.

We must help them! We must demand our elected leaders do better! We must stop allowing politicians termed out from one office to just bounce into the next one because they fit the party mold wether its a D or an R, IMHO both have failed and we know this is pretty much D County/City. So take a hard look at the career politicians and ask How has this problem grown so bad on your watch? and don't take Covid-19 Pandemic as an answer, we all know this problem was here long before the pandemic. Again Ask WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? HOW CAN WE TRUST YOU TO FIX A PROBLEM YOU HAVE EITHER HELPED CREATE OR HAVE IGNORED UNTIL NOW? sorry for the shouting but if your like me your angry and frustrated on how our govt let what was a bad situation on skid row turn into a Katrina like disaster all across our County. It is Sad, It is Embarrassing because we keep voting for the same people or we don't vote. Its time to reverse course and set sail on a new course! We can fix this! don't let anyone tell you differently. its not complicated it just takes guts and common sense. In a world class county like Los Angeles NO one should be living in 4th world conditions. IMHO it is a crime against Humanity