Disaster Letters to the Editor: Want to use the system to help homeless neighbors? Good luck

Article Archive

Letters to the Editor: Want to use the system to help homeless neighbors? Good luck​

To the editor: I am grateful for homeless outreach volunteer Daniel Polansky's story about trying get services for his unhoused friend.

I have a similar experience to share. I am a street chaplain for homeless neighbors in northeast Los Angeles. I visit many neighbors, but of course I have favorites too. One of my favorite neighbors has been sick for weeks and in and out of the hospital.

I tried to get her a hotel room for the week of Christmas, paying out of my organization's funds, but could not pay for a room to get her off the street myself, as she has no ID. She has lived in Los Angeles since the early 1990s and birthed three U.S. citizens, but she needs help to even start immigration paperwork after all these years.

I have been doing my best to stay in my lane as a chaplain and assist our neighbors and our beloved and overworked case workers and authorities. But it sure is hard for a private citizen to use our great system to personally help the poor.

Dave Saltzman, Los Angeles

..

To the editor: Everyone wants to know why there are so many homeless people in Los Angeles. People don't choose to be homeless, but we are treated like bums. And getting help is not as easy.

I became homeless because the system failed. Homeowners and property owners want tenants to pay their rent and abide by their rules. But they don't follow Section 8 protocol, or the minute you do something they don't like, you're on the street.

I am a licensed security guard. I work and pay my bills.

Shannon Franklin, Norwalk

 

[Ruin]

It's always a parade of scumbags in a homeless thread that push the notion that all homeless are drug addicts or lazy.

Every. Fucking. Time.

Totally disregarding all the other threads of Whites forced out of their jobs, denied employment, college admission and now health care.

Bet most are (((White))).

Live in a major city for a while. After your 50th time per day getting attacked by a crackhead for refusing to give them money you'll drop this noble homeless shit pretty fast.

 

[NJBear]

Live in a major city for a while. After your 50th time per day getting attacked by a crackhead for refusing to give them money you'll drop this noble homeless shit pretty fast.

Gee I've never seen a homeless person in the country/suburbs attacking anyone. The have to live in one room because corporate and government won't hire Whites for good paying jobs.

 

[Fomo Hoire]

I imagine that house got robbed by nogs in record time.

From the full listing:

A rent-stabilized building with a total of 4 units.
There're two families in the building. One family has 2 babies. Everyone in the building is black except me.

At least it would be nogs robbing nogs.

Found the ad on CL. Flagged it. Fuck this asshole.

I didn't realize that was current, I assumed it was a meme classic.

Spoiler: Full Listing just because

one room available starting Jan 1st.
Long term/ short term depending on housing needs; optional lease signing.
POC preferred; queer/ trans/ enby only! NO Cisman plz!
Rent: $925 ~ $950 + utilities

About the apartment-
furnished two-bedroom apartment in bedstuy. (on the top floor, 3 flights walk-up).
The living room has three big windows so it's bright and beautiful during daytime. There is a roof that's nice to play and watch sunset on. Apartment is on a quiet block. 8min walk to Kingston-Throop off the C train.
Grocery store three blocks away, laundromat one block away.
!Comes with one cat~

About the room-
The bedroom is medium-sized. It's serene, window looking out to backyards with big trees. Has very healing vibe~
Room has a big closet, can fit a queen bed, desk, night stand etc. lots of extra storage space in the apartment as well.
The room can either be furnished / unfurnished when you move in.

About the building-
A rent-stabilized building with a total of 4 units.
There're two families in the building. One family has 2 babies. Everyone in the building is black except me. (you can't be anti-black). The floor is pretty thin and downstair neighbor works early shifts for MTA, so quiet time is very important for him especially past 12 am. ideally you have a set schedule and would wining down before midnight on weekdays.

The building overall is pretty well-maintained. The super lives in the neighborhood and I have good relationship with him.

About me-
East Asian enby immigrant in late-20s.
I'm clean and consider myself generally pretty handy and resourceful.
Fire sun and venus, water moon& mars.
not vegan/vegetarian atm.
Currently full time working in public health (masked, public facing).
I have a pretty vocal FIV+ boy cat named gene who is always looking for attention. so you must like cats~

Landlord doesn't allow more pets atm.

About you-
Must be queer/ enby/ trans. poc preferred.
Considerate about the space and other people in the building. (especially regarding Covid safety) Willing to build space and keep the apartment clean together. Communicative~ vaccinated~ 24+ preferred

This is an anti-capitalism household. If you identify as a liberal we won’t be good fit.
Rent-
$925+ utilities for BIPOC;
$950+ utilities for all others.
(utilities ~$60ish/ month)

Feel free to email me if you have any question!

#SupportBDS #Freepalestine #Landback #ResistColonialism #globalsolidarity

• do NOT contact me with unsolicited services or offers

The other listing I saw when filtering for BIPOC basically forces you to join and fund their vegetarian lifestyle

Spoiler: Relevant excerpts

We have a room opening up for a 1-3 month sublet in our cooperative home starting on January 1. Read below for more info!

THE ROOM:
168 sf
$930 + utilities ($110)

ABOUT US:
+ We are a community of artists, activists, videographers, journalists, teachers, musicians, performers, programmers, farmers, students, designers, and friends. We buy food together as a group (more details below), we cook and share meals, we have an epic record collection, we play games, we have impromptu dance parties, we (used to) have events (hopefully someday soon!), we help each other and value spending time together.
+ We meet as a house every Monday. In house meetings we organize for weekly responsibilities such as: taking out compost, picking up CSA, watering plants and delegating cooks for house dinners. We also check in with each other emotionally, and prioritize supporting one another’s personal growth. We also follow up on house maintenance projects and enjoy each other's company!

A note about COVID:
+ You might be feeling apprehensive about living in a group home during COVID. We are taking great care to protect each other and our community right now. Everyone in our home has adhered to a set of protocols that we’d be happy to discuss with applicants. We have also all been vaccinated.

THE HOUSE:
+ Vegetarian house! (you can eat whatever you'd like outside of the home but we don't keep or cook any meat, fowl or fish in the house)
+ We buy food together and much of it in bulk. That means you get produce, eggs, yogurt, fruit, nuts, grains, oil, etc. for approximately $150/month (or prorated based on your occupancy).

Sure they say you can eat meat outside the home, but they're still going to charge you $150/month for their veg and if you don't eat it that's just more free food for them. And I'd bet their pandemic procedure means you're not even really allowed to eat outside the house either.

ETA: And fuck them for not including the food bill upfront with the rent and utilities.

 

[Dysnomia]

Live in a major city for a while. After your 50th time per day getting attacked by a crackhead for refusing to give them money you'll drop this noble homeless shit pretty fast.

I've had a few come at me. Including some lunatic waving a banana. I think he thought it was a knife.

Only migrants imported get housing, food, medical care and cash. White Americans can get fucked. And most homeless are NOT drug addicts or insane.

Literally no one would help me. Every number I called had nothing or referred me to a number to a number to a number that led back to square one. I wasn't about to go to a shelter because I was too damn afraid of Philly shelters. Everyone I talked to said they were terrifying. So I ended up living in a hotel that was like something out of a 70s cop movie.

The only people that ended up helping me were family. The system is really broken and the rents are out of control. No matter how many times I applied for stuff I was ignored. Not even a "Sorry we can't help you" letter.

There's no housing here unless you are some Afghani refugee or African or something. We took in over 1000 Afghanis instead of housing 1000 needy Philadelphians. Fuck Mayor Kenney.

Anyway, it's unfortunate this lady is homeless. But at least it's LA so it's not going to be a 10 degree blizzard. Her anchor babies should help her out. But there's probably some reason they aren't doing that. Unless they are scumbags they should appreciate that mom made sure they weren't born in some dumpster fire country.

 

[Mr. Zed da Robot Poon Fed]

If you keep people from building houses, and you have a population increase, you’re going to have a housing shortage. Duh. This is common sense.

You could have had a certain black conservative voted in office repeal certain bills and help build more homes. But you didn’t do that.

 

[haunted vagina]

90% of homeless are drug addicts and almost all of the other 10% have other serious mental disorders
More than 50% of homeless will refuse free housing and medical care if offered, if housing is dependent on joining a sobriety program make that 80%
Probably 40-50% are anosognosic and literally do not understand that sleeping outdoors in the winter, spending money on drugs before food, throwing feces at people, etc. are a problem or considered abnormal by others

Homelessness has almost nothing to do with economics and certainly nothing to do with pathetic fantasies about how the negro conspiracy is keeping white people from getting a job at Wendy's and splitting a bedroom with 2 other people, which any rational person would both find preferable to camping under a bridge and be able to do.

There is no one who actually works with the homeless in a real situation of providing medical, psychological, or shelter services who isn't aware of the above, and no place that collects honest numbers where it isn't reflected, but the religious insistence that homelessness is a reflection of "capitalism" coupled with the refusal to force treatment on people who need it even to bring them out of a self-imposed hell means that even broaching this topic is quickly becoming a political third rail. Forget the fact that normies have the right to walk down the street without stepping in human shit or being pushed onto the subway tracks - just in terms of human concern for the homeless themselves, there needs to be more honesty and less indulgence of autonomy from people who literally are not capable of taking care of themselves, but we're in a position where this can't even be discussed.

 

[Cpl. Long Dong Silver]

We should just kill the homless. Problem solved. Problem staying solved.

 

[haunted vagina]

It might be more humane. The opposition to forcing people to live in shelters, get mental health treatment, etc is that we have to respect their dignity and autonomy. But this logic applies to no one else - we don't refuse to clean up Alzheimer's patients who shit themselves or allow 5 year olds to drink cleaning products, we understand that we are respecting their dignity by not allowing them to live in filth even if in the immediate moment they snap at people trying to assist, and that someone who kills himself because he doesn't know better has eliminated his entire future life's worth of autonomy. The homeless are almost all operating at about the same cognitive capacity as those examples, and harming themselves in the process. The idea that anyone capable of rational choice would in fact make these choices is self-evidently absurd, the problem is that even if you offer pro bono medical services etc. you will be blocked from participating in policy discussions on the homeless if you do not accept the orthodoxy that it is an economic problem.