Hope for the Homeless

Steve Lopez

http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-0930-lopez-homeless-20150930-column.html

Well worth the read!

Steve Lopez, columnist for the Los Angeles Times is a hands-on, on-the-street reporter who gets down and dirty with the daily life of the people in need of a voice. He is the reporter who discovered Nathaniel Ayers, a gifted musician who was a helpless victim of mental illness, heard him playing a broken string instrument under a bridge in the skid row area, worked with him, became his trusted friend, and finally coaxed him to live indoors after many attempts to do so.

In his article “A ray of hope for homeless” he discusses the severity of the homeless situation in Los Angeles. He quotes Mollie Lowery, who states that “skid row is worse than it’s been in 30 years.”

He discusses the “encampment of 31 tents in one block for the mentally and physically sick, and the addicted – a human catastrophe situated just a short walk from the halls of L.A. power.”

Former state senator Darrell Steinberg is promoting a plan to create $2 billion worth of supportive housing in California.

Lopez quotes John Maceri, Ocean Park Lamp Community, “what does it say about us … that the richest country in the world, where we have enormous capacity for innovation … we have massive encampments on our streets and let senior citizens veterans and people who are gravely disabled … fend for themselves?” “This is not an acceptable way in a civilized society for people to live.”

Read the article: http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-0930-lopez-homeless-20150930-column.html