It’s The People, Stupid

While it’s encouraging there is a re-awakening of public attention on homelessness, I wish we could nail a new sign to the end-homelessness campaign … “It’s the people, stupid.”

Countering the swirl of hopeful plans to reduce homelessness is the same debilitating attitude that has caused homelessness to increase three-fold in the last twenty years in L.A. County— hostile conflict between outlying suburban areas and downtown stakeholders over “homeless dumping.”

Downtown people accuse the suburbs of “shipping” their homeless people into Central City L.A., while outlying communities accuse downtown of the same tactic, all of which threatens the successful implementation of the County’s historic homeless plan.

As do law suits. Recently, the Ninth Circuit Court supported community homeless advocates by stopping the city’s law enforcement strategy to clean up downtown streets. The city plans to appeal. Meanwhile, any serious effort to address homelessness in downtown are put on hold.

And then there is the local neighborhood resistance. While the public and private sector gear up to build new homeless centers and more affordable housing, neighborhoods are gearing up with a battle-driven attitude of, “Not in my backyard!”

If we could all take a deep breath, step back for a moment, and look at the bigger picture of homelessness, the answer is very clear… it’s about people. Disabled seniors in wheel chairs, young mothers with infants, and traumatized veterans who fought in our wars, all victims who have fallen through the cracks of society and ended up on our streets.

“Dumping” and “shipping out” should not be terminology for people. Rather than conflict, there should be collaboration. Rather than law suits, there should be partnerships. Rather than war plans, we should be fighting over who can help the most people.

In Hollywood, there is a new movement called, Project Y!MBY (Yes! In My Back Yard!) The idea is to bring together local neighborhood groups—political leaders, home owners, service providers, law enforcement, businesses, and faith groups—to agree on and work toward realistic solutions to the homeless in their own neighborhoods.

This local initiative seeks convergence, a balanced approach to reaching out to the homeless, and to coordinate services and resources.

We have two choices. Either turf wars or an alliance to help people on our streets. We can either promote law suits, NIMBY campaigns and the transport of the homeless out of our neighborhoods. Or we can create more humane and collaborative solutions that benefit everyone.

I wish there were signs everywhere that remind us that homelessness is about people. Selfish, internecine discord will only serve to jeopardize an historic county-wide plan to end homelessness.

Sometimes we need to slap the side of our heads in acknowledgement and tell ourselves, “It’s about people, stupid.”