In big cities in California such as Los Angeles or San Francisco, its inhabitants are currently living through a homelessness crisis. Streets are filled with homeless people. Human feces, used syringes, trash, vomit are among the things in the streets that are taking over these cities. The problem here is that the mayors from these big cities aren’t doing much for the homeless who are suffering in the streets and who are living under tents or bridges and are victims of crimes. They don’t seem to care about the hygiene of their cities, since they are not keeping them clean. The lack of action by the state government has essentially allowed this issue to explode. The homeless should be given more attention and care, but instead they are being treated as if they are unimportant.
In 2011 there were less than 40,000 homeless people living in LA, in 2020 before the pandemic struck there were more than 60,000 homeless people living in LA. This would be an increase of about 50% in less than 10 years.
It is important to take into account that many of these homeless people are mentally ill or suffer some kind of addiction. Due to local regulation, police have been told that they are not allowed to move them to shelters or dry out facilities or do anything about the trash that is plaguing these big cities.
Most underpass or overpass in LA has essentially been turned into tent cities. Nearly every public space has become a repository of open waste, needles and trash. The most beautiful and essential parts of LA and San Francisco have become wrecks.
It is important to acknowledge that this is happening due to the lack of commitment and action from the state government, since they are preventing police and state officials from doing something about the homeless problem. A great initiative the California state government could do is to start cleaning up the streets. Start sending the homeless into shelters, rehabilitation, or places in general where they will feel safe and won’t be an issue for the residents. Let police do their job by trying to help the homeless and enforce the law with those who decide to break it.
