Category Archive

There are few sights in the world like nighttime in skid row, the teeming Dickensian dystopia in downtown Los Angeles where homeless and destitute people have been concentrated for more than a century. Here, men and women sleep in rows, lined up one after another for block after block in makeshift tents or on cardboard mats on the sidewalks — …

Many people think of homelessness as a problem of substance abusers and mentally ill people, of chronic skid row street-dwellers pushing shopping carts. But increasingly, the crisis in Los Angeles today is about a less visible (but more numerous) group of “economically homeless” people. These are people who have been driven onto the streets or into shelters by hard times, …

If we walked through Homeless City, we would see that more than two-thirds of its residents are male. Four of every 10 people we meet would be African American — many more than in the surrounding areas, where only 9% of residents and 12% of those living in poverty are African American. We wouldn’t get very far before being struck …

Los Angeles County’s homeless population has soared 23% over last year despite increasing success in placing people in housing, according to the latest annual count released Wednesday. The sharp rise, to nearly 58,000, suggested that the pathway into homelessness continues to outpace intensifying efforts that — through rent subsidies, new construction, outreach and support services — got more than 14,000 …

“Live from skid row, it’s Tuesday night!” Pastor Dan shouted, beginning two hours of Christian music and prayer for worshipers arrayed on metal chairs in the spacious, white-walled chapel at the Union Rescue Mission. Once the playful service ended, worshipers folded and stacked their chairs and began to unfurl cots. There weren’t enough for everyone. “Blankets and sheets on the …

The number of homeless people in Los Angeles has jumped to a new record, as city officials grapple with a humanitarian crisis of proportions remarkable for a modern American metropolis. Municipal leaders said that a recent count over several nights found 55,188homeless people living in a survey region comprising most of Los Angeles County, up more than 25% from last year. It …

For months, Lara Vidaurri has noticed a growing number of people cooking with portable stoves and over open flames at a homeless camp a few hundred yards below her Malibu home. She said she reported the issue to police several times last year, worried about the fire danger the camp posed during what’s turned out to be the most destructive …

MCDONALD REPORT–In the nation’s second largest city, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and the City Council have quietly perverted a much-needed housing program for homeless men, women, and children. And affordable housing advocates and the Los Angeles Times are not sounding the alarm. (Photo above: Mayor photo-oping with the homeless.) Los Angeles is currently facing one of its worst homeless crises in …

LOS ANGELES — Finding $1.2 billion to build housing for the homeless — as voters here did last year by overwhelmingly approving an increase in their own property taxes — may turn out to have been the easy part. Los Angeles is now witnessing a fight that demonstrates why developing housing for the homeless has been such a tough challenge …

It was another warm January day, the afternoon sun sailing across a blue sky, the air thick with the scent of urine, rotting trash and human misery. Beginning at Central Avenue and heading west, I counted 16 tents on the south side of 5th Street. My longtime traveling companion, Times photographer Francine Orr, counted 15 tents on the north side …