By Leonardo Cervantes
Homelessness has been a rampant issue for years now but a time for change might finally have come.
Besides the obvious bed to sleep on instead of piled up cold pieces of cardboard and blankets on the floor.
The shelter will also provide hot water and unfortunately, some of these people may have gone weeks and months without being able to take a proper bath.
Besides it being the morally right thing to do, when Judge David O. Carter visited skid row on April 3, it seems to have justified his actions to want to provide shelter for all the homeless people.
Carter oversaw the lawsuit about homelessness and ordered the city and county to offer some form of shelter or housing to the entire homeless population of skid row by October.
“The city and county must offer single women and unaccompanied children on skid row a place to stay within 90 days, help families within 120 days and by October 18, offer every homeless person on skid row housing or shelter,” Carter said. This is a massive shift and a change that can impact many people’s lives greatly.
“Year after year there are more homeless Angelenos, and year after year more homeless Angelenos die on the streets,” said Carter.
Last year alone more than 1,300 homeless people died in Los Angeles county. Homelessness is a sad reality that the whole world faces but especially in downtown Los Angeles on Skid Row.
As of the last count done by Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority in January 2020, more than 4,600 unhoused people were found to be living on Skid Row.
There were about 2,500 people living in large shelters and 2,093 on the streets.
Some politicians might argue that instead of funding money for shelters and housing for homelessness they should instead build new parks and playgrounds.
Perhaps they might be right as it gives kids another avenue to socialize and have fun, but how would it be better than building homes for homeless people. Since Skid Row is so overcrowded, some homeless people are forced to sleep at or right near parks and playgrounds.
So this should be an even bigger incentive so that homeless people finally have a roof over their head, and parks can be used to have fun.
Humans love sleeping in the comfort of their own bed. As a matter of fact, some people complain they aren’t able to fall asleep if they aren’t sleeping on their own bed.
Well, the unfortunate reality for homeless people is that they have gotten used to having to sleep in tents or on the floor covered with cardboard boxes.
On those cold fall and winter nights, homeless people don’t have the option of turning on a heater to get warm, they just have to use an extra blanket to warm up.
On the hot and sunny spring and summer days, they have no way to use a fan, let alone an air conditioner.
When it rains, it must feel like some of the worst days of the year for homeless people. Even if they use extra cardboard or larger tents, the chances that it can actually hold off water from leaking in are slim.
The sad reality is that weather conditions affect homeless people year-round and the only real alternative around weather conditions is to live in a home or shelter.