Skid Row

So the infamous "skid row" has been an extensive topic of discussion, touring, and contemplation for me because both my program and my work site took us on tours of the area. For those that do not know, Skid Row is a section name (given due to the logging industry back in the day) for a large area of downtown Los Angeles that is "home" to various homeless persons. Let me start of by saying that homelessness is not a shock to me since I did see a lot of it in Philly BUT I really can never verbalize the magnitude of the homelessness in Los Angeles its estimated that its upwards of 82,000 on any given night and usually more that experience homelessness episodes throughout the year. So just to drive home that point no amount of number could ever be comparable to actually walking the stress of skid row and seeing just how many people are:
-Layed out in the streets sleeping on a luggage or book bag in the hot sun
-Have made sleeping tents and are on the sidewalk
-Just sit on the curb because that's where they live
-Use cardboard boxes as a means of home and shelter
For example, under bridges tens or boxes are put up and I've seen that people spray paint palm trees or a tv and couch right next to the concrete of the wall of the bridge that they live under (I'm guessing that's humorous but not really).
I'm honestly not shocked at the homelessness because I have seen that in more urban places in America (NY, DC, Philly) but I am horrified at the volume of it that it exists here.
So I had two pressing questions: How does this happen? & What's being done?

So the first section of this blog post will answer the first pressing question.
I am by no means an expert on this situations but I did pick up some things from the people that I've encountered in my touring of skid row.
-Housing is becoming more expensive in downtown LA therefore making it harder for people to live in that area with little to no income
-It was common for mentally ill patients to be dropped off  by hospitals my marked and later than unmarked cars in the streets of skid row
- Some homeless people were given essentially a "one way ticket" from states who wanted to not address/get rid of/or thought it was more "sensible" to send homeless people to an area that was livable on the streets all year round with the weather. Whether they did it to get rid or to send them to a better area is more livable on the streets I do not know but I know that was the case for some homeless people here.
-According to the president of the Union Rescue Mission (the only place that actually houses women and children on skid row) homelessness and the people that are several hundreds/ thousands at times of people walking into their door everyday with little to no sign of it decreasing as the years progress (to me that makes sense since the economy turned at one point at city living is no longer as feasible in the past with minimum wage)
 I totally admire the Union Rescue mission like I said they are the only place in the skid row area that house women and children apparently back in the day there was many children and women on the streets of skid row and there was a movement to move the women and the children off of it which essentially just misplaced the problem to other California areas so that downtown wouldn't get known as the city of homeless children roaming the streets.

There are so many marginalized people in this area and this is just to educate others who have no idea that such place even exited because let's be honest who actually learned this in history class on the East Coast?
Here's a wiki page on the topic: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skid_Row,_Los_Angeles
And there are tons of actually scholarly things on this topic too. And I can't stress enough how nothing that I say can do justice to this issue until you see it with your own eyes. My next blog post I'll talk more about what I learned on the things that are being done to address this issue.

Peace and Love,

Ro