homeless people making the sidewalk their home? (live, cost of)

[cmarlin20]

Originally Posted by Tulemutt

No, you can't restrict people's freedom in America based on homelessness alone. Nor on mental illness - unless they are an imminent threat to themselves or others. Don't like it? Change the Constitution.

To what clause in the constitution are you referring?

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by jm1982

The city is pushing a 'homeless housing' bond. It will be a sweetheart deal for the developers that have cozy relationships with Garcetti and City Hall.
$350,000 PER unit. No thanks.

This article says the bond is for 1.2 billion and will provide 10,000 housing units, unless my math is bad, that is $120,000 per unit...not 350k.

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by cmarlin20

To what clause in the constitution are you referring?

The Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments of the Constitution, which provide that the government cannot deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. Here's a pretty good explanation of the court's position on involuntary confinement: http://scholarship.law.marquette.edu...context=elders

[Derpistan]

Originally Posted by ryanms3030

It's not just LA, its the world. Some coworkers just went to India on business and believe me we have nothing on them. In India they have entire camps of children with no adults who live on the street and huff glue all day. Same in Brazil and many south American countries. When I've traveled through Europe and Asia I've seen lots of people living on the street. The bottom line is we are probably about 1 billion people over capacity on this planet right now and it's only getting worse. Humans were only supposed to live to about 50 years old and that's how it was until the last 200 years. Now people live too long and it's screwing the planet up. Eventually something is going to come along and wipe out a whole lot of us to correct that problem but until then just step around the homeless on your sidewalk

1 billion!?? I think you're underestimating lol. We've gained 2 billion just since 1990. It's absolutely insane.

[Ghengis]

joggers should stop running on the sidewalks and confine themselves to the roads

[Derpistan]

Originally Posted by 2sleepy

This article says the bond is for 1.2 billion and will provide 10,000 housing units, unless my math is bad, that is $120,000 per unit...not 350k.

There are state and federal matching funds (3 to 1). The cost to LA city taxpayers is 1.2 billion, total raised is 3.6 billion. The cost of each unit is estimated at $350,000.

[jm1982]

Originally Posted by Ghengis

joggers should stop running on the sidewalks and confine themselves to the roads

Yes , next homeless advocates and the City Council will rule that it is an invasion of privacy and trespassing if joggers jog through the homeless people's 'homes' , I mean shouldn't they have the right to shoot up without being bothered?

Seems that is the way things are going in this city..

[V8 Vega]

The alternative to being homeless is to go to work everyday. Get up at 5:30 to be there before 7:00 and stay till 3:30. Everyday, hot or cold. you feel good or you don't, You have a million things to do, you have a disaster at home, go to work.
The boss is mad at you, you have a difficult job, go to work. Who wants that?

[Derpistan]

Originally Posted by V8 Vega

The alternative to being homeless is to go to work everyday. Get up at 5:30 to be there before 7:00 and stay till 3:30. Everyday, hot or cold. you feel good or you don't, You have a million things to do, you have a disaster at home, go to work.
The boss is mad at you, you have a difficult job, go to work. Who wants that?

Sounds like you should be homeless then. Pretty cush life, huh?

[seain dublin]

Originally Posted by SandyCo

I think we all have the same problem here. Even though the economy is supposedly getting better, there's a certain segment of society who has been left out, and those are the very poor, mentally ill, or drug addicted people. During the last economic crisis, a lot of mental health clinics closed. These homeless people are without medication, without recourse, so they get shuffled here and there without any of their problems being solved or even addressed. Southern California is a mecca for homeless people because of the weather, and the cost of living is so high that it's easy to fall through the cracks when evictions occur. I'm also one of the NIMBYs (Not In My Back Yard), but I don't see this getting any better until some major policy changes are made, like:

1. Bring back long term institutionalization. Very mentally ill people need it; they won't stay on their medication if left to their own devices.

2. Find ways to ID people and establish "residency", simply because if you offer services without doing that, suddenly you're dealing with many more people than you were originally, because the word gets out.

3. I don't know if this is still happening, but other states used to put their mentally ill or recently released from the hospital on buses to L.A. We need to find out if this still occurs, and stop it if it does!

All of these are expensive, but the alternative is to see the friction between working people and the homeless increase, because no one wants to pay high rent or an expensive mortgage just to have to walk around homeless (sometimes crazy) people and their shopping carts full of... whatever that is. Sometimes it's unidentifiable.

Really? And who determines who is very mentally ill and for how long are they held? Someone who takes Prozac for depression, or suffered the loss of a loved one and now has trouble getting out of bed and functioning like their old selves? Who determines this?

How would you like it someone called the cops on you and said you were acting strangely or threatened to kill yourself and off you go. It's not true, but the cops show up and the person is upset by this and off they go.

Do you know in FL they have something called The Baker Act, it has been used against perfectly "normal" people by vindictive family members. All they have to do is say the person is acting "off" and the cops(who in most cases have no training on mental health) take the person to a lockdown facility for 3 days. Isn't that nice? Kids have used it on parents, people who are divorcing have used to it to get the other spouse out of the house so they have 3 days to take valuables and clean out accounts.

Would you like that here?

Originally Posted by Tulemutt

Sweet Jesus it never stops. Another week, another thread on the homeless - and another rehash of the same misconceptions and myths.

No, LA is not a "mecca" for the homeless due to weather or benefits. They're not from other states. They're 70% from LA, 20% from elsewhere in the area and state. And 10% from out of state. This has been proven time and again by research for years and years all across the nation - by agencies, by academic research, and by private research organizations.

No, they're not "being bussed here". There were a few instances of that happening years ago where an out of state hospital was providing bus tickets to return homeless to their last know address cities or where they had family / or others vouching to have a place to take them in. The institutions that did this were identified and sued and the program stopped.

No, you can't restrict people's freedom in America based on homelessness alone. Nor on mental illness - unless they are an imminent threat to themselves or others. Don't like it? Change the Constitution.

No, it's not true that very mentally ill won't stay on medication. Most do. By the millions. However, the ones that don't often end up homeless.

No, most homeless do not prefer to live on the streets - they just won't go to shelters which are infested with lice and bedbugs and fleas - and infested with predatory petty criminals who assault and steal - and where the dormitory beds for a night require persons applying to line up sometimes for hours for access that takes them in only at night and puts them out early mornings, all with no other places to go during the day. Yes, under those terms, most would prefer to find their own spot outside.

Yes, there ARE programs in other places that have proven successful and cost effective at virtually eliminating homelessness on the streets. Housing First in Salt Lake City for example has reduced street homeless population by roughly 90% and at costs estimated from 25% - 50% less than other failed assistance programs in many other cities.

Are you sure, I just saw two big buses with Texas plates and they were loaded with homeless people, it said "LA or Bust" on the front of the buses.

Some seem to forget that silly little document. You know the one that protects are basic rights. We're already turning into a police state little by little. Maybe some want people just carted off, gee how did that work in Germany in the 30s. Hey, it doesn't matter if it's someone else right?

That seems to be lost on some people. While it may be hard to keep yourself clean living in a tent, it's better than picking up bedbugs and lice. Bedbugs are close to impossible to get rid of once you get them. They don't like the cold, but it doesn't get cold enough here to kill them off.