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The unhoused in LA
Amber Garcia-Vayas
Human Violence and Individual Change,Tanner Leiderman
California State University, Los Angeles
April 16, 2024
THE UNHOUSED IN LA
Section One
Los Angeles, which is infamously known for Hollywood and the star signs with celebrity
names on the floor to take pictures with. As the city has continued to change over time, the
streets have become filled with homeless people with tents seeking asylum. This can be a prime
example of the homelessness in Los Angeles that is overlooked for Hollywood and it is time yo
bring attention to it.
This issue has been going on since the Great Depression due to many factors that can
even overlap each other. After the Great Depression, many angelinos were faced with housing
costs rising, mental health resources being removed, and social & economic changes over time.
Especially with the deinstitutionalizing of psychiatric hospitals in the 20th century, this created a
shortage of the facilities and caused many of those struggling with mental disorders to have
minimal resources and led their downfall in becoming homeless (Homeless in L.A.). There has
been effort to make change and help those who are struggling with finding housing over the last
years and helped thousands.
Inflation has been a major factor to impact the rise on homelessness, rent and health
services have increased over the years while minimum wage remains to not even half of what is
needed to be made in order to survive comfortably in Los Angeles. According to LAFH, a
working family needs to earn $42 per hour to afford average rent in LA while rent is half the
median income (Causes & solutions). As well as housing and rent prices rising continuously in a
form where minimum wage cannot support a family, let alone an individual adult trying to live
on their own or possibly maybe even kicked out from their home due to differences with their
caregivers. There has be a 12.7% increase in. homelessness in Los Angeles and 207 people exit
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homelessness everyday while 227 people become homeless that very same day (Causes &
Solutions).
Section Two
Considering homelessness in Los Angeles is a major issue to fix, there is no proper one
decision solution to fixing homelessness. Some possible ways to educate others and enhance
impact are through taking workshops, participating in protests, and sending letters to elected
officials.
1. Taking a workshop or a class can be beneficial to educating others in topics that may not
be general knowledge to everyone. Some possible type of classes that can assist
promoting the homeless history and ways to promote their cause can be a workshop on
the history of homelessness and how to understand their demographics, roots of the
cause, and methods to assist in any way possible. These can be taken at universities or
websites providing educational resources.
2. Once one can understand the roots of homelessness and want to make changes, it is
important to use your voice and privilege to speak up for those who cannot. Participating
in protests can be effective to receiving action towards change. Some protests can be
found online or in flyers in person when there are policies changing or people are
speaking up for those who cannot. There have been protests for housing facilities for
homeless.
3. Although protesting is great, some people may not feel comfortable putting themselves
out like that because of personal reasons are mental health reasons, sending letters to
elected officials can be beneficial to the homeless community and their legal rights. In
Los Angeles, the current mayor is Karen Bass and she has used her voice to advocate for
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the homeless. Sharing insights and possible methods to assist the homeless in live time
can be extremely important. It creates relationships among the community and trust in the
community’s leader to emphasize the ear to their community.
Section Three
The community engagement activity that I engaged in was writing a letter to an elected
official. As the topic I focused on was homelessness in Los Angeles and the elected official I
wrote a letter to was Mayor Karen Bass. As a born and raised angelino, it is extremely sad how
normalized it has become to see homeless people and ignore their existence. This issue is
important to me and sharing my voice to advocate for them is something I would like to do. As I
learned about the mayor in order to understand my approach, I found that she has made some
change when it came to assisting the homeless and started some programs for them. While I was
going through it, it hit me that this is something that we have been desensitized to and
normalized with every passing day as we are taught by those around us to just walk around them
and keep it going. I felt that it was important to use my voice to advocate for their rights and
housing needs. In the past I’ve participated in projects working on to share their experiences for
school but writing to officials can actually get a word in with those who are trying to commit a
change. For the current moment this is my action towards change, but during the holidays I
partake in food drives and passing out thanksgiving plates with my church to those on the streets
in hoping to make their holidays a bit brighter. I know change can’t happen overnight but little
bits of advocating and helping them in everyday life can make a difference. With multiple letters
and our community coming together, we can advocate for change and work on the economic
factors, change can become possible.
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References
Causes & solutions. LA Family Housing. (n.d.). https://lafh.org/causes-solutions
Homeless in L.A. - mysafe:la. MySafe. (2023, August 5).
https://www.mysafela.org/community/homeless-inla/#:~:text=While%20the%20impact%20of%20the,growth%20rapidly%20exceeded%20av
ailable%20housing.
Housing. National Alliance to End Homelessness. (2023, December 18).
https://endhomelessness.org/homelessness-in-america/what-causeshomelessness/housing/
Our Challenge. Homeless Initiative. (n.d.). https://homeless.lacounty.gov/our-challenge/