Anthony G.

Le
Jaya Dubey
Writing 39C: Research and Argument
14 April 2014
Into Our Line of Sight: The Homeless Problem

Imagine walking around the streets of Los Angeles and taking in the towering buildings
and the bustling traffic. People on the sidewalk passing back heading to their next appointment
and cars in search of parking slots. Suddenly the world stops and you hear the rattling of coins in
a can. You take your focus of the beautiful City of Angels to a man sitting man on the ground
shaking his can. He sits there with a sign that says, Homeless, please help. God bless. People
continue to walk by, but only you notice him. The world seems to be so distracted from him and
blinded that they do not see his problem. As the man continues to be out of the line of sight of
society so does problem. The homelessness situation is bigger than one may imagine. Like the
people passing by the homeless man, the world continues to move on and focus on other issues
leaving the homeless population growing by having the homeless concentrated in one area. The
problem with containing the homeless in Skid row, Los Angeles by concentrating their
population and ignoring their predicament is caused by the failure of government regulation and
public knowledge of the problem. This issue results in problems towards public health like the
tuberculosis outbreak that hit the homeless in Los Angeles, economic issues like the increased
public cost monthly, and property depreciation which strips away businesses and value of the
area.
Homelessness and poverty were always persistent and present in the societies of the
world over time. From the serfs in Medieval Europe and the Untouchables in India, poverty and
homelessness existed. There were always people who were the affected by everything putting
them into the lower class and the becoming the ones who were always looked down upon. In
modern days without the financial ability to make ends meet and afford an apartment or home,
individuals and families become homeless (Causes of Homelessness). Factors like loss of a
job, the high housing and rent costs, or disabilities are a few factors that contribute to the
homeless population. [Homeless] males [usually become homeless due to] relationship
breakdown, substance misuse, the or leaving an institution (prison, care, hospital, etc.). For
homeless women, the most common causes were physical or mental health problems and
escaping a violent relationship (Causes and consequences). All these factors contribute to the
ongoing growth of homelessness, but overall the lack of public sight of the issue and
governmental regulation are the main reasons why homelessness continues to be in our society.
Problems arise from the overwhelming increase in the amount of homeless people in Los
Angeles. As these homeless people are concentrated in the area of Skid row, they become a risk
to public health and hygiene. According from P.A.T.H., a program of agencies fighting against
homelessness, and the 2013 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count, 58,423 individuals
experience homelessness in Los Angeles on any given night (About Us). In over the past
five years, more and
more homeless people are
being reported to contract
tuberculosis, a bacterial
disease that has
symptoms of coughing,
coughing up blood,
weigh loss, night sweats,
fatigue, and fever
(Lupkin). The disease is
spread through the air like the common cold, so nearby homeless shelters and the area are
already exposed to the bacterial strain. According to the map of the United States by the Centers
for Disease Control, the tuberculosis strain is spread throughout across the nation. As more and
more people continue to be infected, the disease will only continue to spread and eventually
create a bigger problem. The tuberculosis disease can easily be treated with antibiotics, but the
homeless lack available resources to attain the help they need like getting the tuberculosis
vaccine to prevent getting the disease in the first place or receiving health care. Homeless
individuals are vulnerable to this slow spreading epidemic due to the stressful living situations,
poor diets, or are sick with other diseases (The Los Angeles County Department of Public
Health Response to Community Concerns About Active Tuberculosis (TB) Disease Among the
Homeless). Due to the concentrated amount of homeless in crowded living conditions, the strain
is more likely to spread. Although according to Los Angeles County Department of Public
Health who says, The ongoing outbreak of tuberculosis is not a threat to the general, as more
and more people become homeless and concentrated in areas like Skid row, this strain can easily
become an epidemic.
Health officials are
concerned for the
outbreak in Skid row,
even asking for
federal assistance.
Even with active
measures are being
taken from Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and homeless shelters, the disease can still be spread
to the increasing population of homeless people. Together Los Angeles health officials and the
CDC have estimated about 4,650 people who were probably exposed to the contagious disease
in the downtown area of Los Angeles known as Skid row (Beasley and Julie Steenhuysen). The
CDC recorded that there were in 2011, 10,528 cases of tuberculosis in the United States where a
majority of them are from the homeless (Homelessness is a risk factor for TB).
As the homeless population grows and risk of contracting diseases like tuberculosis
becomes bigger, the public health issue becomes a major economic issue as well. An example is
that when a sick homeless person would get sick they would go be sent to a local hospital. Since
all hospitals are required to provide help to a person regardless of the inability to pay for the
emergency services according to the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTLA)
the homeless would receive care. But how would the homeless pay for the services? Taxpayers
are the ones who end up taking the costs for the homeless patients who enter the emergency
room. Each visit costs $3,700; thats $18,500 spent per year for the average person and $44,400
spent per year for the highest users of emergency departments (The Cost of Homelessness
Facts). Also according to the Green Doors Organization, 80% of emergency room visits made
by people struggling with homelessness is for an illness that could have been treated with
preventative care (The Cost of Homelessness Facts). With so many homeless people getting
sick due to common diseases that could have been prevented, they are costing the government
and the taxpayers a great amount of money that could have been used for fighting the
homelessness problem rather than supporting it.
Slowly as the homeless population increases, the businesses and the value of the area
become depreciated. According to the dictionary, depreciation is defined as a decrease in value
due to wear and tear, decay, decline in price such a decrease as allowed in computing the value
of property. Many businesses lose business as the homeless populations occupy the area.
Consumers stray away from the businesses, which in turn become a loss in income for the
businesses. These businesses become more likely to move away due to the lack of customers.
For example in downtown Portland, many local businesses like says, [the homeless] cost [them]
business, according to FOX 12: Oregon (FOX 12 Staff). If the homeless population are growing
and pushing out businesses, slowly the homeless population will dominate the area. People will
also slowly start avoiding the area concentrated homelessness in the area and leaving them out of
sight of the public view. Not many people notice the effects of the growing homeless population
affecting them indirectly through their public health and their taxes that they do not become
proactive towards trying to
stop the ongoing problem.
Cities like Los Angeles was
built to have urban security.
The city was built upon a
planned security within its
own design. According to
Mike Davis, a well-known
urban theorist for his work on
power and social classes within Southern California writes about how Los Angeles was built to
fight against the homeless population. The design of bus benches, mega structures, and housing
projects (Davis) all impose difficulties and security against the homelessness. Public restrooms
tend to attract the homeless and businesses tend to put up signs like the one above to push away
homeless people from their stores. Bus benches are made hard and uncomfortable so that the
homeless would not sleep on them and bridges would connect buildings so that people would not
have to go down to the street where the homeless are to get to another place. Architect Frank
Gehrys idea of urban realism, to segregate the homeless through the design of the city, creates a
solution to how to insert luxurious spaces- and high property values- into decaying
neighborhoods (Davis). The small details within design of the city like a simple sign on a
businesss restroom or a park bench make it possible for Gehry to create a luxurious space
within an area of poverty. With the planned designing like those of Gehrys the homeless still
continues to be ignored and concentrated as society continues to go on with their day-to-day
lives.
Even though there are so many contributors to the homeless problem there is still hope
homeless can be fought against. When the idea of homelessness comes to the mind of people,
they think of the homeless people as dangerous and dirty and grotesque. We must change our
views on them as each and every one of them have a different story for why they are struggling
with homelessness and really direct our efforts towards helping them. Within a global view, the
homeless are out of the sight of the general public preventing a widespread knowledge of the
issues itself, but by putting an effort to understanding the problem we can work towards taking
steps to ending homelessness. Joel John Roberts, the executive director of PATH (People
Assisting the Homeless) writes in the Los Angeles Times about different contributors that
increase homeless in our communities like sweeping the homeless into other communities
(Roberts). If the government and society worked towards providing affordable housing, stopping
law enforcement from dealing with the homeless and putting them in jail, and the abolishing the
persisting idea that the homeless are just lazy and shouldnt be helped. These are only few
solutions to the constant predicament of an increasing homeless population and concentrating
them away somewhere else.