At two o’clock in the afternoon there was a line outside the homeless shelter. This would not have shocked me had the doors been open with people coming and going. But the shelters of Los Angeles are primarily closed during the day, and those outside cannot gain access until about five in the evening. The individuals in line were prepared to stand on a street corner under the hot L.A. sun for three hours, perhaps longer, to ensure that this evening it would be a bed, not the streets, where they would find their night’s rest.
According to the good people at the Inner City Law Center, a non-profit legal team, L.A. is considered the Homeless Capital of the United States, with nearly 12,000 homeless in the city limits. Inner City supports short-term housing for the “transient” homeless, such as the unemployed, and long-term housing for the “chronically” homeless, namely those with mental illness or drug addictions. However, city officials have sought a policing solution to the issue of homelessness, and it is not solving any problems.
The homeless are aggressively citied for an offense (anything form jaywalking to intent to distribute), do not appear in court (they have no home, there is no address where the paper work for their trial date can be sent!), and then have a warrant put out for their arrest because they are no-shows. When that person is finally tracked down, an arrest is made and it’s off to the city jail. This makes the city authorities look like they are taking care of the homeless problem by getting people off the street. But where do the officials expect the homeless to go when they get out?
They simply go back to the street, and soon the cycle starts over.