How bad is it?
A tragic paradox is on display in Los
Angeles and San Francisco: Their
economies are vibrant, and legions of
wealthy young professionals spend
small fortunes on food, cars, and other
consumer goods. Yet in some neighbor-
hoods, people live as if in Third World
slums. In L.A., tent cities line freeway
underpasses, armies of rats stoke fears
of disease, and thousands of homeless
people share a dozen toilets. In San
Francisco, drug needles and garbage
line the streets, and the city employs
four full-time workers to sweep up
feces. Throughout the nation, accord-
ing to the Department of Housing
and Urban Development, the homeless population has been rela-
tively stable in recent years, with about 550,000 Americans living
without homes. California accounts for 12 percent of the U.S.
population but a quarter of its homeless, and it’s getting worse:
Los Angeles County’s homeless population jumped 12 percent this
year, to nearly 59,000, while San Francisco’s homeless count grew
17 percent over the past two years, to about 8,000—nearly 1 per-
cent of the city’s population.What’s driving the problem?
Homelessness is a complex phenomenon with many causes, in clud-
ing mental illness and drug addiction. But the primary factor in
Cal i for nia is the skyrocketing cost of housing. Over the past six
years in L.A., the median household income grew 23 percent,
while the median rent increased 67 percent. An Angeleno must
earn $47.52 an hour—more than triple the minimum wage—
to afford the average monthly rent of
$2,471. As a result, one-third of renters
qualify as “severely rent burdened,”
meaning they spend at least half of their
income on housing. In those circum-
stances, an unexpected cost or job loss
can quickly result in people failing to
pay the rent and landing on the street.
For every 2 percent increase in L.A.
rent, 4,227 people are likely to become
homeless, according to the real estate
database Zillow. In Oakland, one of
the Bay Area’s most rapidly gentrify-
ing cities, homelessness has exploded
by 47 percent since 2017. Across the
bridge in San Francisco, the median
one- bedroom apartment now rents for
$3,690 per month.Are there other factors?
The cities’ temperate climates make it
possible for people to live outdoors.
Spending nights on the street can be
nearly impossible during New York
City’s cold winters, which helps explain
why just 5 percent of the city’s home-
less population is unsheltered. (The Big
Apple houses more than 61,000 peopleevery night in about 745 shelters.)
Seventy-five percent of L.A.’s home-
less are unsheltered, as are about
70 percent in San Francisco. San
Francisco recently designated a city-
owned parking lot for people living
out of vans and RVs, allowing them
to stay in this “triage lot” for up
to 90 days. In 2007, Los Angeles
officials agreed to stop enforcing an
ordinance banning sleeping on the
sidewalk. That allows as many as
10,000 people to live in the 50-block
district known as Skid Row, a dysto-
pian encampment where assaults and
robberies run rampant.What is the impact of drug use?
Drug abuse can be either a cause or a consequence of homeless-
ness. Some people lose jobs and homes because of addiction, while
others land on the street first and become drug abusers to blot out
the shame and misery of their lives. That’s why dealers brazenly
target homeless encampments. In Seattle, city officials say that the
majority of homeless people are hooked on opioids. Among the
unsheltered, 80 percent are believed to have a substance-abuse dis-
order. In Los Angeles, some homeless people smoke crystal meth
to stay awake at night so they can fend off thieves and assailants.
San Francisco employs a crew to pick up used syringes 12 hours a
day, collecting more than 140,000 in the past year.What can be done?
Municipalities already are spending a lot of money on the prob-
lem. Private and public organizations in the Seattle metro area
spend $1 billion each year fighting
homelessness—nearly $88,000 for
every homeless person. Last year
Los Angeles spent $619 million to
bring 20,000 people off the streets,
largely thanks to a sales tax passed
in 2017. A year earlier, L.A. voters
overwhelmingly approved raising
property taxes to generate $1.2 bil-
lion for 10,000 new housing units.
Willingness to spend, however, is half
the battle. Building low-income hous-
ing always generates powerful “not
in my backyard” opposition among
existing homeowners, who fear it
will hurt their property values. But
without many more affordable apart-
ments, homelessness can’t be reduced.
“Housing is an inescapable, unavoid-
able part of the solution,” said Uni ver-
sity of Cal i for nia, San Fran cis co pro-
fessor Dr. Mar got Kushel, one of the
nation’s top experts on homelessness.
She says that is no less true for people
with substance abuse or mental health
problems. “It makes treatment so, so,
so difficult— bordering on impossible—
if people are living on the street.”Briefing NEWS^11
The tent city on Skid Row in Los AngelesLiving on the streets
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The era of ‘hostile architecture’
Business owners in Los Angeles are adopt-
ing aggressive tactics to keep the homeless
away from camping out near their front doors.
Some are putting large arrays of cactus plants,
thorny rosebushes, and even metal spikes on
the sidewalks. Peter Mozgo, operator of down-
town L.A.’s Hungarian Cultural Alliance, says
dozens of homeless people began congregating
outside his building, which happens to be next
to a food bank. Potential clients would tell him,
“I’m sorry, I really like your place, but the street
is unacceptable.” So, without bothering to get a
permit, Mozgo bought 140 large planter boxes,
filled them with dirt, and arranged them around
his building to prevent people from sleeping on
the sidewalk. In cities plagued by street dwell-
ers, “hostile architecture” is increasingly used
to drive the homeless away: benches with extra
armrests to prevent lying down, boulders placed
under bridges, grates raised off the ground. Chris
Homandberg, an activist for the homeless in L.A.,
says getting people “out of sight” does nothing
to fix the problem. He cites a sidewalk outside a
Catholic church where someone planted a thorny
bush. “There’s some metaphor there about a
crown of thorns,” he said.West Coast cities have booming economies but neighborhoods that are filled with homeless people. Why?