"The Results of This Year’s Homeless Count [in Los Angeles] Are Grim"

Los Angeles Magazine:

Perhaps the only things more worrying than the increasing number of people living without shelter is that the latest annual double-digit increase both comes after massive financial investments seeking to stem homelessness, and that the rise represents the situation before the economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic could be measured.

Homelessness in Los Angeles County increased 12.7 percent in the past year, from just under 59,000 to 66,433 individuals living without permanent shelter, according to the 2020 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count, which was released this morning by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority.

...

Although African Americans comprise about 8 percent of the L.A. County population, they represent 33.7 percent of those living on the streets.

Last week in Los Angeles:

An L.A. Neighborhood Is in Turmoil After Residents Place Boulders in an Underpass to Deter the Unhoused

...

“The city was not able to do it for us, so we took action,” sa[id] a Hollywood screenwriter who’s lived in Reynier Village for two years. “When an opportunity arose and there was no homeless in the tunnel, we moved very quickly, because we were kind of laying in wait for this opportunity.”

"Architects were asked to design appealing homeless shelters on a $1-million budget. Here's what they came up with"

LAT:

The opposition highlights the importance of good design up front, De Briere said.

“I’m not saying you wouldn’t still have some community concerns about having temporary homes built there,” she said, pointing to the renderings on display in the institute’s office. “But if they had seen something that was more like some of these images, I think you would have a more positive reaction.”

"L.A.'s homelessness surged 75% in six years"

"If you took out Los Angeles, national homelessness would have dropped last year for the first time since the recession."

"The world's first vending machine for the homeless has been launched in Nottingham"

"The bright orange machine also dispenses energy bars, chocolate and sandwiches, as well as socks, antibacterial lotion, toothbrush and toothpaste, and books."

Related: "Anti-homeless spikes have been removed in Manchester, England, after locals kept covering them with cushions."

Homeless encampment found suspended under Los Angeles overpass

Here's video of firemen cleaning out some of the stuff they found:



Via.

*Update: The LA Times has the story.

**Think that's weird? How about living inside a garbage truck.