Essay Sample on Los Angeles Homeless Crisis

Introduction

Los Angeles, a sprawling southern California city, has the most significant number of the homeless population. It is the second most populous town in the US after New York. Moreover, the living cost has become expensive, especially for housing due to a high population in the city. Several studies have shown that homelessness in the city has grown rapidly over the past few years. As reported by the Institute for the Study of Homelessness and Poverty, more or less than 254,000 individuals encounter homelessness in some part of the year. Notably, this condition is mostly driven by the lack of affordable housing, unemployment, and increased poverty among the people.

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Further, it can also occur due to disasters such as floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, and fire. The income of most individuals does not meet the increased cost of living in the city. Besides, many people earn salaries that cannot sustain all their basic needs, especially shelter. As such, this has made many individuals live a miserable life without a home. Despite having a high population of homeless persons in Los Angeles, these people have to deal with some issues such as poor sanitation and its consequences in their living situations.

Since sanitation is the hygienic means of promoting health, individuals living in areas with inadequate means are incapable of preventing themselves from contact with hazardous wastes in the environment. Sanitation refers to providing facilities and services for the safe disposal of human waste. It can also be attributed to services such as wastewater disposal and garbage collection to provide and maintain proper hygienic condition. Having inadequate means has become a significant issue in the city, especially for homeless individuals since they do not have access to such facilities and services. Even though many persons lack adequate sanitation, homeless people are the most left at a greater risk of diseases related to this condition. These people do not have rights to proper sanitation and hygiene. Mostly, their living areas are highly overlooked, thereby not receiving garbage collection services. As such, been exposed to such environments may lead to serious problems such as sicknesses. Proper sanitation is also attributed to access to clean water. However, drinking contaminated water might lead to the development of some diseases such as diarrhea.

Moreover, these people end up sleeping in dirty areas due to poor sanitation. As such, their skins get in contact with dangerous waste products, which can cause harsh skin diseases such as rashes among others. Therefore, there is a need to provide them with proper sanitation to avoid consequences that may arise in the future.

Leaders of the city, as well as the government, have experienced a day-to-day battle to manage and balance the rights of having proper sanitation for the people living in the streets (Huang, 2015). Furthermore, these individuals need to have a clean and safe environment for the sake of their health and well-being. However, officials vowed in the past to solve this problem, but they failed to do so due to the increased number of homeless people in the streets. Besides, residents on the roads have very little they can do with their condition unless the government comes in between to help them. Since homeless people depend on sanitation provided by the government, employment opportunities should be established for them to change their living condition. Moreover, they should encourage many housing units to end homelessness. As the government creates a solution for this issue, there is a need to look at the status of sanitation.

Despite homelessness leading to poor sanitation environment, these people have developed a strategy of adapting to the situation. Notably, some of them have lived in the streets for over five years and are still doing well. Due to the increased poor sanitation in the streets, they have adapted to spending their nights in better places. Others make tents as a place to spend their night. On the other hand, many spend the night in the park and on public seating where there is no disposal of waste products. In spite of that, security and privacy in such areas might be a bit challenging. During winter, it might be challenging to stay warm due to the mild cool temperatures. Fortunately, the weather during winter in the city is not severe as compared to most parts of the country. Additionally, these people have also adapted to the situation by keeping themselves warm with clothes and blankets donated by well-wishers.

Many homeless people live in an environment with poor sanitation. Besides, those living in such situations were led by lack of employment. As such, many young people are becoming a lost generation due to the expensive life they are experiencing in the city. In America, Los Angeles has been ranked as the worst city to find a job (Pincetl, 2013). In the last few years, the city has experienced a reduction in employment opportunities. Due to racial and ethnic tension in American communities, the Los Angeles area has lost more than 300,000 jobs in the last decade (Berry, 2000). Several researchers have shown that approximately 50% of Los Angeles workers earn a salary of less than $15 an hour (Flaming, 2013). As such, many are unable to pay the increased housing costs within the city. Therefore, this condition has made most people opting to live in the streets due to the inability of paying house rent and other bills.

In spite of that, this learning has raised some new questions regarding the measures the government has taken into the lives of homeless people as well as their sanitation. As observed during the interview, most individuals have been living in the street for an extended period. The government seems to have not made any improvements in providing them with proper sanitation. Moreover, control measures to create more jobs for the sake of homeless people have not been taken into consideration. Besides, such individuals cannot change their living standards unless the government intervenes (Padgett, Henwood, &Tsemberis, 2016). However, these people need answers if there are hopes of having secure shelters with a clean environment in spite of the high costs of living. Further, this learning has raised other questions, such as if more jobs will be created to ensure that there is a reduction in the unemployment rate.

Additionally, there might be a need to have further exploration of their health status due to the exposure of poor sanitation. Some of them might have chronic diseases that can lead to death in the future. Being unable to access health facilities due to lack of money contributes to an unhealthy lifestyle. Almost all the individuals living in the streets do not have access to health units. As such, it is crucial to explore their health status to ensure that they are living a healthy life. Besides, they should also be allowed to have access to health facilities so that their well-being can be monitored. Moreover, the government should improve access to sanitation to reduce the impact of some diseases that may arise. Sanitation facilities should be enhanced as they contribute enormously to human health and well-being.

Conclusion

From the above information, it is clear that homelessness has severe consequences for the affected people. Additionally, poor sanitation has become a common issue among homeless individuals. As such, these people are at a high risk of suffering diseases related to poor sanitation. Moreover, this situation has hit mostly the youths of Los Angeles due to the increased employment rate. The condition has also affected a significant number of people living in extreme poverty. Besides, persons residing on the streets seem to be living a helpless life, thereby wishing they could get a place to call home.

Further, these individuals struggle a lot to get something to eat despite being rejected by other people. Moreover, their life out there seems to lack privacy and security. However, the government needs to create more employment opportunities so that the number of homeless individuals can reduce in the city.

References

Berry, M. F. (2000). Racial and ethnic tensions In American Communities: Poverty, inequality, and discrimination-Los Angeles hearing. California: DIANE Publishing.

Black, G. (2014). Los Angeles, a city of poverty and unemployment - World Socialist Web Site.Wsws.org. Retrieved from https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/04/15/losa-a15.html

Flaming, D. (2013).Economic roundtable: Effects of a fifteen dollar an hour minimum wage in the city of Los Angeles. Economicrt.org. Retrieved from: http://economicrt.org/publication/effects-of-a-fifteen-dollar-an-hour-minimum-wage-in-the-city-of-los-angeles/

Huang, J. (2015). Los Angeles leaders pledge $100 million to fight homelessness. Southern California Public Radio. Retrieved from: http://www.scpr.org/news/2015/09/22/54559/city-council-to-pledge-100-million-homelessness/

Padgett, D., Henwood, B. F., & Tsemberis, S. J. (2016). Housing first: ending homelessness, transforming systems, and changing lives. New York: Oxford University Press.

Pincetl, S. (2013).Los Angeles, the improbably sustainable city.AAG Newsletter.http://dx.doi.org/10.14433/2013.0006