As though homeless people don’t already own so few possessions, the city of Los Angeles just passed a law saying that the amount of things a homeless person can own must fit inside of a trashcan. They even have size dimensions for the trashcan, noting that the items must fit in a 60-gallon trashcan and the lid must close over it.
The new law allows police to even confiscate tents that are still standing on public property during daylight hours. Taking away a homeless person’s shelter is not constructive, and in fact only makes them feel less secure in a time when they need a solid foundation to get back on their feet.
This law is in response to LA’s homeless epidemic, which has been on the rise recently, with an increase in 20% over just the last two years.
These misguided approaches to homelessness have only served to increase the amount of homeless people in the city and make their quality of life that much worse. Homelessness is an issue that stems from greed and a disregard for the root causes of poverty, as many people that are homeless cannot afford housing first and foremost because rent is too high. As cities look the other way while buildings increase their rent prices, more people are evicted and end up on the streets. The only real solution for homelessness is to give people homes.
Initiatives have begun in other U.S. and international cities, such as Canada, that are attempting to reduce the amount of homeless people by first giving them homes and subsequently working with them to determine the best approach for getting them back on their feet. These programs offer a range of services, such as rehabilitation for drug addictions, therapy, and connections to job opportunities. It’s programs like these that constructively help to end homelessness and poverty, not laws that try to restrict homeless people even more.
Of course, cities could first assist by at least not taking away homes or apartments that are affordable by restricting developers from stripping away rent-controlled apartments, but the city makes more in revenue from high-priced living spaces and the people that occupy them. Just last year, 1000 rent-controlled apartments were taken off the market, triple the decline in 2013. One developer, Wiseman Residential, has single-handedly evicted 237 tenants from rent-controlled apartments in the last decade.
Homelessness cannot be solved by disincentivizing being homeless, as there are root causes of poverty and homelessness that are being ignored and the majority of homeless people do not choose to live this way. Limiting their own belongings only strips them further of their individuality, one of the few things left as they live on the streets.
Do you think LA’s new law is cruel or justified? Comment your thoughts below and share this article!
Image Credit: Empire News
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What a horribly-written article. Who writes “As though homeless people don’t already own so few possessions”? Who lets them get away with it?
And it’s NUMBER of homeless people, not “amount”. If it’s countable – even theoretically – it’s “number”.
So it’s “number” of stars in the sky, even though you’d be hard-pressed to count them all.
EDITOR, please!
It doesn’t matter about his grammar, it’s the message that counts. How do you feel about the homeless being restricted to a trash can full of belongings?
I think there are more important considerations here than the grammar of the writer.. First and foremost, It is wrong to steal and that is what the police are doing when they take precious, badly needed possessions from people who have almost nothing, on behalf of powerful, well-to-do politicians and bureaucrats. Robin hood in reverse. That’s the system. And “development” is government control of land, on behalf of the wealthy, taking homes away from people who own them and affordable housing away from those who need it so badly. That’s the system. The establishment always win and the little guy always loses. The answer is a less powerful, smaller government. Electing Libertarians would be a good start.
Did this article actually say give homeless people homes? Are people in touch with reality these days when they dream up zany solutions such as that? LA’s law is undoubtedly going to do the exact opposite of what they hope to achieve. There can be no other result from oppressive government.
Seems like the elites are trying to drive the homeless out of their stack and pack Agenda 21 cities and into the suburbs. Colorado DINO governor, John Hickenlooper (who also threatened to sue a CO town for voting to ban fracking near homes and schools), kicked the homeless out of Denver for the Democratic Convention that coronated Obama. A large surge of homeless people permanently relocated to the suburbs. There are now shelters for them in the far flung outskirts that smack of work camps, warehousing. It’s a form of human sanitizing that might appear humane on the surface but’s also creating a cage, and maybe a model for other groups. Very sad the root causes are never addressed, only magnified.
The way things are headed and with the size of new apartments, the homeless will get a trashcan’s worth and non-homeless will get a dumpster’s load. That’s right you people with homes. All of your trash better be able to fit in a regular sized dumpster. Because that’s going to be the size of your new living quarters.