Coronavirus crisis: Judge orders relocation of homeless people living under Los Angeles freeways

[quaint]

ABC7 City News Service Friday, May 15, 2020 5:20PM

The extraordinary legal action will be enforced starting at noon May 22, unless an alternative plan is accepted, according to U.S. District Judge David Carter.

"Those who live under and around freeway overpasses and underpasses are exposed to severely heightened public health risks as a result of where they live,'' Carter wrote in the order filed in Los Angeles federal court.

"It is unreasonably dangerous for humans to live in areas that may, for example, be contaminated with lead or other carcinogenic substances,'' his order says. However, as with many issues involving individuals experiencing homelessness, no party appears to be addressing this problem with any urgency. The Court hereby ORDERS that this subset of individuals experiencing homelessness be relocated away from freeway overpasses, underpasses, and ramps.''

Judge Carter is one of my heroes.

[Laelth]

1. Fine, Judge.

Just make sure that these people get a BETTER place to sleep at night.

-Laelth

[MichMan]

2. So the city of LA needed a judge to tell them the obvious?

Why didnt they already handle this ?

[SWBTATTReg]

3. Good points made, for a long running problem that especially those cities in warmer...

locations suffer (the homeless). Judge is attempting to address the issue but failed to (1) if you pick up the thousands of homeless off the ramps, overpasses & underpasses, where are you going to put them all? The number is going to be in the thousands, does the city have that space available? Instead, perhaps the judge can order if needed drug rehab, AA 12 step programs, or good jobs to all of these persons, as well as social workers to ensure that the needs of all of these people are met, at high standards.

What is this judge doing? Running for office or something? This is ridiculous in scope and implementing the legal action, even on a reasonable basis (if there is one) would require far more resources that the city has probably. What happens if a hobo lives underneath an overpass into LA (but is not in LA yet)?

I kind of applaud the effort (or really, a vocal signal being sent that this population needs to be helped somehow, by the judge), but as to being practical in implementing?

[quaint]

4. Project Roomkey: Can state program help resolve Los Angeles homelessness?

ABC7 Friday, May 15

Project Roomkey is a first-in-the nation program created by the governor's office in early April. Its stated mission is to protect the homeless from COVID-19 by getting them off the streets.

In just five weeks, the program has acquired over 15,000 hotel rooms and over 1,300 trailers, housing over 7,000 people. A federal judge in Los Angeles has called Project Roomkey a success, but it has its critics. <>

"It is a very challenging moment, but it is an opportunity to reimagine and transform the homeless service system and frankly accelerate the work we've already been doing," said Deputy Mayor of L.A. Christina Miller. <>

The temporary shelter might prove to be a long-term solution for many.

"The one thing that we know won't happen is to demobilize this response and just release people who are vulnerable back to the streets," Miller said. "That is 100% unacceptable for both the city and the county."

Small progress is better than no effort.

[SWBTATTReg]

6. A start...at least in the right direction. Lots of cities and/or states don't even approach the ...

level of what LA is doing, even though some may complain still about LA's efforts as being too meager or ineffective. Why don't they look across the country and find a better program that is actually working, that helps the homeless? In STLMO we've been dealing w/ the homeless population for quite some time, and many different approaches have been undertaken. It's a difficult and expensive problem, especially being that this population is transit in nature.

What's amazing is that even though the stock markets were at their highest levels, real estate prices going through the roof, and jobless numbers low, there are serious issues w/ the way this so called 'wealth' is distributed/handled/processed (it isn't really, except to pad deductions by the 1%ers, and reduce taxes on the 1%ers if and when they ever pay any taxes). Look at quickly this supposed wealth disappeared at the beginning of the CV epidemic, when the markets crashed due to rump's inept handling.

[zentrum]

5. Here's a really great video

.....of children and teens experiencing homelessness, who live in a shelter right near these LA freeways.

Song written about their situation and featuring many of them singing and dancing. And the area they walk through every day.

[quaint]

7. +++

wow