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Los Angeles Housing situation

Known for being the American mecca of the film industry, for its paradisiacal beaches and for being at the forefront of global technological development, the state of California has also been dealing with a crisis of homeless for years that still offers no sign solution.

Los Angeles is the capital of the homeless in the United States. The city with the most Salvadoran migrants (about 800,000 in the County) is also the city with the most homeless people in that huge country (Los Angeles Times 2018).

In September 2017, the Los Angeles City Council declared a state of emergency and asked for $ 100 million to alleviate the problem of undocumented immigrants who make some of its streets look like refugee camps. The information comes from a study carried out by the Service for the Homeless of the city that concludes that today there are 12% more destitute than two years ago. According to an article in the Hispanic newspaper La Opinión, that entity estimates that there are some 5,400 Latinos among those tens of thousands of homeless people. Although the same spokespersons acknowledge that it is surely an underregistration for an omnipresent reason in the lives of thousands of Central Americans who are there: to be undocumented is to disappear, not to count, not to go for the government statistics (Los Angeles Times 2018).

Skid Row is an area of ​​the city of Los Angeles that has the largest concentration of homeless people in the United States. The area is just a few kilometers away from the glamor and opulence of neighborhoods like Beverly Hills or Bel-Air. Thousands of people who lack housing - and who in many cases suffer from mental illness or are addicted to alcohol and drugs - survive on the streets of this neighborhood, which occupies less than a square kilometer of the historic center of the Californian city.

For decades Skid Row is the last refuge of those who have nothing. According to some calculations, around 4,000 homeless people sleep every night on the sidewalks of Skid Row in makeshift tents or under mountains of cardboard and newspapers.

In recent years, Los Angeles authorities have tried unsuccessfully to implement different plans to get the homeless out of the streets of the neighborhood. According to the social entities in the area, the failure has been due to the lack of funds to enable housing in which to house those who do not have a home, as well as to an approach that has prioritized police patrols and the criminalization of the destitute. in the face of rehabilitation.

Unlike what has happened in other major US cities, in recent years the indigent population of Los Angeles has increased by 15%, largely due to the economic recession and the housing crisis that is being experienced. in the city (Holland, 2018).

Recently, the authorities presented the preliminary details of a new plan to help the homeless of Skid Row, which places emphasis on providing mental health services and treatment for addictions. It is a diametrically opposed approach to what is known as the "Citizen Security Initiative", implemented in the area since 2007 by the former Los Angeles police chief, Bill Bratton, and which was based on increasing the police presence to sanction minor infractions such as throwing garbage into the street or occupying the sidewalks, to try to prevent more serious crimes from being committed.

For the experts, the new strategy that the authorities want to implement is promising, although they are also skeptical because they believe that, due to lack of funds, it is very likely that the results will not be as expected (Holland, 2018).

Possible causes

Experts consulted by the Los Angeles Times in September identified three reasons why so many people have to live on the streets, in the mountains: high rents, low wages and high unemployment. A cocktail of reasons that are swallowed daily by the undocumented Central Americans who call themselves day laborers (Holland, 2018).

Day laborers comprises men and women who work by day, by hours, by day, and who negotiate the payment with the shift employer. The one who does not have a permanent job, a fixed salary, a fixed employer or a fixed office. Corner workers call them too. They are the migrants who have what their hands can do. Painters, masons, porters, domestic workers, gardeners (Corrigan, 2013).

Thousands of people moving through a system of Labor Centers and corners of the Home Depot stores looking for a day's work. They are the soul of the migrant world, the zero point from which better times were built for many. They work, they eat. They work, they pay a room. If not, to the street. 

However, there are many other possible causes. Chronic illnesses such as alcoholism and drug addiction, as well as mental disorders and the growing inability to pay a rent, which in some areas is rising dramatically, are some of the causes that have pushed 115,738 people to the streets of cities such as San José, Los Ángeles, San Francisco and Santa Ana (Corrigan, 2013).

Evaluating the feasibility of funding homeless in LA

From the foregoing analysis, it is clear that idea of settling homeless in LA is not a straight forward and easy. In the past, several attempts have been made to fund the homeless. Protests under the slogan "Not in my backyard" (Not in my backyard) helped block housing for homeless people in some areas and destroyed Orange County's plan to move the homeless to shelters.

Now, according to the Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles officials intend to double the bet, paying homeowners to refurbish homes for homeless people in their backyards. In August, the County Board of Supervisors approved a pilot program of US $ 550,000 to build small houses in the yards, or adapt illegally converted garages, for owners who agree to house a homeless person or family. Then, in February, Bloomberg Philanthropies awarded LA a grant of US $ 100,000 to study the viability of the project. But executing this plan will not be easy. Other similar projects, such as the one in Multnomah County, Oregon, which includes Portland, faced tax, liability and regulatory problems with its pilot program for homeless grandmothers (Holland, 2018).

Despite the fact that the move to fund homeless is not easy, it is clear that funding stands out to be the best alternative of the problem. Although funding may cost a lot of money, the long-term effect would be beneficial. The need for funding should be based on both short term and long term consequences. Consequently, below is a description of some of the beneficial effects of funding homeless in LA.

Funding homeless can reduce public health costs

Four US states are promoting official plans with the idea that homelessness generates diseases that could be avoided if the affected were given the possibility of obtaining a home. In Illinois, Oregon and Florida, the system is supervised by hospitals associated with non-profit entities. In Hawaii, there is a bill that seeks that doctors have the ability to prescribe houses and that this indication is taken care of by state Housing officials (Keyes, 2015).

Although these are pilot projects that have been underway since 2015, home subsidy systems for the homeless in the United States are growing thanks to the fact that the first results give reason to those who claim to facilitate access to a home. It is much less expensive than caring for patients on the street through the MedicalAid public health system.

A note posted on the website fastcompany.com reveals that through an assistance program developed by the University of Illinois Hospital in Chicago, which facilitated access to the home of 26 patients, it was found that the cost of care per patient was reduced 18 percent. But the savings are much greater when it comes to hospitalizations. A day in emergencies of a US hospital costs about $ 3,000 and in the case of homeless people the cost is covered to a large extent by the public system. Doctors argue that the frequency with which the homeless should be treated urgently justifies the subsidies.

Statistics indicate that people living on the street have a life expectancy 26 years less than that of Americans with a stable home. In this vulnerable group is much more frequent the appearance of mental illnesses, addictions and chronic diseases, which require prolonged treatments that are usually very expensive.

In May of 2017, the Democratic Senator for Hawaii, Josh Green, presented a bill that proposes to recognize that the lack of housing generates illnesses and that the remedy for the homeless is for the State to provide them with access to a house , instead of temporarily alleviating those situations with the recurrent medical attention in hospitals. According to his analysis, solving this basic need is more profitable and more human (Barney, 2017).

That certification, extended by the doctors, would be turned over to the Department of Human Services and to the health insurers to verify that the patient qualifies for a special housing program that meets their demand. According to Green calculates, this mechanism would save the Hawaiian state about 318 million dollars per year (Barney, 2017).

Funding housing programs will reduce social problems

Street children have become a social problem that, forced to fend for themselves, suffer the effects of poverty, hunger, and the dissolution of families; they are often easy victims of abuse, neglect and exploitation , sometimes even being killed.

The so-called street children are in serious danger of falling into activities that are sometimes the only means of survival such as: prostitution, drug use and various forms of criminal behavior. Not all these risks are enough, they are also victims of stigmas, prejudices and schemes of criminalization by the authorities towards street children, considering them ungrateful because of their street life that defines them as delinquents or as subjects of charity.

Conclusion and other recommendations

Funding alone cannot solve the issue of homeless in LA. In order to promote sustainable housing problem, more measures needs to be considered apart from the funding programs. It is important to address the underlying causes of the problem. It should be noted that for decades, Southern California - trapped in a low-density urban mentality, has not managed to build enough housing to keep up with the population's growth and demand. The rents are at their highest point. The stagnant income and the shortage of middle-class jobs mean that there are more people struggling. The government's safety net has not grown to help all those in need, nor has the public's empathy been on their side. In 2006, Los Angeles voters rejected a $ 1 billion bond to create 10,000 residential units for low-income and homeless people, compounding the housing shortage (Stockton, 2015).

It is estimated that the homeless for economic reasons, they represent more than half of the homeless people of LA, and it is their growing numbers that are driving the unprecedented growth of that population. More than half of the people surveyed by the Homeless Services Authority of Los Angeles last year said they were homeless because of an eviction, foreclosure, unemployment or "financial reasons."

In just six years, the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Los Angeles County increased 67%, from around $ 1,200 to $ 2,000, according to Zillow's rental rate. The average family income during the same period increased only 23%, from $ 52,280 in 2011 to $ 64,300 in 2017.

Currently, 1 in 3 people who rent in the Los Angeles metropolitan area pay too high a rent, which means they spend at least half of their income on housing. Los Angeles County is the most unaffordable region in the country for the poorest tenants, according to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (Shihadeh, 2017). To understand how thin the line is between those with a place to live and those who do not, consider a study by Zillow that estimates that a 5% rent increase in Los Angeles County would cause 2,000 people to be homeless .

Since 1980, far fewer homes have been built than are needed to meet the population growth in the county, according to the Association of Governments of Southern California, the county has a deficit of almost 1 million housing units. The vast majority of the county's 88 cities are not adding enough affordable, low-cost housing to meet the region's population growth.

Sure, there are some legitimate excuses: the costs of land are high and environmental concerns have slowed development. But all too often, residents and elected officials act on their worst instincts to block or restrict housing in order to avoid traffic and population density and protect the character of neighborhoods. A councilor from the city of Torrance argued against the construction of new homes, saying: "A city should be able to say that there is no space, that we are full."

In 2017, the state passed new laws to pressure cities to accommodate more housing and simplify approvals in communities that have not been able to keep pace with population growth. California legislators also approved new funds for affordable housing and granted cities the authority to enact inclusive zoning laws, which require affordable units to be built in housing developments at a market price. These are positive steps, but the state should adopt even more aggressive mandates if cities continue to place obstacles. In many cases, this will change the appearance, the environment and the character of the cities. But that is an inevitable result of population growth.

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