LA TImes: 5 Steps to get out of Skid Row
Something that appeared in the LA Times Sunday Edition, a couple of weeks ago in the Opinion section.
Interesting commentary by academia on Skid Row.
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By Gary Blasi, Michael Dear and Jennifer Wolch
GARY BLASI is a professor of law at UCLA Law School
MICHAEL DEAR is a professor of geography at USC
JENNIFER WOLCH is a professor of geography and director of the USC Center for Sustainable Cities
December 31, 2006
SKID ROW disproportionately — and unfairly — cares for the region's homeless because so many other communities in Los Angeles County have few or no services to help them. Currently, only 25 of 88 cities in the county spend money on housing and services for the homeless. Those communities that don't contribute are, in effect, using skid row as their solution to homelessness.
The problem is that city and county policymakers are reality-resistant — they are unable or unwilling to face up to what needs to be done about skid row. They have settled instead on the "three Cs" to fight homelessness: "contain" it in skid row by adding and concentrating mission-based services around San Julian Park; "control" it through personal property seizures, arrests and incarceration, which is one reason why 50 additional police officers were deployed in the downtown area; and "cleanse" it by closing homeless encampments and altering land-use laws.
These strategies have virtually criminalized homelessness, shifted the blame for skid row's continuing problems onto the homeless and allowed other cities to shirk their responsibilities. Clearly, these strategies are not working. Rather than trying to contain, control and cleanse skid row, we should do something radical: end homelessness.
Read the full article here.
Interesting commentary by academia on Skid Row.
-----------------------------------------------
By Gary Blasi, Michael Dear and Jennifer Wolch
GARY BLASI is a professor of law at UCLA Law School
MICHAEL DEAR is a professor of geography at USC
JENNIFER WOLCH is a professor of geography and director of the USC Center for Sustainable Cities
December 31, 2006
SKID ROW disproportionately — and unfairly — cares for the region's homeless because so many other communities in Los Angeles County have few or no services to help them. Currently, only 25 of 88 cities in the county spend money on housing and services for the homeless. Those communities that don't contribute are, in effect, using skid row as their solution to homelessness.
The problem is that city and county policymakers are reality-resistant — they are unable or unwilling to face up to what needs to be done about skid row. They have settled instead on the "three Cs" to fight homelessness: "contain" it in skid row by adding and concentrating mission-based services around San Julian Park; "control" it through personal property seizures, arrests and incarceration, which is one reason why 50 additional police officers were deployed in the downtown area; and "cleanse" it by closing homeless encampments and altering land-use laws.
These strategies have virtually criminalized homelessness, shifted the blame for skid row's continuing problems onto the homeless and allowed other cities to shirk their responsibilities. Clearly, these strategies are not working. Rather than trying to contain, control and cleanse skid row, we should do something radical: end homelessness.
Read the full article here.
posted by bowen at 4:02 PM
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