Homelessness in LA

 Art 3170 Civiv Engagement Action Project Blog 

Welcome to the ART 3170 blog created as part of the civic engagement requirement of this course. In this blog, students found issues that are in our community that are important to them. While collecting research, they will also contact local members in their community to see their opinions on their issue. 

Homelessness in Los Angeles - Karicia Velasquez

                        HOMELESSNESS IN LOS ANGELES 

A environmental issue that affects the community that I live in is homelessness. The numbers in homelessness seem to be increasing overtime, which only affects our community and it is very common  in the community of LA. The topic of homelessness is overlooked a lot and also judged and misinterpreted. I believe that most of the people like to blame and assume they did something to “deserve” to live without a home. People are quick to judge instead of realizing that homelessness is a big issue and we should care about it. 

Why it’s deeper than ‘just get a job’ ?

In the year 2020, the population of homelessness was 580, 466. 61.1% of the people were living in an unsheltered place, the streets. Now that's a big number of people that are around living in the streets. Many people believe that getting a job is the solution to this, they believe that homeless people should just go and look for a job and they will get out of living in the street. But, have you guys ever thought about the requirements of obtaining a job? In this generation, we all use a cellphone for many things, and one of them is for a job. When we go to a job interview they usually always say to leave a number or an address and they will get back to you. But what about the homeless that don't have any of that? How do we expect them to find a job without any type of form for a person to contact them? I always had that in my mind, that they never choose to be there in the streets. In a podcast on Spotify called “Why Don’t the Homeless Just Get a Job” it shows how it only gets harder than not having a device. For example, in the talk they talked about how other basic job requirements are things like a SSN, Identification, past history employment and Transportation. “If that is just stolen in an instant, you have a lot of work to do before you can't even begin with the application process.” Being homeless, living in the streets is much easier for people to go and steal from you. Another thing is getting paid, they don’t have an address to be receiving their checks. Getting a job isn’t impossible but it is very difficult. 

Why should we care ?

To put it simple, we have the ability to. We have resources that they don’t. Homeless people are humans, just like us. We both get hungry, we both get cold and we both need a home. The only difference between us is that we never have to go days without eating. We never have to worry about not having a meal or a place to keep warm. We can all help homeless people with something as simple as giving them blankets, towels or pillows that we no longer need. Instead of throwing them away to the trash we can think about people living in the streets, especially in the cold times. They suffer and get sick from the cold. Although some people out there don't always react the way we expect them to, at the end of the day we know that what we are doing is coming from the heart. Helping someone out always feels good at the end of the day. It gives us a satisfaction that no amount of money can buy. 

Homelessness issues

Homelessness causes people to have health and mental problems. Most if not all of the homeless are struggling with health and mental problems. Living in the streets is hard. People get stressed, they get sad, they want it all to go away and want to give up. They have no one to talk to, we look at them like they are crazy but the truth is they take drugs to take all of that pain and suffering away. Over time, they become addicted to taking these drugs, they forget about what's normal and what isn’t. The only thing that homeless people need is a home. There’s a quote that mostly a lot of celebrities say, which is “Home is where the heart is”. In a different podcast on spotify titled “What to Do When Passing a Homeless Person”, they interviewed a homeless person named Chris and they asked him about what they would want from us. He said so many things but I think what was like a shocking moment was that he would want people to treat him like a human and tell him “have a nice day”. This goes back to my point where I mentioned how most humans mistreat them because of where they are, and how we judge them and assume all they want is free money, but nowhere in the interview did he mention he wanted money from us. Being homeless still means that they are human and want the same thing we give others, respect and love from the community. We should all give them that respect and love. We should all treat them well for who they are and not what they are. 

Why is this issue important for me?

Homelessness is an important issue for me because not only was my mother and I homeless at one point in our life but due to this it affects me on a personal level seeing other people suffer the way I used to because I can relate to it. Many people believe that homeless people deserve being homeless or that they are just lazy people, but they got it all wrong. I wish more people in our community would see that no one wishes to be homeless by choice and that they would help out in any way they can because everyone is capable of helping.  

Interviews

Questions ;

1. Does homelessness affect you or anyone you know?

2. Do you think that the community can do more in order to help the issue of homelessness?

3. Have you ever helped a homeless person/family?

Carlos Palacios

1. ‘No, it does not’

2. ‘Yes they can. They can by acknowledging the situation for what it is and actually doing something about it.

3. ‘Yes I have helped before by giving them food/money, to show generosity towards them’

Juliette Palacios

1. ‘Sometimes it makes me cry but then some homeless people are mean.’

2. ‘Yes they can, they can help them at least.’

3.No I haven’t but I wish I had money to help them.