From Coast to Crisis: A Journey Through LA’s Homelessness Epidemic
I departed Los Angeles in 2018, heading up the coast to work on a marijuana farm. After a few months, I visited my sister in Bonney Lake, Washington, and stayed there for six months. My next stop was the South Rim area of The Grand Canyon, near Flagstaff, Arizona, where I remained for 3.5 years working for a family-owned and operated hotel. On October 12, 2021, I returned to Los Angeles, only to find that it had changed drastically. Unfortunately, it had been neglected, and the transformation saddened me.
An Unimaginable Problem
The current situation of the immense population of homeless individuals suffering from mental illness and exhibiting episodes of rage and unprovoked violence is a pressing issue that requires urgent attention. Such individuals require institutional medical care, not only for their own welfare but also to ensure the security of the public. Unfortunately, the authorities in the Los Angeles Metro area have not taken any substantial measures in this regard, and their implemented efforts have been overly funded and funds poorly spent, misused, or just plain pocketed.
I can sympathize with both sides of this critical issue, as I have experienced both the depths of poverty and the heights of affluence — and so I understand the magnitude of the…