Meghan McNulty
After fourteen years of living across Los Angeles, I finally left my home to move away for good. This was largely due to the increase in homeless people across the city, which has caused the streets to be covered with feces, needles, and trash. It’s sad to see California, which is one of the wealthiest economies in the world by itself, succumb to such unlivable conditions.
California has a growing homeless population and the growth has only increased over the last six years, where significant tax dollars have gone to solve this problem with no solution in sight. The city of Los Angeles has over 50,000 homeless people, with that number rising each and every day. This serious situation is causing growing health and sanitary issues, as well as rising levels of violent crime and property crime across the city. Medieval diseases such as typhus and tuberculosis are on the rise, contrasting with brand new multimillion-dollar apartments to purchase on the very same blocks.
During my time as a resident of Downtown Los Angeles, I would be constantly walking over trash and homeless people sleeping on the streets. The sight was sad and depressing to think there was nothing being done about this. On more frequent and disturbing occasions, there would be homeless people visibly using the streets as a restroom and venue for dealing drugs in the open. Contrast this with expensive, luxury apartments going up on every street corner in Downtown Los Angeles, and you’ll begin to see some of the problems with our city that have spiraled out of control.
Solutions by California’s left-wing leaders are not working despite enormous amounts of money being put toward the problem. So why isn’t this problem being solved? Perhaps it is failed leadership, lack of smart solutions and the residents residing here not paying attention to their surroundings. Laws like AB 109, which released tens of thousands of prisoners with nowhere for them to go, Prop 47 which decriminalized drug use and other crimes, Prop 57 which provides early parole, and many more bills have also made the problem significantly worse. While judicial reform has several benefits, it also has produced negative side effects with the massive increase in crime, homelessness, and lack of accountability within the judicial system. California is experiencing massive drug abuse, mental illness, and crime increases, leading to more and more homeless people on the streets.
What does it say about our country and California that we have this amount of homeless people living on our streets with these severe problems? There are different categories of homeless people on the street, ranging from people who are addicted to drugs, to those who are mentally ill, to those who really just need some assistance. All of these situations require an individual approach, as they are individual problems that come together in one unfortunate crisis.
We should not stand for this, and the leaders of this state need to identify the real issues, wasteful spending, and lack of accountability in order to solve this emergency on the streets of California. Until then, more people like myself will choose to leave for a better and safer environment.
