Prototype Issue
Encampment Protest Raises Awareness About Homeless Problem
Posted by Tom McKenzie
Activists' Encampment at City Hall Calls on Mayor to Improve Homelessness Strategy
With roughly 40,000 men, women and children living homeless in LA, and high-rise development booming, highbrow downtown and skid row are colliding. Critics complain that the Mayor Villaraigosa’s solutions fall short of promises made last year to address the properly address the problem.
Yes, there are more police downtown. However, advocates and homeless victims complain that there has been unfair targeting of the homeless by police. Additionally, every weekday morning before dawn street dwellers are cleared along major arteries coming into the city so commuters may be spared the sight of people living in the street. Advocates for the homeless charge that these kinds of policies are not humane solutions for LA’s homeless problem.
With a periodic protest encampment near City Hall, activists are raising awareness about better solutions like those enacted in New York, where controversial legislation has mandated care and housing for homeless, particularly those with mental and physical disabilities. At an encampment demonstration on April 12, 2007, Coalition to End Hunger Executive Director Bob Erlenbush suggested Mayor Villaraigosa go to New York where he can “get a clue,” because while LA only plans to create about 4,251 affordable housing units over the next 10 years, New York City proposes 165,000 units.
Photo courtesy of the Homeless Camera Project www.vajraenterprises.com
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