HOMELAND WAR WAGES ON AGAINST THE HOMELESS
by Peggy Lee
Kennedy
Anti-homeless
ordinance disease spreads from Santa Monica to Los Angeles and new Chief of
Police, Bratton, spearheads a crack down on the so-called criminal element
living on skid row.
The Central City Association (CCA) of Los
Angeles recently drafted an ordinance plan using a pretext of public concern,
“Downtown’s Human Tragedy: It’s Not Acceptable Anymore A
Public Health and Safety Plan.” Except the tragedy of homelessness should
never have been acceptable and the document reveals CCAs lack of understanding
for the real problems surrounding homelessness in the downtown area.
Furthermore, it specifically accuses civil rights and homeless advocates of
being misguided and enabling homelessness by defending their rights to sleep
outside when there is no other alternative.
The CCA ordinance plan classifies the
downtown homeless population as people who are temporarily homeless, people with
mental problems, panhandlers, parolees, drug addicts that are service resistant,
drug dealers and other criminals. It neglects to identify the substantial
homeless population of working adults, families, women, and children. It
suggests that existing social programs, such as Chrysalis, are the solution.
Many homeless people simply require a living wage and affordable housing. When
these are not available, how can any social service provider help to transition
a person from homelessness?
CCA’s
plan states that it is cruel to allow mentally ill people to live in
“squalor” and it estimates that 35 to 50 percent of the homeless
population suffer with mental illness, but it overlooks the root causes for this
problem. Homeless people suffering with mental illness often want housing and/or
support services, but they are unable to manage the obstacles and limitations of
existing social service systems. A housed person having problems managing the
obstacles and limitations of a HMO should have a small idea of what a person
suffering with mental illness must deal
with.
CCA is an association concerned
mainly with the revitalization of businesses in the downtown area and it would
be wise for it to consult with local human rights and homeless advocates before
drafting proposals suggesting anti-encampment laws in Los Angeles. The existing
shelter and social services cannot accommodate the police enforcement of an
anti-encampment law.
Why aren’t
CCA and its supporting city council members creating partnerships in order to
seek housing and support service solutions? Instead there is criticism of
homeless advocates and proposals for direct police action against homeless
people. Think about the words “police sweep.” Are homeless people
dirt that should be swept off the streets? And where will they be swept to with
only 13,000 shelter beds for an estimated 50,000-85,000 homeless on any given
night in LA County.
Maybe the Vice
President of Public Policy for CCA, Diana Warren, should experience first-hand
what it means to spend the night in one of those “available shelter
beds” before she judges people, especially women, sleeping in cardboard
boxes on the street.
Furthermore,
classifying the homeless as parole violators and drug dealers is a way to gain
public approval for detaining, harassing, and arresting people for the
“suspicion” of a violation. Painting negative images of the homeless
population sets the stage for public acceptance of harsh police methods used to
“clean up” the skid row area under L.A.'s new Chief of Police
William Bratton. Coincidently, a recent special state bar report stated that
nearly 1.5 million poor families in California do not have access to lawyers
when they are faced with legal disputes. Maybe the skid row police sweeps can
create even more suspected parole violators.
Why must it be a crime to be sick and
poor? And isn’t it interesting how so many human rights complaints have
come from our new chief of police’s history of law enforcement? Homeless
people are very vulnerable. Are the Venice poor next on the hit list? Targeting
poor people and service providers with ordinances and police action is a waste
of our tax dollars and a cheap shot. Downtown developers support the proposed
CCA ordinance plan. Let’s not stand with people and corporations waging
war against the homeless. The solutions are supportive services, affordable
housing, and decent jobs. War is not the answer in Los Angeles, Venice, or Iraq.
Posted: Sun - December
1, 2002 at 04:05 PM