Terminal Homelessness: Living at LAX For 20 Years

The Daily Breeze reports today on a 48-year-old homeless man who has been living at LAX for 20 years. Click here to read article. This isn’t the fictional story of Tom Hanks living in an International Terminal for weeks. It’s a real life tale of a man who lives in LAX’s Central Terminal Area, living off of food found in the garbage, and picking up cans to be recycled.

The police and other airport officials all know about him. But they say he is not on drugs and is not mentally ill. He just likes to live at the airport.

He says he has two grown sons. He even claims he is the cousin of councilmember Bernard Parks. (Although the councilmember doubts that claim.)

So the big question is this… why would our society allow such a person to be homeless? Why do we allow him to live off of trash like a squatter in a Calcutta trash dump, and scramble for recycled cans for twenty years? It doesn’t make sense.

Perhaps the new Airport Commissioners, appointed by Mayor Villaraigosa yesterday, could also tackle this simple LAX issue—helping a homeless man at LAX break a 20 year cycle of homelessness.