What L.A. Can Learn About Homelessness From Other U.S. Cities
Strategies used by cities such as Miami, Philadelphia, New York, St. Louis, Seattle, & Denver for reducing homelessness are working.
across America, cities large and small have made significant progress. The numbers of homeless people on the streets of Miami, Philadelphia, New York, St. Louis, Seattle, Denver, Portland, Ore., and 20 other cities have declined in the last several years.
What have they done that Los Angeles has not?
It turns out that what is more humane is also more economical.
the true costs of chronic homelessness are staggering: $35,000 to $150,000 per person per year. By contrast, the annual cost of supportive housing for a person with serious mental illness or addiction disease is between $13,000 and $25,000.
From New York's Times Square to San Francisco's Tenderloin district, you can see the results: The number of people on the streets is down, and the savings in ambulance runs, emergency rooms and jails are up.
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S.F.? Check your facts...
If the authors are going to use the example of San Francisco, they might want to take a look at the Chronicle and all the recent articles regarding the huge homeless problem in Haight-Ashbury and around Golden Gate Park. I guess all of the homeless from the Tenderloin moved over there, therefore, they "disappeared" and the problem was solved. Skid Row has been a problem ever since I was little growing up in LA, it's notorious nationwide, and if the authors think some transitional housing is going to solve it, more power to them. Good luck with that.
Not so in Philly
Philadelphia just did a census and the homeless population in Center City is at a 10 year high and double that of 3 years ago.
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/10847987.html
As long as condescending, paternalistic, suburban church groups are allowed to keep coming to the Parkway with their food trucks it will remain a homeless magnet. The homeless come from all over the region and many of them are suburban meth heads and junkies. Most of the rest are mentally ill and resistant to shelters and treatment. The addicts make money spanging, they dumpster dive, there are hot meals available when they want, plenty of public and semi-public places to keep warm, shelters when needed, and of course, methadone. I'm not saying we don't need the services. I'm saying we don't need all of those services concentrated in the heart of Center City.
The city of Philadelphia doesn't have anything close to an affordable housing shortage. What we need is for the suburban counties (with their considerably higher housing prices) to step up and take on their share of the problem.