Letters to the Editor: Is Rick Caruso’s ‘short-term’ homelessness plan what L.A. needs?
I was pleased to read this editorial in the Jan. 26, 2015, L.A. Weekly about the need for a long-term solution for homeless encampments in L.A. But Caruso’s solution, while long-term in the short-term, has two problems:
There are no signs of any long-term solution here, only the one-time temporary solution of an encampment. This temporary solution is of doubtful viability and is no doubt the result of the current political climate. It’s a solution nobody here wants to accept as an answer to an increasingly homeless population and a community whose leaders cannot find a way to solve the problem.
While on Jan. 26, 2015, I was thrilled to see the front cover of the Jan. 26, 2015, L.A. Weekly with the headline “No Long Term Solution,” Caruso’s solution is not a ‘no long-term solutions.’ It’s a long-term solution in the short-term with the one-time temporary solution of an encampment, a solution nobody wants.
The problem with this solution is not that it might be temporary. The problem is that it’s only temporary.
Caruso’s suggestion is that the homeless encampments be “managed.” But what is a homeless encampment? Is it a place on a street in downtown L.A. from where no one moves for months? No, but it is a place on a street where people live on their own until they are evicted by their landlord.
What is’managing’? Is it simply a form of ‘tough love’? When has a person have to’manage’ a homeless encampment? And as for ‘tough love,’ why doesn’t Caruso say that the long-term solution is more permanent?
Caruso does not ‘know’ the homeless population, so why should we assume it’s any better