UCLA Student’s View On L.A.’s Homeless

A Daily Bruin student columnist published an article a few months ago on her view of homelessness. “Walking down Santa Monica on my first night in Los Angeles, I officially met my first homeless person,” she writes. Click here to read article.

It is an interesting outside perspective on Los Angeles’ homeless population. She gets verbally abused by one person—while even trying to offer a sandwich. Then like the rest of Angelenos, she gets used to the idea of having homelessness integrated within our urban life.

Her conclusion… there’s enough money to solve the problem, some homeless people choose to stay on the streets, they crave acceptance, they are victims of circumstances, and perhaps we (the community) should respond with smiles.

Kindness and compassion are certainly positive responses to homelessness. However, our community’s systems—discharge planning, housing, shelter, and law enforcement, to list only a few—need to dramatically change before we can truly end this urban problem.