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What if everyone had to spend 1 hour a week helping out the homeless?

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"The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development released its annual Point in Time count Wednesday, a report that showed nearly 554,000 homeless people across the country during local tallies conducted in January. That figure is up nearly 1 percent from 2016" (USnews, 1)

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A homeless person can best be described as an individual who does not have a permanent house to live in and lives on the streets.

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Homelessness affects the lives of all Angelenos, not just those forced to live on the streets. And it does so almost daily, in ways large and small.

Consider the pairs of thick gloves that George Abou-Daoud has stashed inside the nine restaurants he owns on the east side of Hollywood. When a homeless person accosts his customers, Abou-Daoud says, he can no longer count on the police for help; unless there's an imminent threat to safety, he contends, they don't respond quickly and can't just haul the person away. So he's had to take matters into his own hands, literally, by physically ejecting problematic homeless people himself. That's why he has the gloves - to keep his hands clean.

Abou-Daoud's gloves are a particularly bleak symbol of the relationship between the homeless and the non-homeless. But everyone's got a story of one sort or another. Day in and day out, Metro riders step into trains with homeless people on them - often visibly disturbed or threatening, prompting nervous passengers to edge away or change cars. In downtown L.A., shop owners worry that customers will opt for suburban malls to avoid the panhandlers and glassy-eyed wanderers. In Venice, besieged businesses have banded together to share the cost of security guards and cleanup crews to clear garbage, bedding or worse from the sidewalks.

Across the city, drivers exiting freeways routinely encounter homeless people on the off-ramps shuffling from window to window requesting money. Libraries, train stations and public parks have become refuges for homeless people. In many residential neighborhoods and commercial districts, encampments have become a seemingly immutable fact of life.

As homelessness spreads across Los Angeles County - the official tally shows a 46% increase from 2013 to 2017 - it is drawing two conflicting responses, at times from the same people. There's sympathy and a desire to help, but there's also a sense of being invaded and perhaps even endangered - in terms of both physical safety and public health (see, for example, the state of emergency California declared last year over a hepatitis A outbreak that spread among the homeless, or the Skirball blaze that was sparked by a cooking fire in a homeless encampment). There's an unavoidable, often unspoken, fear that the city around us may be in a state of irreversible decline, and a suspicion on the part of some that the rights of homeless people have trumped the rights of everyone else.

There's an unavoidable, often unspoken, fear that the city around us may be in a state of irreversible decline."

The increasing visibility of homelessness and destitution contributes to the uneasy feeling that the problem is closing in on everyone. It's also a daily reminder that the values and systems to which we cling - liberty, democracy, free enterprise, the social contract that's supposed to hold a community together, the safety net that is supposed to protect the most vulnerable - haven't steered us out of this mess. Nor have our leaders.

It's not surprising that some Angelenos are angry or even afraid. But we need to channel those concerns into constructive action.

Los Angeles Times

The city and county must find a way to balance effectively the needs and rights of homeless people against the demands and expectations of everyone else. Respecting the rights of homeless people doesn't mean consigning the sidewalks and parks permanently to tents and shopping carts, just as respecting the rights of property owners doesn't mean rousting the unsheltered and shuffling them from one neighborhood to the next. Instead, what is needed are reasonable compromises that protect the health, safety and basic needs of homeless people while ensuring the community's ability to function day in and day out. That, in turn, requires residents and businesses not just to accept the presence of homeless people, but to have a stake in getting them off the streets and into housing. (They should start by remembering that only a minority - though a visible one - of homeless people are mentally ill or drug addicted; many are simply down on their luck and pose no threat to others.)

Some compromises have already been laid out. What's often been missing, though, is the political courage necessary to implement them. For example, the L.A. City Council adopted an ordinance two years ago that requires homeless people to abandon their carts and put most of their possessions in storage once the government has made a storage facility available nearby. The city, however, has been able to open only two such facilities, and only one - on skid row - has available storage space. Community opposition has killed or hamstrung projects in San Pedro and Venice.

Similarly, faced with mounting complaints about homeless people sleeping in their cars and campers, the council adopted an ordinance in late 2016 imposing a ban on people lodging in their vehicles overnight in residential areas. But the city has been far too slow to follow through on the safe parking areas it called for on property owned by churches, nonprofits and public agencies. That was at the heart of the compromise, and without it, the problem is merely shifted to commercial and industrial zones. Today, there is just one small safe parking lot in the city, at a church in South Los Angeles.

Admittedly, the city and county have taken some important steps forward, and have acted with an unusual degree of coordination. For example, L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti 's office has been conducting weekly meetings in a "war room" of sorts to begin identifying the homeless encampments most in need of attention, and then to devote outreach workers and other resources to the people living in them in a concentrated effort to move them into housing. The encampments would then be cleared. And at Metro, teams of Los Angeles Police Department officers, outreach workers and mental health experts now respond to calls about homeless people (which make up about half of the calls received). The point is to connect people to the services they need, rather than just hustling them off the trains and buses.

Those are the right approaches, but they're not yet making a visible difference. In Hollywood, for example, business owners say street people seem younger, more aggressive and well aware of how limited the police response has become. As a consequence, businesses are relying more on private security guards they fund through the local business improvement district, and living with a rise in drug use and petty theft.

Sitting in one of his restaurants on Sunset Boulevard, Abou-Daoud - who says he supplies food to homeless people and has twice given them jobs - reels off a list of recent incidents. Here's one: A homeless man stretched out on that restaurant's patio floor one evening and screamed at the diners around him. "I asked him politely to leave. He gave me a blank stare," Abou-Daoud said. "What am I supposed to do?"

George Abou-Daoud with his dog Hudson at one of his restaurants in Hollywood. Los Angeles Times

Some contend that the police are handicapped in their dealings with homeless people by criminal justice reform measures such as Proposition 47, which downgraded some nonviolent crimes from felonies to misdemeanors, and court orders that, for the time being, give homeless people the right to spend their nights in tents and blankets under the stars. Yet a Times investigation found that as the homeless population grew from 2011 to 2016, arrests of homeless people went up significantly - largely for petty crimes relating to quality-of-life issues.

If the police really backed off on arrests, there's nothing in the criminal justice reforms that compelled them to do so. Nor is it a crime to be homeless. And moving homeless people from one street or neighborhood to the next is no solution; it just moves the problem to someone else's property. Yet that's how private security officers deal with an uncooperative or problematic homeless person.

The real, durable solution is to get homeless people into housing, which means building many more apartments (the point of Proposition HHH) as well as providing the outreach workers and services needed to move people off the streets and keep them off the streets (the point of Measure H). It will take years to get those housing units built, however. Realizing they can't leave thousands of people in tents on the sidewalks in the meantime, city officials have kicked around a number of promising ways to house homeless people on a temporary basis; for example, there's a proposal to fast-track the conversion of motels into short-term rentals and a plan to put housing trailers on a city-owned lot.

The county is also preparing to send out far more outreach teams this year, eventually putting 10 times as many in the field as it had before Measure H passed. And it's expanding its 211 phone service to summon outreach teams if they need help with a homeless person. A responsive and effective 211 service would provide at least a partial answer to Abou-Daoud's question about what Angelenos are supposed to do in the face of homelessness. But officials haven't spread the word about it yet - they're waiting until they have enough teams assembled to make the service worth calling.

At stake here is the quality of life for everyone in the county, not just the people without homes. We can't continue trying to solve the problems on the sidewalks by foisting them onto someone else. That's not striking a balance between the competing needs of the homeless and the non-homeless; it's just staying on the path that got us to this point.
This is the fifth in a series.

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How can a place with 58,000 homeless people continue to function?

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Homelessness affects the lives of all Angelenos, not just those forced to live on the streets. And it does so almost daily, in ways large and small. Consider the pairs of thick gloves that George Abou-Daoud has stashed inside the nine restaurants he owns on the east side of Hollywood.

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Violence against homeless people is an American epidemic - The Diamondback

Views expressed in opinion columns are the author's own.

If asked to picture the perpetrator of a hate crime, one might consider the two young men who pistol whipped, tortured and abandoned Matthew Shepard, a young gay man, or former University of Maryland student Sean Urbanski, who was charged with murder and later indicted on a hate crime in the death of 2nd Lt. Richard Collins. Prosecutors say Collins was attacked because he was black.

Americans probably wouldn't imagine, however, the three Florida teenagers who targeted Frank Rudolph, a 54-year-old homeless man, and beat him to death with both fists and sticks. They don't picture the two San Diego brothers who tortured and killed George Lowery, a 50 year-old homeless man, father and husband of 25 years.

Fatal assaults against people experiencing homelessness outnumber hate-crimes against all protected classes combined. Between 1999 and 2015, at least 1,657 homeless individuals were violently attacked, in many cases because of their housing status, according to a report by the National Coalition for the Homeless (for which, in the interest of full disclosure, my father served as president and executive director).

These acts are largely fueled by a cultural instinct, mostly among young men, to attack the homeless for a thrill. When police questioned a group of Philadelphia pre-teens for creating a game in which players rob and stomp on unhoused individuals, the participants described the activity as "something stupid we do for fun."

Yet the federal government doesn't treat housing status-based crimes as hate crimes; in fact, the Justice Department isn't even required to collect data on such acts. Some states, including Maryland, consider attacks against homeless people hate crimes, and the federal government's inability to do so is a scandal.

When arguing that homeless individuals don't deserve heightened legal protection, many observe that housing status is malleable, whereas race or disability status isn't. This is certainly true. But the FBI also collects data on anti-religious hate crimes. Religious identity is stable but not immutable - an individual's religious association can change several times over a lifetime. So, a characteristic doesn't have to be static for it to necessitate enhanced legal protection.

Hate crimes are particularly reprehensible because individuals are singled out for a characteristic they did not choose. This fact unites crimes against the homeless with hate crimes targeting religious, sexual and ethnic minorities. Few homeless individuals chose their housing status. It was imposed through systemic injustice, uncontrollable mental illness or cruel fate.

When most Americans think about homeless individuals - from a considerable distance, to be sure - it is with some mixture of revulsion, pity and fear. Once human misery reaches a certain depth, we retract the compassion we afford to our colleagues, classmates and family members.

And such callousness is a bipartisan affair. Liberal opinionator Kevin Drum once wrote, "About half the homeless suffer from a mental illness and a third abuse either alcohol or drugs. You'd be crazy not to have a reflexive disgust of a population like that." Empathizing with some homeless individuals would be too agonizing, so we harden ourselves to their pain and justify indignity no human should suffer. At a basic level, people experiencing homelessness require our compassion and individual decency.

But they also require justice. They require a societal ordering that redistributes our treasure toward the least among us. Homeless individuals require not just changes etched into our hearts but changes etched into our laws.

And that's why we must expand hate crime statutes to include housing-status inspired crimes. When a criminal beats, tortures and kills another human for a characteristic they didn't choose, it sends waves of terror through an entire community. When a violent act is based on identity, its effect magnifies. One killing touches thousands, and, when such killings happen again and again, year after year, it strips a community of its citizenship and humanity.

The unhoused in this country face compound terrors - terror at not being able to find a meal, terror at freezing during a winter night, terror of a brutal assault at teenagers' hands. And while the federal government should levy many policy attacks on the conditions that facilitate extreme poverty, the least it can do is protect homeless people from arbitrary violence. By enhancing legal protections for the unhoused and using hate crime laws to check people who would do them harm, the federal government can inch toward giving homeless people the dignity they deserve.

Max Foley-Keene, opinion editor, is a sophomore government and politics major. He can be reached at opinionumdbk@gmail.com.

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Violence against homeless people is an American epidemic

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Violence against homeless people is an American epidemic - The Diamondback Views expressed in opinion columns are the author's own. If asked to picture the perpetrator of a hate crime, one might consider the two young men who pistol whipped, tortured and abandoned Matthew Shepard, a young gay man, or former University of Maryland student Sean Urbanski, who was charged with murder and later indicted on a hate crime in the death of 2nd Lt.

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The PATH Out of Homelessness

1. Know That You Are Special

No matter what people have said to you in the past, and no matter how you feel about yourself right now, you are a unique and special person. Always remember that you are filled with the ability to do what is right and be who you want to be.

2. Acknowledge Your Barriers

First, acknowledge the issues that have led to your homelessness. Whether these include substance abuse, personal trauma, unemployment, health problems, troubled relationships or other factors, you must accept these issues for what they are before you can overcome them. Identify your personal barriers, then work to address them one by one.

3. Take Personal Responsibility

It's up to you to overcome your situation, even if you have been hurt by others or feel that circumstances have conspired against you. Taking control of your own life's direction will accomplish far more than pointing fingers.

4. Set Realistic Goals

Take small steps instead of trying to take giant leaps. It's great to have dreams for your future, but be realistic. Focus on slow, steady steps that will help you overcome your barriers and ultimately transition out of homelessness. Remember: Every step you take toward improving your life is important, even if it seems small.

5. Pay Your Debts

Just as you want others to honor their commitments to you, you must honor your commitments to others. Establish a realistic plan to pay off all debts. Communicate with debtors if you are unable to make the required payments at the present time, as many of them will work with you to establish a workable payment plan.

6. Value Relationships

Relationships are the most valuable asset you have. Support from friends, family, and sometimes even strangers is important to successfully reaching your goals. Work to nurture your existing relationships, and try to reestablish good relationships that have fallen by the wayside. However, it's also important to learn to let go of relationships that are unhealthy or hurtful to you and your goals.

7. Accept Support

Sometimes it can be hard to admit that you need help, but it's important to seek and accept support from people who value you during this difficult time. Seek those who will encourage you, empower you, tell you the truth about your mistakes, and help you stay on track. The best kind of support provides ongoing encouragement while still holding you accountable for your decisions.

8. Commit to Personal Renewal

Work to improve yourself as a whole person. Commit to bettering your personal relationships, improving your health, seeking higher education, learning new skills, and achieving emotional and spiritual balance.

9. Maintain Hope

Remember there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. If you are feeling discouraged, look back at the progress you have already made and allow yourself to look forward toward the completion of your goals. Everyone experiences setbacks and moments of doubt. Strive to focus on the positive and remember that all this work is leading toward a happier life.

10. A Life-Long Journey

Transitioning out of homelessness is an ongoing process, and your journey will continue long after you have moved back into a home of your own. Every now and then, review and re-commit yourself to the steps above to ensure that you are constantly striving to not only move out of homelessness, but to move on to a better, brighter stage of your life.

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If You Are Homeless: The PATH Out of Homelessness

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1. Know That You Are Special No matter what people have said to you in the past, and no matter how you feel about yourself right now, you are a unique and special person. Always remember that you are filled with the ability to do what is right and be who you want to be.

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It's hard to imagine how someone can go from having a home one day to being out on the street the next. Many homeless people start out with jobs and stable residences, but then social and economic factors intervene, causing a rapid change in their living situation.

The two biggest factors driving homelessness are poverty and the lack of affordable housing. In 2004, 37 million people, or 12.7 percent of the American population was living in poverty, according to the National Coalition for the Homeless. Many of these people live from paycheck to paycheck with nothing saved in the bank. The loss of a job, an illness, or another catastrophic event can quickly lead to missed rent or mortgage payments and ultimately, to eviction or foreclosure.

Losing a job happens much more readily today than it did a few decades ago, when most people worked for the same company until retirement. The decline in manufacturing jobs, outsourcing of jobs to other countries, and an increase in temporary and part-time employment has nicked away at the foundations of what was once a more stable job market.

Jobs today are not only far less secure than they were in the past, but many also pay less when considering the rate of inflation. In the late 1960s, a minimum-wage job could sustain a family of three above the poverty line. That isn't the case today. In May 2007, Congress passed the first minimum wage increase in nearly a decade, from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour (by 2009). Say someone works 40 hours per week every week for the entire year at $7.25 per hour. That person will earn $15,080 per year- an income well below the $17,170 needed for a family of three to reach the poverty line. It's certainly not enough to afford even the smallest apartment in one of America's biggest cities. For example, consider New York- a recent report finds that an average one-room studio apartment costs $2,000 a month, or $24,000 a year. So, someone making minimum wage, working 40 hours every week- taking no vacation or sick time- misses the mark by almost $9,000! Although an estimated 15 percent of homeless people do have jobs, they simply don't earn enough to afford housing.

To meet the federal definition for affordable housing, rent for a one- or two-bedroom apartment must not cost more than 30 percent of a person's income. Yet in every state, more than the minimum wage is required to afford an apartment by these criteria, according to a report by the U.S. Conference of Mayors. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) estimates that 5 million U.S. households either pay more than half of their income in rent, or live in severely substandard housing.

Although the government offers some low-income housing, the numbers of reasonably priced dwellings have been dwindling over the years. Government support for low-income housing fell by half between 1980 and 2003, according to the National Coalition for the Homeless. In the same period of time, more than 2 million low-rent units vanished from the market, either demolished or converted into higher-rent apartments. One million single room occupancy (SRO) housing units also vanished from the market. These units often are used to house people with mental illness or substance abuse problems. People today can wait an average of three years for housing vouchers. Often, they wait in shelters or on the streets.

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It's hard to imagine how someone can go from having a home one day to being out on the street the next. Many homeless people start out with jobs and stable residences, but then social and economic factors intervene, causing a rapid change in their living situation.