Is Los Angeles’ Approach To Homelessness A Failure?

The Wall Street Journal is reporting on the homeless policies of the Bush’s Administration. They see it as a “sort of Nixon-goes-to-China reversal of expectations” where a conservative Republican government is willing to address a typically more liberal social issue of homelessness.

Bush’s point person on this is Philip Mangano, the Executive Director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness. Mangano is leading an effort to end chronic homelessness in ten years. He is traveling the country helping cities develop “ten year plans to end homelessness”.

After a few years of this effort, some cities are showing numerical declines of people on the streets. This includes San Francisco, Denver, and New York City.

However, the Wall Street Journal says that this Republican homeless initiative has “one huge failure: Los Angeles, which he calls the Ground Zero of American street homelessness.”

Is Los Angeles a failure in addressing homelessness? And should the federal government take the blame for homelessness in Los Angeles?

Some local political leaders would agree that it is the federal government’s lack of funding services and housing as the cause of homelessness in Los Angeles. But, frankly, I think that’s too simplistic.

Homelessness is the result of the entire society neglecting those who are poor—both public and private. If we are to point the blame finger at anyone, it should be toward everyone.

(Pic from www.apcstart.com)