During recent elections in Los Angeles, polls showed that homelessness was the number one issue concerning voters. It polled higher than the economy, gas prices, inflation, and crime. This is because homelessness in L.A. is on a level like no other city in the United States.
The City of Los Angeles has about 42,000 homeless people, second only to New York City (but more per capita), and several times that of the next closest city.
The problem is out in the open for all to see. Huge tent encampments are all over the city, including L.A.’s beaches, parks, and sidewalks. It is a humanitarian crisis for those living on the streets, and a quality-of-life crisis for ordinary Angelenos trying to live a normal, safe, and healthy life.
Residents encounter homeless people, most with mental health, addiction issues, or both, on a daily basis. They cannot take their family to their local park or beach without being prepared for uncomfortable encounters. Crime is way up in the city due in part to the homeless explosion.
The problem was created when Los Angeles stopped enforcing its “no camping” laws. This allowed encampments to be set up and grow, with tents filled with belongings popping up everywhere. The solution is obvious: Start enforcing the law again.
But neither candidate for mayor—real estate developer Rick Caruso or progressive Congresswoman Karen Bass—proposed this. Instead, each promised to declare a state of emergency on “day one,” and to immediately address the “affordable housing crisis.” Voters watched the commercials ($100 million worth in the case of Caruso), read the mailers, and concluded that the socialist Bass would be the best person to solve the problem.
“Day one” for Bass was Dec. 11. True to her word, she declared a state of emergency (right after being sworn into office by her friend, Vice President Kamala Harris). She compared the declaration to the one Los Angeles declared after the massive 6.7 earthquake in 1994. Emergency declarations after earthquakes and hurricanes are what Americans are used to. But this declaration was actually inspired by a wholly new type of declaration, like the one declared due to COVID-19.
That emergency declaration, which is still in place almost three years after being declared both in L.A. and California, allowed unelected health officials to tell residents how they may live their lives. There was virtually no area of life they refrained from controlling. They closed beaches, parks, and hiking trails. They closed businesses which they deemed not to be essential. Churches were closed, but not liquor stores. They closed schools. They banned family gatherings.
When they began reopening, they unilaterally determined the hours they could be open, the number of people allowed in at a time, and who could be let inside. They required residents to take an experimental vaccine or have a negative COVID test, and wear a mask, to go out to dinner. They mandated children wear masks while in school. They mandated police and firefighters get vaccinated or lose their jobs.
The left used the mandates to implement policies which would never have been possible otherwise, like universal mail-in balloting (likely the primary reason the “Red Wave” did not happen), eviction moratoriums, expanded health and welfare benefits, and even student loan debt forgiveness.
The COVID-19 state of emergency in California is now set to end in February. But, surprise, along comes the homeless state of emergency. What will come this time? Will residents be ordered to take homeless people into their homes? Will parks and beaches be closed to the public to allow for encampments? Will hotels be ordered to make rooms available for the homeless?
Cities around L.A. that did not stop enforcing their no camping laws have no homeless problem. This is the case even in cities with no affordable housing, like Manhattan Beach—which is one of the most expensive zip codes in the state. Clearly it is an enforcement issue. You allow it, they will come. Just like the U.S. border: If you enforce the border laws, you do not get illegal immigrants. If you do not, you get them in droves.
That is because Bass and her fellow city leaders are less interested in solving the homeless problem than they are in using it to implement all kinds of progressive dream policies. To do so, they label it an affordable housing problem. Yes, Los Angeles has a shortage of affordable housing on the beach. But there is no shortage of affordable housing if you look 45 minutes away from the beach, which is what rational people do.
This allows the city’s leftists to implement policies like rent control, eviction moratoriums, affordable housing projects, free housing projects, and housing vouchers. Los Angeles spends $1.2 billion per year on housing solutions, building units for as high as $848,000 each.
The city’s policies have made Los Angeles the mecca for homeless, and its residents have to pay for the very expensive proposed solutions.
Some call enforcing camping bans inhumane. Where will they go if we enforce? The answer is, to a shelter. L.A. has lots of them. They are not full, because most of the homeless have one reason or another for preferring the tent. If the shelters do become full, it is very cheap to create more compared to the cost of building permanent housing as L.A. is currently pursuing. Alternatively, they may connect with friends or family. There are many stories of parents finding lost children when homeless people finally leave the streets.
They could also go to rehab or a mental health facility. Or, if they choose none of the above and continue illegal camping, they could wind up in jail. That is not the worst place to be. Many homeless people get sober and turn things around while in jail.
All of this is far more compassionate than leaving them on the streets to be used as political pawns in order to help implement socialism.
