La Times explains how La became an epicenter for homelessness

From And WaltersCalmness

This comment was originally published by CalmattersS Register about their ballots.

At best, journalism reveals the reality, which is often darkened in superficial political rhetoric for high current events.

In California, nothing outpaces homelessness as a Burning problem And like political football. The official, from the governor down, not only cannot agree why the state has so many disabled people – the numeric and relatively largest population of any country – but also what needs to be done to improve.

Dozens of billions of dollars have been spent over the last half decade, but their number is often increasing as government and local employees Get involved in a game of guiltImplicit admission that voters can punish politicians who are considered failed.

Recently, The Los Angeles Times made a valiant attempt to explain how homelessness arose and became a seemingly insoluble crisis in Los Angeles County. The comprehensive report, headed “The true story of how LA became the epicenter of the American crisis of homeless“Posted last week.

“Today, homelessness feels like an inevitable part of the cityscape such as congestion and changing rooms,” journalists say. “Los Angeles has more people living on the street than any other city in the United States, which almost certainly makes the capital of the homelessness of the developed world.

“There are 15 counties in California, whose total population is less than the homeless population of La County, which exceeded 75,000 people in 2023. If you have filled the Doger Stadium with all the homeless people in the county, you will be left enough to fill Crypto.com Arena in the city center.”

The newspaper report, led by the employees of the previous Times Mitchell Landsberg and Gail Holland, dive deep into the history of southern California – more specially its residential models. The conclusion was that the biases of the region for single-family homes, its historical feud to dwellings for low-income residents, not the white residents-and the projects for “urban renewal” that upset the neighborhoods and destroy the accessible housing were among the root causes.

Economic cataclysms-more special the loss of well-paid industrial jobs after the World War II boom escaped, another factor, along with reducing care of mental health and other social diseases.

“While Mental Illness, Poor Medical Care, Substance ABUSE, Growing Income Inequality, Job Loss, Racism Or Another Social Ill Might Been The Most Visible Trigger That Put Annia Is WHY HADHERHERE ELSE TO LAND, “The Times Said, Adding,” And It Was Decisions by Policymakers, Judges, Law Enforcement and Industrial Leaders That Caused The Shortage. “

All these factors were played in the 1970s, when the last piece of homelessness puzzle appeared when the region began to see a new population boom managed largely by immigration from other countries.

“Finally, the most important thing is that housing prices doubled in Los Angeles from 1975 to 1979 – an exceptional escalation, partly led by the growing population, inflation and real estate speculation,” The Times reports. “Prices would double a few more times in the coming years, as the average price of the home increased from $ 25,000 in the early 1970s to more than $ 1 million today. Even if it adapted for inflation, a house in Los Angeles today costs about six times what it did then and is no longer within the range of the middle working class Angeleno.”

So here, a detailed and compelling explanation for why the city of angels sets an example of the homelessness of California and, implicitly, the reason why the intervention is so difficult.

If the most important factor is the lack of homes at affordable prices, the most powerful medicine would be to build more affordable housing, but institutional, political and economic barriers remain firm. California – not just Los Angeles – has been lags behind in residential production For many years, despite the state level efforts to reduce these barriers, the latest being Exception to the California Law on Environmental Quality For certain types of high -density projects.

On Monday, Los Angeles County officials announced that the last survey conducted in January found 3000 people (4%) Downtime from 75 312 for the previous year.

This is good news for sure, but the crisis with the homeless remains and will continue until the housing crisis is resolved.

This article was Originally Published on CalMatters and was reissued under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Noderivatives License.