In Response: Santa Monica

This week, I've responded to Andrew Wilson's post on Santa Monica with an article I've recently read on LA Times:


I found it really interesting that the subject of focus on your trip to Santa Monica was the homeless population. This location is usually associated with, as you mentioned in the first paragraph, the wealthy and famous, so I thought it was really great that you noticed something that people usually go out of their way to ignore.

Currently, a legal battle is going on "over whether Los Angeles city officials can seize and dispose of the unattended belonging of the homeless"; some are even considering taking the issue to the Supreme Court. This came out of city public health officials discovering hypothermic needles, human waste, and rat infestations on skid row, the few blocks in downtown Los Angeles with the highest concentrations of homeless. I thought this was relevant to your observations in Santa Monica because in both instances, these underprivileged citizens are made to seem like criminals and lesser humans beings. In your case, you mentioned police patrolling the area, as if expecting the homeless to act out. In mine, I think that had the public health officials discovered those things in a nicer neighborhood, they probably wouldn't think to seize all unattended property in the area. It's disturbing how easy it is to think of homeless people's possessions as less valuable and worthwhile than those of the more fortunate. However, as the article points out, "as shabby as those belongings may sometimes look, they often include important personal possessions such as identification documents, medications, family photographs".

There are, as you also mentioned, some positive notes. This issue is causing the city to reconsider how to deal with the large and growing population of homeless people. Instead of wasting time at the Supreme Court, advocacy groups are suggesting smaller measure that make a much more immediate and significant impact. For example, to combat bad sanitation, it can be as simple as encouraging people on the streets to swap old dirty blankets for new ones.

In a city like Los Angeles, a problem like homelessness probably isn't going to go away any time soon, but it's encouraging to know that there are organisations and individuals out there that try and make the lives of the homeless easier, rather than branding them as criminals and menaces to society.