Homeless in LA
Gaining statistical and visual insight on the homeless in LA county through articles, statistics, and documentary. Reflecting and reacting to specific works in the prep work assigned by homeless in LA educator Alyssa Klinzing.
Whenever I hear the phrase, homeless person, I usually associate it with the image of a person who’s on the side streets holding up signs and asking for spare change or food. I see them wearing faded and clothes with rips and holes in them as they push around carts filled with their belongings. Their appearance is unkempt and may have an odor to them for not really having a place to freshen up other than public areas such as mall bathrooms. This is often the image that I am exposed to every day as I travel around my hometown, Anaheim. People often ignore them, turning a blind eye, or accuse them of asking for money to feed their drug/alcohol/cigarette addictions. I feel that the homelessness is a very big issue to tackle, but it is possible to fix certain aspects such as providing more shelters, soup kitchens, and organizing more drives. How the homeless got into that position was never a choice. I feel that many people hit an unlucky bump in the road that really affected their life to that point. Some get laid off from work. Others go into debt. Their household foreclosed or was repossessed. There are many different scenarios, but I feel that a lot of the time, the people who find themselves in that position had experienced something that affected their life and made it hard to recover from.
After reading the statistics on LA County’s homeless population, I was most surprised at how many unaccompanied youth (4,800–10,000) are homeless within LA County. Whenever I think of homeless youth, I always assumed that they usually were accompanied by family. In some cases, some youth are (I usually assume the older youth like 15–17), but I didn’t think there would be that many left unaccompanied. From all the other statistics, I wasn’t too surprised since I already had some background knowledge on homelessness within LA. One thing that I knew for sure was about how a lot of these homeless people were veterans. Many of my uncles are veterans, who thankfully are not homeless, so it hits me really hard when I see these people who have worked so hard to defend this country, only for the country to not do anything to help them. I’m not shocked by this statistic, but it makes me really sad to think that they are looked down upon and ridiculed by people they helped defend.
Reacting to On the Streets, a documentary on homelessness in LA:
- I found it interesting how one of the men said that “Homelessness is a state of mind” and denied being homeless.
- I didn’t really know what to think when one of the homeless men said “What can I do?” when she asked how he was going to get off the streets because that’s what I was thinking.
- Most seemed pretty calm and accepted their position. They made light of it though which was interesting (would rather be in their car than a mansion, tree and a tarp makes a home, streets are what you make of it, it’s a state of mind, etc.).
- The images seemed pretty similar to what I see in Anaheim, but there isn’t as much in Anaheim.
- I found it admirable that they made light of their situation, but at the same time, I felt sad because they didn’t choose that for themselves and just “got used to it.” It’s like when something bad happens and the person dismisses it saying, “I’m used to it.”
- I have never really been in LA much, so I can’t really relate my experiences to this. However, I will say that this is something I see in Anaheim, though on a less-larger scale. I see people congregated together, sleeping in tents, and having their belongings in shopping carts. Just like the man had said, even when it’s bright and sunny, there’s this atmosphere of gloominess.
After reading the proposal by The Atlantic on how homelessness can be solved, I find that it is a feasible option to get people off the streets. Of course with any big change, sacrifices will have to be made by those with more. It is possible, but it will be hard to follow through. I don’t think there are many people that are willing to give up space and money for others. In addition, government debt is high, and so it will be attacked and compared to other problems within society. I’m not saying it’s not possible. I’m saying that it will be hard to rally unanimous support. However, assuming that everyone is willing to give up a little to help out the many, I find that the plan is feasible. When you change one part of someone’s lifestyle, it really makes a difference, especially when you offer other resources to help support them.
