Irrelevant

Complaints from local communities over homeless encampments have skyrocketed of late. They lower property values, breed rats and insect infestation that spreads to nearby neighborhoods, feces and urine stench fill the air, crime rises, violence is common, medical issues are untreated, disease festers and spreads, and alcohol and drug use is pervasive… as mentally ill ghosts wander the streets, often pushing their ubiquitous shopping carts or begging at crowded intersections. But mostly people suffer. Really, really suffer. 

Hopelessness, misery and homelessness seem to be synonyms. If you haven’t seen or experienced the issue yourself, you can review the numbers, understand the underlying realities and read about the programs designed to deal with the issue… and their failure… in my recent It’s No Picnic to Park – Homelessness Crisis Silicon Valley Style (May 30th) and Homelessness, Just a Symptom or More (June 10th) blogs.

There are/were efforts, mostly in places like Southern California, to raise awareness and funding for the homeless problem, but it’s a big city problem. With the United States quite polarized on urban (blue state) vs rural (red state) values, it is the one massive issue that somehow has slipped out of the mainstream political debate leading up to the 2020 elections. The issue does not seem to resonate in those critical swing states that are critical to a successful presidential campaign. But can homelessness truly give rise to heartlessness?

“When new figures released last week [early June] showed a jarring rise in homelessness around Los Angeles, the response throughout Southern California was shock and indignation… The reaction from the crowded field of Democratic presidential candidates: silence.

“While White House hopefuls crisscross the country, making big promises on issues such as college debt relief, climate change and boosting the working and middle classes, they have largely ignored an issue — the soaring number of unsheltered Americans — that has reached a crisis point in communities on the West Coast and elsewhere.

“The reason, said Sam Tsemberis, is simple… ‘It doesn’t have a constituency or an advocacy group that has enough money,’ said Tsemberis, who leads Pathways Housing First, a Los Angeles nonprofit that works to end homelessness. ‘The National Coalition for the Homeless is not the National Rifle Assn.’…

“Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, the former mayor of Newark, is the only one with a housing proposal that specifically talks about eliminating homelessness nationwide, by doubling funding to $6 billion for federal grants geared toward serving that population.

“Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s housing plan ties in such factors as affordable-housing scarcity, housing discrimination and the needs of people who require substance-abuse treatment, all issues that influence a person’s vulnerability to homelessness.

“Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ campaign website features his stands on 25 issues, but housing is not among them. When he ran for president four years ago, Sanders called for increased federal spending on rent vouchers for the poor, repairs to public housing projects and construction of low-rent housing… In March, Sanders tweeted that the country has ‘a moral responsibility to make certain that no American goes hungry or sleeps out on the streets.’..

“Julian Castro, who was Housing and Urban Development secretary under President Obama, stood out among Democratic rivals by highlighting homelessness on the campaign trail. On an April visit to Nevada, he toured a storm-drain tunnel beneath the Las Vegas Strip where hundreds had set up encampments… ‘This is not the kind of issue that a lot of people open their arms to, but they should,’ Castro said Thursday in an interview.” Tyrone Beason, Melanie Mason and Michael Finnegan writing for the Une 10th Los Angeles Times.

But what really staggers my mind is the horrific cost of dealing with “little unpleasant things”… like bathrooms for those encampments… so expensive that they make me wonder why that money cannot be deployed for something much better and more permanent. 

“Homeless advocates want more mobile restrooms near encampments so homeless people can relieve themselves in clean, secure, monitored facilities. Doing so ultimately saves money by averting problems that can become big and costly, said David Busch, a homeless activist who once went on hunger strike in Venice to demand toilets and other services.

“He and other advocates rattled off examples: Preventing homeless people from being beaten up while using an unattended restroom and then needing emergency care. Thwarting the diseases and infections that come from waiting too long to urinate or not being able to wash one’s hands.

“Having ‘attended, well-kept toilets and hand-washing stations is less costly than when people get typhus, hepatitis A or other serious illnesses,’ said Liz Forer, chief executive of the Venice Family Clinic.

“A big part of the cost for bathrooms is staffing: To prevent portable toilets from being trashed or taken over for illicit activity, such restrooms are monitored by trained attendants for 12 hours a day at a cost of more than $117,000 annually, according to city officials. Adding administration, toilet rental and other costs brings the price to roughly $339,000.

“Running them around the clock would cost more. On the automatic toilets, L.A. spends less because it doesn’t have to rent them. Staffing them for 12 hours daily, plus other expenses, comes to nearly $200,000 annually, according to the city.” Emily Alpert Reyes for the Los Angeles Times. We live in a time when it is acceptable to let those with needs, those with an inability to meet those needs, fall through our social cracks, wither painfully and die slowly, simply fading into the shadows of uncaring denial. It is how we are making America Great Again.

              I’m Peter Dekom, and throughout modern history, America has rallied to help those in need all over the world… until now… where ignoring or purging what we don’t like has become the new American value.