CommentsALPERN AT LARGE--It's not hard to conclude that the homelessness crisis is ever worsening--some of its worsening is due to legitimate causes, and some of that worsening is entirely due to either "unforced errors" or active choices that threaten the balance of rights and responsibilities in a civilized society.
For example, the enabling of "the rights of the homeless" by California Governor Newsom and L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti have come at the expense of the rights of everyone else--and that includes the police standing down when overt criminal activity (public urination and defecation, threatening others, public drug use), as well as offering all sorts of free stuff and benefits without requiring anything in return from those who do NOT want help.
However, much to everyone's collective surprise, the Supreme Court (yes, our current conservative Supreme Court!) let stand a 2018 Ninth Circuit Court ruling that found it unconstitutional to prosecute people for sleeping on public property if enough shelter or housing isn't available as an alternative. However, the police can still intervene when there is criminal activity.
But while that may have shocked mayors and county supervisors all over the land, including Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg and as well as L.A. County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, who co-chair Governor Gavin Newsom's task force on homelessness, it's NOT without some reasonable direction for cities and counties beleaguered by the ever-growing masses of people who have nowhere to sleep at night:
1) All homeless people are NOT one monomorphic group. There's overlap, but there are the ones with nowhere to rent that is affordable, there are the ones with drug abuse and mental disorders, and there are those who truly like being without any responsibility, and are fine being anonymous so long as there's health care and food available.
2) And it is both very fortunate, yet very problematic, that with better tents and better sleeping mattresses and similar arrangements, available all for less than $1000 total, a person or couple can survive well enough under a rain-protective freeway overpass. As much as we're concerned with the increasing homeless numbers, NO ONE wants to see innocent and helpless people die.
3) Hence the conservative Supreme Court, and conservatives everywhere, are no less kind than anyone else--if there are NO places such as shelters for the homeless to go, it's just inappropriate and immoral (and entirely workable) to prevent the homeless from sleeping on the sidewalks. Sooner or later, we have to build.
4) But we do NOT have to build cost-ineffective, $500-700,000/unit apartments or similar dwellings that can be built for a fraction of that cost...particularly for those without mental disorders or drug abuse, and who have jobs and/or family in the community they are residing. This is just common sense.
5) Also, common sense: STOP making the homelessness crisis a growth industry. Anyone excited about addressing the homeless as a "growth industry" or a "source of new jobs" is NOT going to be motivated to actually FIX the problem.
6) Maybe not-so-common sense: STOP demonizing the Salvation Army and other Christian non-profits who are volunteer-based, and who do what they do out of a love of God and their religious principles--they probably could teach us a thing or two about addressing the ills of the homeless, and as well their Jewish/Islamic counterparts. Anti-Christian bigotry will get us nowhere.
7) Someone in government needs to OPEN THEIR MOUTHS and address the slew of empty housing owned by foreign (usually Chinese nationals) that can and should be taxed HARD for any and all empty/long-term vacant units. City Councilmember Mike Bonin was smart to propose this tax, but a HUGE part of the "affordable housing" problem goes away when we address all these vacancies!
8) Homes for the homeless need not all be built by the beautiful ocean. They can be built in outlying areas, and where the cost of real estate is much less than by our coastal areas. Because to paraphrase the oft-used meme, "The rent IS too damned high!" But much of that problem requires us to figure out new places to create housing that's not so doggone unaffordable.
9) Who do we hate more, President Trump or the burgeoning homeless problem? President Trump is now leading an effort to promote housing on federal properties after city/state Californian efforts have failed, and after a top official at the U.S. Interagency Council on Homeless was removed.
10) It should be noted that the Supreme Court and the Ninth Circuit still DO allow criminal prosecution of drug/felony and related violations, and Orange County has led the way in providing more housing...and then DEMANDING the homeless go there or go to jail. We absolutely CAN be kind and requiring all adults to act like adults.
So, let's get off the "those people don't care about the homeless" kick--that's just NOT true.
Everyone who's humane and who's thought it through cares about the homeless...but some homeless individuals are certainly more sympathetic to our compassionate tendencies than others.
And if we provide a place to sleep, and if we provide more mental health and drug addiction services (there's a MAJOR opioid/narcotic addiction problem that's killing tens of thousands of Americans each year!), then we can actually have a chance to fix the problem.
But to those who want to exploit this crisis, and who want to make lots of money off this crisis, then we need to confront you. Homelessness, unaffordable housing, unaffordable health care, and unaffordable college are all problems that probably do provide jobs, but the need to make lots of money off those sources of American misery needs to take a back seat to FIXING THE PROBLEM!
(CityWatch Columnist, Kenneth S. Alpern, M.D, is a dermatologist who has served in clinics in Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside Counties, and is a proud husband and father to two cherished children and a wonderful wife. He was (termed out) also a Westside Village Zone Director and Board member of the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC), previously co-chaired its Outreach Committee, and currently is Co-Chair of its MVCC Transportation/Infrastructure Committee and Vice-Chair of its Planning Committee. He was co-chair of the CD11 Transportation Advisory Committee and chaired the nonprofit Transit Coalition and can be reached at [email protected]. He also co-chairs the grassroots Friends of the Green Line at www.fogl.us. The views expressed in this article are solely those of Dr. Alpern.)
-cw
