From Homeless Advocates to Nearly Homeless: How LA County Mental Health may be contributing to the homeless population it struggles to serve
by Sarah McGowan
Features & Photo Editor, The WIP
– USA –
Denise and Esteban, both in their early 50’s, moved into my apartment building eight months ago. Our first encounter occurred in the hallway while I precariously lumbered up the 53 stairs leading to my apartment on crutches, my leg in a cast. Their moving boxes dominated our shared landing and while at first I flushed with frustration, both were so instantly compassionate, offering their assistance and clearing out of the way, that I immediately forgave the transgression.
When they invited me into their apartment months later, I was enthralled by the beauty of their home and the artifacts they had collected on their many travels. Reflective of Esteban’s Latino roots and Denise’s complimentary love for religious artifacts, finely crafted wood furniture, and Mexican folk art, their home was an oasis in the urban sprawl just north of downtown Los Angeles.
Denise and Esteban had relocated from another large city, where both had worked for over a decade with the homeless population on Skid Row, Denise as a psychiatric nurse and Esteban as an advocate. When referring to his 17 years on the Row, Esteban demurred, “It’s not that long, really.” An interlude in Mexico had found the couple contented personally, but the reality of a paycheck had brought them back to California and their respective professions.
Esteban considered the move to Los Angeles an overdue homecoming and he was immediately comforted by the idea of being close to his family. Denise was interested in working with the homeless downtown and both she and Esteban found plenty of opportunities with LA County’s Department of Mental Health. Upon relocation, they were courted aggressively. They felt confident that the county’s interest in them would result in gainful employment. However, while both were given the distinct impression that they would be hired quickly, they began receiving offers on jobs for which they hadn’t applied.
“It was really frustrating, man, because they were giving me all this bull—- on how they really wanted to get me in as soon as possible. But then we both started getting all these calls on other county jobs. We held out because we didn’t want those jobs and they weren’t in our areas of expertise.”
Esteban started calling three to four times a week to check on the status of his offer and hiring.
“I kept getting the run-around and it was really, really frustrating. Finally it comes out by chance from this guy, like, ‘yeah, I’m not surprised; it’s been really crazy around here because we were trying to get everyone through the hiring process and in jobs before the hiring freeze started.’ I was shocked. No one had ever told us or called to let us know that the county went into a hiring freeze weeks after we initially applied.” Denise had already taken her oral placement exams weeks before the freeze was enacted.
Denise looked out over her balcony, past the brightly colored ceramic pots holding her cooking herbs and pointed to the skyscrapers rising over the ridge that separates Silver Lake from Echo Park. “I find it really frustrating because I know there is plenty of need down there. It’s not like there’s a shortage of homeless people.”
Cartifact’s most recent map of the downtown homeless population – courtesy of Cartifact
Cartifact, a Los Angeles based project that is trying to make sense of raw data gathered by the LAPD, provides visually stunning maps of the downtown homeless population as it fluctuates and migrates from month to month. The most recent data, from mid-April, estimates a total of 735 men and women were on the street, roughly 200 less than were counted 2 weeks prior; 353 more were counted in shelters, namely tents, cardboard structures, and tent tarps. As Eric Richardson of Cartifact points out, even the definition of homeless varies depending on whom you talk to. Many people live in residential hotels and have done so for years, but because this form of housing is not permanent, they are technically considered homeless and usually not counted, Richardson explains.
All in all, the homeless of downtown LA are in many ways, a city unto themselves, but one that becomes most visible at night. By day, many of them sleep in empty corridors, behind dumpsters—anywhere that they can remain out of sight from law enforcement and contentious business owners. By night, when the shops close and the professionals go home, the homeless roam the streets or converge in makeshift settlements perched just beyond sight from the looming high rise condo buildings and beneath the surging, notorious LA traffic.
Conditions are predictably desperate as the homeless struggle to find shelter, avoid arrest, seek treatment—and live to see another day. Many of them suffer from a trio of diagnoses; living with chronic medical and mental illnesses, and drug and alcohol addictions. Denise is able in a single breath to rattle off a litany of regrettable factors, including lack of county funding that compound the desperation rippling through the homeless community that she came to Los Angeles to serve.
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Despite the comfort of their apartment, their faces plainly bore the worries of finances and their uncertain future during our visit. Denise and Esteban were quickly nearing a precarious situation and Esteban acknowledged that the anticipation was wearing on them more with each passing day.
“Because the hiring freeze began months ago when we first relocated to Los Angeles, we’ve nearly exhausted our savings. Retirement plans in non-profit are meager if non-existent. That’s one of the reasons that we were so excited about jobs with the county. You get retirement and health care that you don’t often get elsewhere. For people our age who have dedicated ourselves to serving those who have no home, we find it really disconcerting that we are almost one pay check away from being out on the streets ourselves.”
But both were possessed of an unwavering optimism and belief in the world’s basic good nature. “Some of our relatives think we’re crazy for the choices we’ve made. But you know, you have to do what’s in your heart. And we just have to keep the faith that something’s going to work out.”
Sadly, things did not work out as either of them had anticipated. Denise took a job outside of the city, commuting 40 minutes each way, at a private institution that expected her to work overtime without compensation. Esteban continued to look for work.
Within a few months of my visit in their apartment, things got suspiciously quiet next door. When I finally ran into Denise, she described tearfully that the pressure had become too much: Esteban had moved out, barely giving her notice. She was left to pay the rent alone, at a figure that even by average Los Angeles standards had been expensive for the couple.
After working herself into exhaustion, Denise eventually quit her job after a string of stress-induced illnesses forced her to reconsider the path her life was taking. Esteban moved into a residential hotel, an ironic twist that technically makes him a homeless man in LA.
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Denise has confronted the sad realities of the gentrification process currently underway downtown. At a recent ArtWalk, Denise encountered a newly arrived artist who decried that he had solved the “homeless problem” at his renovated building by rigging plastic tubing around the perimeter and spraying cold water on the homeless who tried to sleep safely under the building’s lights. Denise was incredulous. Many homeless people die every year of hypothermia in Los Angeles due to the extremes of the city’s desert climate. Unmoved, the man described how he had approached the city’s mayor with this solution and was gently rebuffed.
Today Denise remains hopeful that the county will lift the nearly year-long hiring freeze, but continues to seek employment in her area of expertise elsewhere. A recent job fair held near LAX promised opportunities in the social service sector, but upon arrival, Denise found not a single agency represented. She left empty-handed and disheartened.
On Cinco de Mayo, Denise revealed to me that she has just enough to pay next month’s rent, but after that, she may resort to selling her aged car for the much needed cash. She would then have to face the prospect of job-hunting without a car, making a commute logistically impossible in the public transport challenged metropolis of Los Angeles.
For months, the County’s Human Resources web page delivered the following message:
“The County of Los Angeles is currently operating under a hiring and promotional freeze to mitigate potential budget restrictions. However, hiring will be authorized to fill critical vacancies. While there may not be hiring at this time for all positions, examinations are being conducted to establish lists of eligible candidates for future hiring.”
The site no longer bears this message, and yet, nearly a year later, Denise has yet to hear conclusively from the County as to whether she will even be considered for the job which she is so highly qualified for. Until then, Denise has gotten herself hired at a non-county facility just recently, but on an “on-call” basis only. She might get a day’s work if someone else fails to show.
Denise acknowledges the terror of living on the edge. For a woman nearing retirement age, Denise’s circumstance reveals that in all probability, not only will she not retire in 15 years, but she is also dangerously close to finding herself homeless.
735 homeless in Los Angeles – that sounds like a low number….? In stockholm, a much smaller city, the total number of homeless is around 5000.
It is indeed a low number, Louise. Some unofficial estimates put the number for the entire county at closer to 90,000 homeless men, women and children – but this could not be confirmed by any of the sources that “count” the homeless. And regardless of the sound methodology used by the LAPD in counting the people on the street, I think there are problems inherent in a police force known for its brutality being the official counter.
It’s also important to note that the official count does not include people in homeless shelters or those who have scraped together enough money to get a hotel room in one of the many residential hotels.
It is really regrettable that the county is in the midst of a hiring freeze with all the need there is in the homeless population. It really worries me that even more cuts in the social services budget for California are proposed for 2007-2008 since it is apparent from this article that it not only hurts the people who are already in need, but creates even more.
I’m not sure why we commit resources to “helping the homeless.” Don’t get pissed, I just don’t get it. Let’s say, for example, you are in a space with 100 people who desperately need help but you have only enought resources to help 30. Why spread your resources so thin that you effectively help nobody by trying to help everyone? Why not help the 30 most likely to no longer need help once they are given that helping hand? Sounds cold, and perhaps it is, but at least it’s realistic. From what I see in my city, there are the same homeless people with the same hustle year after year after year. DON’T FEED THE PIGEONS!!! It’s really that simple. Where there is no system to support a population, the population will cease to exist. That does not necessarily mean that they will all die, they will simply have to adapt and perhaps that means conform. It also means that perhaps I can walk to the store without the same junkie that I’ve told “I can’t help you, man” to for the last four years asking me if I can spare some change. You want to change? It doesn’t come with my “spare” quarters. It comes from the necessity to do so for yourself. Again, I say, DON’T FEED THE PIGEONS!!!
Love,
The Peregrine
Many of our homeless in the United States are victims of a failed mental health system. Since much of community mental health lost its funding and institutions have been downsized or closed the number of homeless has increased. I believe many homeless “junkies” are really self-medicating mental health patients who are on the streets instead of receiving appropriate and adequate mental health services.
Sarah,
Thank you for putting a touching human face on those that we that we clearly don’t choose acknowledge.
This couple were your neighbors and friends. Your article made them real. Not someone that you see from your tinted car windows at a stoplight. Does one look straight ahead and press the door lock? Yes we do.
And your friends were at city offices trying to get work and not at stoplights, so they were even more invisible because they played by the work rules.
But, the greater problem here is how do we choose to help those who have no safety net?
Is San Francisco doing a better job than LA?
Does New York do it better?
Who in Europe is a leader here?
Where does the money come from?
Can cities vs. the states find the money within their own resources to address this?
Our Government addresses war with billions of dollars but thinks that some small “help handouts” addresses the root problems of homelessness.
I’m not advocating that we subsidize the homeless, but that we are chronically under funded to give aid those city and state agencies that “might” be able to give some help. This problem still needs to be addressed at a city and state level. Don’t count on our government to help here. In America this is our shameful hidden underbelly.
And I believe that if given an opportunity that those in these circumstances need to take the opportunities where they are given and contribute to “their movement back into a workforce” as well. The couple in Sarah’s article did do this, but not all are as willing.
So those of your who are out there, let’s hear your suggestions to this problem, here in America and your countries as well.
Write the WIP back.
MA
Thank you Louise, Claudia, Janelle, The Peregrine and MA for weighing in on this complicated, persistent problem that the US and many other countries face. Each of you has touched on elements of the complexity of this issue, and that’s just the start.
Reagan did his fair share to contribute to homelessness when he emptied the psychiatric hospitals in the 1980’s. This country’s lack of compassion and ability to prioritize its citizens has led to an atrocious state and veritable human crisis in which veterans, the mentally ill, victims of Katrina and countless other people who have found themselves homeless – and this includes men, women and children who at one point in their lives had homes, jobs and families – are unable to get the help they need to resume functional lives.
The Peregrine’s assertion that the “problem” would just go away if we stop “feeding the pigeons” not only minimizes the enormity of the homeless issue, it also seems to represent the ugliest side of capitalism – every man, woman and child for themselves. The Peregrine is absolutely right in that spare change does not a social change make. But there is an assumption in this country that we should all just pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and “help ourselves”. When you look at individual rags-to-riches stories, this may indeed seem like a credo we should all live by and thus prosper gloriously. This country has ensured that yes, we all be pulling on our bootstraps, but most of us will do it while struggling in knee high quicksand.
Denise and Esteban’s story reveal that the terrifying reality of becoming homeless could literally happen to any of us. Some quicker than others, but without a social welfare system to catch us, even some of the most well-intentioned, hard-working, willing to conform and “play by the rules” people may at some point in their lives, find themselves close to that edge. Having worked in non-profits for most of my adult life, I lived for years being “one paycheck away” from being without the resources needed to maintain a modest apartment, not to mention my student loans, car payment and a little food in the fridge. I know far too many people in my mother’s generation who have no investments, no retirement, no health insurance and no sense when, if ever, they will be able to retire.
I’m afraid that recent generations (at least those who did not live through the Great Depression) have no concept of what real social welfare means – it’s not a handout. Social welfare should provide for all people in times of need – and this includes health care for all, education, a real living wage and provision of basic needs like food, clothing and safe shelter. And make no mistake about it, the majority of homeless shelters are not by any means safe.
A country like Norway is a prime example of a social welfare system that works. All citizens pay high taxes, but they have decent paying jobs, they get paid sick leave when they fall ill, and (gasp!) they get paid vacations to spend quality time with their families. Certainly it’s impractical to directly compare a small, homogenous nation like Norway to the vast melting pot of the United States, but surely there is something to be learned from their commitment to their citizens.
Personally, I’d feel a whole lot better about 1/3 of my paycheck going to a system that I knew would take care of me when I needed it, than my hard earned dollars supporting wars and foreign policy that I don’t agree with and at the expense of so many other critical socioeconomic issues.
And please don’t label me as one of those unpatriotic, anti-American dissenters – I am thankful every day that I was born in this country and with the privileges it’s afforded me – like freedom of speech. I love my country and my fellow Americans, even if I don’t agree with them. In fact, I love this country so much, that I wouldn’t dream of ignoring a neighbor in need.
Grateful for the dialog,
Sarah McGowan
Content Editor, The WIP
Sarah,
I agree that my assertions minimize the depth and breadth of the homelessness issue. I agree, as well, that it’s representative of the ugliest side of capitalism. That’s the way the system is… I mean, it really seems to me that to make a change, a real change, that you have to do it within the system. You can go outside of the system and successfully make a point, but making a change requires playing by the rules. Playing by the rules, presently, means that we all have to maintain a minumum level of “humanity” in order to qualify for help. That level. more often than not, is that you have to be able to commit to participating in the rules of whatever organization you are accepted into. You have to be the first step in your program.
Yes, there are a large number of mentally ill people who are incapable of committing to making that first step. We should share, as a society, the responsibility for providing for them, a surrogate “them” who will make the first step committment on their behalf? Why? Why is that? This branches off into too many different areas to go too much further, but I must still insist that I am not responsible to help those that choose to not help themselves. There is only one way that a panhandler could get me to “spare” some change. Put down your newspaper for sale, quit shaking your coffee cup full of change at me and show me your plan. Write it out on your cardboard. Have it say, “I need to collect $478.00 and I can get off of the streets and put a life together. With this $478.00 I can buy the following (list and price each item) and I can get work with (list options.) Please help.”
I’d give THAT hustler a $20 and wish him well instead of replying with the truth, “I can’t help you, man.” I cannot help a man who will not help himself.
I’ll read up on the Reagan stuff. I don’t know too much about it. My dad tells me that Reagan “gave the American people their self-esteem.” Dad’s got opinions…
Love,
The Peregrine
To The Peregrine, I’m glad that you are openminded and can see that there are many aspects to the homeless issue. I believe it is a mistake to lump panhandlers in with the homeless. There are panhandlers who are not homeless, and most homeless do not panhandle. If the plight of the homeless concerns you, give your $20 to a nonprofit social service agency or organization that directly services the needs of the homeless. And, if possible, do more. Find an agency where you can volunteer to help. You may meet many people who are trying desperately to help themselves and find it much easier to say “no” to the panhandler.
I believe the most important issue this article and the comments address is the current economic condition in the USA and how the government spends its money—and perhaps I should add, how the government collects its money. The result of spending hundreds of billions of dollars on a long term war and simultaneously cutting taxes is cutting essential services in health, education and welfare. (Check out costofwar.com for other ways to spend this money.) Add to this economic policy big businesses moving out of country and our problems are compounded!
Hi, Sarah.
In re: Peregrine’s idea for the panhandler to write out on a card the specific needs/goals (i.e., I need $478 and this is what I’ll do with it….):
My first thought is, like Sarah’s, that the panhandler is not necessarily one and the same as the homeless. Lumping them together as one seems not only careless, but also more than a little unkind.
Secondly, as a former psych nurse, I would be willing to bet good money (that I don’t have much of right now!) that most homeless folks, whether suffering from mental illness or not, would be willing to do something like Peregrine has suggested IF THEY THOUGHT OF IT and if they weren’t too hungry, cold, tired or scared to sort through enough to do it.
There is an enormous divide between what we would/should/could do when we are well-fed, safe, sitting at home with all the basic (and, for some of us, far more than basic) comforts surrounding us….and what we are capable of doing when we are terrified, freezing or hot, aching with hunger or a bad toothache. When I have my most basic needs met, I find that I am capable of dreaming/scheming/planning for wonderful, exciting future hopes. When I am not worried about how to keep the lights on, or gas in the tank, or food on the table for my children, I can sit up at night and organize intricate To Do lists with great aplomb! I’ve done it, many times. I have scaled the heights of more than one imaginary mountain in my dreams.
But the last two years have taught me something. Living far below the poverty level (It seems like luxury if I could only reach the poverty level at this point!) has helped me to understand clearly that old Sunday School lesson that taught, “if you tell a man about salvation while his stomach is grumbling, he can’t hear you. first, feed him and then, when his stomach is full, his ears will be open to hear what you have to say.” It’s hard to think of scribbling down specific and orderly lists, amounts needed to get one’s life back in order, when you can’t think past when your next meal is going to be, and from where it’s going to come.
It reminds me of the neurologist who expressed shock at the weight I’ve gained since getting sick, losing my job, and having to struggle to buy food. “I don’t get it. If you don’t have money for food, why have you gained so much weight? The meds should only account for about ten pounds.” I looked at him, saddened to think that a medical professional should think on such a level. “It’s easier to get fat when you’re poor than when you’re rich,” I told him finally. “I haven’t seen that many people on food stamps shopping in the organic produce aisles. Good food, healthy stuff, often costs more, or seems to cost more when you are thinking of how to feed a lot of people on very, very little.”
I was thinking of the night before, when I was hungry and I ate almost an entire box of 23 cent generic mac and cheese because it was cheap and filling. Two years ago, I was eating fresh salmon from the Whole Foods supermarket, with organic broccoli, lettuce, and peppers.
The bottom line for me is this, that we need as a nation to develop our compassion muscles. We’re weak in that area and the only thing that will make us stronger is to exercise them…by caring actively and being proactive in understanding one simple, basic tenet: there but by the grace of God, go I.
It can happen to any of us, at any time, and so – too – often does.
Donna
I was sincerely touched by this article. Sarah, you are a gifted writer and this subject is justly brought to life by your fine, sensitive handling of it. I look forward to reading more of your work.
I completely agree with Donna Rich’s statement about the difficulty of pulling one’s self up from one’s bootstraps being nearly impossible when your day-to-day concerns cap off at finding something to quell hunger and depression.
Sarah, I just realized, reading Aralena’s post, that I failed to mention how deeply touched I was by your story. You have taken an enormous subject and brought it home in such a personal, vibrant way. I still have sad thoughts for the couple and wish so much that at least their union could be restored. It seems ironic that they came together in helping others, and yet now she seems to be fighting this battle alone. How are they doing now?
Thank you, Aralena and Donna for the kind comments on this piece. I’m glad that it has touched you and hopefully others who have read it.
This was one of those stories that I could not ignore, not only because of my proximity to the piece’s subjects, but also because of the gross socio-economic inequalities that I see everyday in the US.
Having started out in this life as the only child of a single mom who was forced to go on welfare for food stamps for a short time when life was desperately hard, I can appreciate the need for a better system of care. I don’t know where I would be today if that program had not existed when my mother needed it most. She used it responsibly when needed and then when she didn’t, proudly went about supporting me by starting her own children’s clothing business along with a myriad of other jobs (sometimes three at a time) to ensure that we had a safe home to live in, food on the table and that I was provided with a good education. Watching Denise go through this very dark time makes me reflect on the worry that I’ve so often seen etched on my own mother’s face. It hits far too close to home for me to just look the other way.
I don’t see Denise very often these days. Her new job requires that she wake up at 3:30am to make it to her 12-hour shift. And because of her on-call status, she makes $5 less per shift for her 12 hours than those who work a normal 8 hour day. How’s that for justice?
My partner recently made tamales and took a bunch of them to Denise. She was incredibly grateful because she has not had the time or the energy to cook for herself – one of her favorite past-times. I worry for her and hope that something good will soon happen. Something to lift her spirits and reinvigorate her sense of the world as a benevolent place. Until then, we do what we can to help and hope.
As a trained Social Worker who has worked with Psychiatric clients in both CA. and SC, and as a person with Bi-Polar Disorder, I find the story of hiring freezes on positions in mental health and homelessness all too familiar. These people are not valued in our society, so little effort is made to help them (us). Mental Health/homeless people have little voice. Try getting a voter’s registration card without living in an identified precinct. Even if you have a voter’s registration card, try exercising your right to vote from within a Psychiatric Facility. Election Day 2000, I spent in a locked Psychiatric ward; I may have been severely Depressed, suicidal and even a bit delusional, but I had the good sense to know I didn’t want Bush in the White House. Due to my hospitalization, I and thousands like me throughout the US was not given the opportunity to vote. The reality is that until Mental Health/Homeless clients have equal access to polling places and are encouraged to use their rights, the politicians are not going to change a thing.
Lisa,
Thank you for adding this very important aspect to the discussion. My father is bi-polar, schizoid affected and has been in and out of both mental health facilities and jail since he was in his early 20’s. I have watched him suffer through decades of insufficient county care and disconcerting levels of apathy from the constantly revolving social workers that have been charged with his treatment management. I have watched the quality of his life erode until finally he nearly died living in subsidized housing that had no heat through a very cold winter. Having advocated for his well-being on many occasions and being met with a general lack of concern by the county in which he lives and is conserved, I can only imagine the response you must have gotten when expressing your desire to vote.
I hope that all concerned people will come together to campaign for change. The US has been consistently whacking away at the systems that provide care for its citizens – across the boards – be it in health care, education or social services. However, new movements in the mental health field do give me hope that the voices of its clients are starting to be heard. Holistic models that use mental health clients on multi-disciplinary teams are a start. By bringing client needs and experiences to the table, those who dispense care and the dollars attached to it will have a much better sense of what works and what doesn’t.
But ultimately, these issues have to be of concern to everyone, not just the clients, the homeless and the people who serve them. These are community problems, they are systemic and thus require the support and resources of both our local and federal governments.
I am so sick of hearing quit your job and get aid so you can get homeless assistance. How backwards is that? I was on welfare i did the gain program i obtained work…9 years ago. I am going thru divorce i am having garnishment to my wages from my marriage and yet my kids and i are living day to day with friends in motels changing addresses like it’s the thing to do? Where is the help for those of us who have made it off of welfare where are our options and where do we get help when our lives hit the brick wall and have no one or where to turn? Should we redo the welfare thing and make California worse than it is as far as welfare reform so we can recieve a voucher or assistance to get back stable? That is the worst concept to ever be revealed to me. When will La Wake up and asist those that are assisting themselves? I am not mental health qualified nor drug addicted i am going thru a ugly divorce and have struggled for 2 and a half years to keep my job i am tired i need help i have no family it’s just me and three kids and all the bad credit from my seperation no child support can’t even locate the ex to serve him or knock him out and my state say’s you need to be of welfare to get homeless assistance but in a few months i will hear get a job welfare is temporary. Does anyone feel the ignorance of this? I cannot believe the ignorance and backwards notions this idea and regulations are. Somebody anybody wake up