Op-Ed: Should L.A. Be Helping LA?

I recently wrote an op-ed piece with the hopes of it being published by the Los Angeles Times. They said that there were too many pieces on Hurricane Katrina, and passed on publishing it. We are shopping this piece around to other papers, but in the meantime I thought I would post it on this blog. Here it is:
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Thousands of caring Angelinos are donating money to help the evacuees of Hurricane Katrina. Lear jets are flying these newly homeless to L.A., celebrities are doing their benefits, and the county has committed to housing 3,000 people displaced by the hurricane. We all should be feeling good about our response, right?

Maybe, but below the surface of these wonderful acts of generosity, I’ve encountered a quiet debate going on among those who have worked with Los Angeles’ homeless for decades. Homeless advocate-Ted Hayes-recently said, “If they can’t take care of these (L.A.’s) homeless people after all these years, how are they going to take care of more people?”

The county’s mental health department is setting up evacuee shelters to house up to 3,000 people. The American Red Cross is creating reception centers to link people to services. LAUSD is enrolling the children into school. Even faith groups and individual families are opening up homes for Louisiana’s homeless.

Earlier this year, however, an official L.A. County count revealed that we have a crisis of 90,000 people who are homeless. You would have thought this staggering number of our own local citizens struggling with life on the streets might have moved our community into action. But there were no star-studded benefit concerts for L.A.’s homeless and no grass-roots efforts to open up their homes.

Thankfully, the County Board of Supervisors responded by adding $24 million to the cause of ending homelessness. But there was no swell of public compassion or generosity, like this current Gulf-coast crisis.

So, should Los Angeles be helping Louisiana’s homeless? Especially when tens of thousands of our own local residents have floundered on our streets for decades? A new shelter bed or home for these new incoming homeless, means one less bed or home for our own.

Although it is hard to watch L.A.’s desperately needed resources be used for a cause other than L.A.’s homeless, my hope is that compassion will be contagious.

If you live anywhere in America in the past couple of weeks- you can no longer deny that poverty and homelessness does not exist in our great country. The millions of dollars recently donated by compassionate Americans is a sign that we are both aware of poverty, and are moved to want to help.

In the 1980’s, homelessness was the “cause of the day.” That’s when many of today’s homeless programs started. Perhaps, this current move to help hurricane evacuees will encourage people to see that homelessness is still a major crisis today.

The ability to find 3,000 additional shelter beds for evacuees shows that our community has the capacity to house more people who are homeless. My hope is that when we have finished helping Louisiana’s survivors, we can turn these newly found shelter beds into permanent services for L.A.’s homeless.

Should L.A. be helping LA? We really have no choice. They will show up in Los Angeles whether they are invited and flown by Lear jet or drive here on their own.