Staggering Number Of Homeless In LA Shows How Tough It Is To Get By

by | Jun 1, 2017 | Headline News | 128 comments

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    The number of homeless people in Los Angeles is skyrocketing. In just one year, the figures revealed that the homeless population in the city grew 20% while the numbers for the wider Los Angeles County were even higher at 23%.

    As if looking at those numbers isn’t cringeworthy enough, The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority reported Wednesday that 6,000 homeless young people were tallied across the county in January, a 61% increase over the 2016 total. Most of the young people are ages 18 to 24. All the youth shelters have waiting lists and affordable housing is tough to find, even with a rent voucher, according to Heidi Calmus of Covenant House California, an international youth homeless services agency with a branch in Hollywood. “The system is overwhelmed,” Calmus said Tuesday night as she and a colleague, Nick Semensky, delivered toiletry bags and sandwiches to young people living in the streets.

    Despite efforts to combat the problem, the number of homeless continue to go up. In 2015 authorities declared a public emergency as the numbers sleeping on the streets soared. City officials committed $100 million to tackle the problem. It’s safe to say that whatever is being done right now is not working.

    Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn described the figures as “staggering.” “Homelessness in LA County has grown at a shocking rate,” she said in a statement. “Even as work is being done to get thousands of people off the street and into housing, more and more people are becoming homeless. It is clear that if we are going to end the homeless crisis, we need to stem the overwhelming tide of people falling into homelessness.”

    But it isn’t that easy. Experts are placing the blame on soaring rents and a high cost of living as the two major factors. According to Expatistan.com, a 900 square foot furnished apartment will cost over $2400 per month.

    Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said there was “no sugarcoating the bad news”. “It’s impossible to wrap your head around the numbers,” he told reporters, adding that soaring rents and the city’s high cost of living were partly to blame. “We can’t let rents double every year,” he told reporters. Average rents in Los Angeles County have increased by 32% since 2000 while average household incomes for people renting have fallen by 3% when adjusted for inflation, according to the California Housing Partnership.

    Mayor Garcetti is correct in that you cannot sugarcoat these numbers. In its latest report, the LAHSA said there were 57,794 people homeless in the county during its survey in January, compared to 46,874 in 2016. In the city there were 34,189 with no permanent roof over their heads, the report said, compared to 28,464 the year before.

    The solution, according to the politicians in Los Angeles, is of course, to throw money at the problem. The county needs to build more than 550,000 affordable rental homes for low-income households, the LAHSA says. Los Angeles recently approved new measures to raise $1.2 billion in bonds to build 10,000 new units of housing for homeless people. There are also plans to raise about $3.5billion over 10 years to pay for other homelessness projects.

    When the number of homeless increases this dramatically, it’s easy to see that the nation is in a bit of an economic bind.  It’s getting harder and harder to get by, and any sort of financial issue, no matter how small, could easily cause homelessness for those living paycheck to paycheck.

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      128 Comments

      1. What does one expect when you have a country so regulated/taxed many do not see the point in starting a business and,perhaps hiring other folks and getting more people a decent living standard,by which I mean health/fed/roof over head.

        We have a govt./overlord what have you determined to steal from citizens to have wars/bail out their banks and companies ect.,wage a lost war on drugs,hell,the lkist of theft and garbage that it supports is endless.I realize a few are homeless by well thought out choice,see at moment their best way to keep going,realize also many mentally ill/alcoholics ect or a combination there of.We didn’t waste so much aforementioned monies we might be all doing better and have some extra time/goods to lift folks back up,tis insane and getting worse.

        I will say in some ways the homeless will be better off then most as they already scrounge out a living on the streets when the economy goes south/natural disaster ect.

        • It is tough to get a job when you are an alcoholic drug user with 5 felony convictions for shootouts with store owners and a single mom of six kids of three different nationalities and ms13 gang tattoos on your face with no high school education. Sad that these poor people “fall through the cracks” geeze.

          • Stop being racist and insensitive. I have been homeless twice. Once was my fault. The other I was laid off and could not find work. I do not do drugs or drink heavily. Things happen. Bad things happen to EVERYONE.

            I see these pictures and weep. You see them and sneer. Not a Christian – or any other religion – obviously.

            We should all help each other, not laugh or point. I challenge the so-called “preppers” on this board to spend equal amounts on charity. Your creator will thank you for it.

            “Lay up your treasures in heaven ….”

            • It is not charity when you are forced to pay. Don’t call welfare charity.

            • My adopted daughter from a druggy mother went to the best school, played sports and got straight B’s in school. I bought her a new car and saved for college. She repayed me by robbing $50,000 in coin, moved in with her boyfriend and abused drugs and alcohol and wrecked her car into a tree. She has been in the nuthouse for abusing a prescription and drinking alcohol as a minor. I suppose she fell through the crack too eh? She gets tough love from me. If she wants to be a productive member of the family she sure didn’t show it. We should not cater to the weak and lazy, why should I die working to death to pay some whores bills?

          • Well done G

          • Have noticed more people living in RVs, PU w/camper shells, cars, etc, over the last 5 years. Some of them look like regular people, with nice cars, or RVs. Some look like meth addicts. Lots of middle age people searching for cans to sell, lots more panhandlers. Will be interesting to see what they do when things go belly up.

            • When thinks go belly up those people will be breaking into homes or knocking over liquor stores.

          • I was born, raised, and still live here. You, absolutely, hit the nail on the head.

            There’s plenty of jobs, if you have the education, and any job experience for them.

          • Gandhi you are an idiot, everyone is not alcoholic drug user with 5 felony convictions, or single mom. many just cant find work. but you’re probably a brainwashed idiot, who is just stupid.

          • Plus can’t speak English and refuse to learn.

            • YEP, that welfare line should be to get into a FEMA camp bus.

          • Do them and society a HUGE favor and just put them down like a horse with 4 broken damn legs and jock itch!

        • we make LESS than we did in year 2000, yet we pay DOUBLE, and in some places TRIPLE what we paid for a house in 2000…..thank you, FEDERAL RESERVE, for blowing MORE bubbles that ultimately MUST pop…..add to that your NAFTA debacle, and the results were predictable….a MONKEY could predict what’s about to happen(many DID!)….better be preppin’ like a muhfugguh!

          • One thing you usually don’t see is homeless people reading a book.

            • I used to think I was smart because I always had a job but now I think I am stupid because I always had a job?

              • a BIG percentage of people I SEE while riding my bike through them are on drugs…or at a minimum, crazy….not a place I would like to find myself.

            • Gandhi , get a life and stop bashing down and out people.
              its seems like you’re pretty self-centered and ignorant.
              maybe you need a girl friend or mental help.

              • Maybe, either that or maybe I spent time in Homeless situation and saw the lazy drug using abuse of the system by people who would cut your throat for being a Christian or for the $5 in your pocket.

          • NAFTA destroyed our country just like Ross Perot said it would..The so called “American Dream” officially died for most back in 1994..Today we have record # of those unemployed(The REAL unemployment rate is MUCH,MUCH higher than is being reported) We have record # of those on foodstamps..Record # of student loan defaults,the list goes on and on.The US has never recovered from NAFTA and unless there’s a way to bring back jobs,i seriously doubt we’ll ever recover and will continue on the path toward 3rd world status..I’ve already lived well over half my life,so i probably wont be around to really witness just how bad poverty will ravish our country,but i wouldn’t be surprised if we reached 3rd world status within 25 years..The one’s i truly feel sorry for are the kids today under 10 years of age,as their the one’s that will truly witness hell on earth if things don’t start to make a turn for the good..

            • For the children?

        • If they would deport all the filthy scum illegal vermin there would be jobs and housing for the citizens.

          • I understand that California farmers are desperate for harvest workers.

            Seems that there just aren’t enough Mexicans around after Trump and the locals, the homeless and out of work ones, just won’t do that kind of work.

            The end result is expected to be a large movement toward robotic harvesting.

            • stop paying them for NOT working, and they go back to work real quick….hide their EBT cards under their workboots.

          • and a WORSE glut of houses on the market…..nobody seems to be thinkin’ of THAT side of the illegal problem.

            • Buttcrackofdoom,
              Can’t be that much of a “glut” of housing in the LA area if a 1 bedroom apt. rents for $2,400 per month. Kick out all the illegals from the LA basin and apartments would get downright affordable.

              • Another Brilliant Move by President Donald J Trump. About time.

                Donald Trump’s budget slashes government junk food pipeline to the poor
                Written by Jim Bovard Date: 06-01-2017 Subject: Trump Administration
                Perhaps the most controversial element of the Trump administration’s budget is the proposal to reduce food stamp spending by 25% or $193 billion over the next decade. Forty-four million people currently receive food stamps, more than twice as many as at the end of the Clinton administration. Spending for food stamps almost quadrupled in the same period, reaching $73 billion last year.

                Why did the food stamp program spiral out of control? The Obama administration believed that maximizing handouts would maximize prosperity: “Every $5 in new [food stamp] benefits generates as much as $9 of economic activity.”

                **$9 for whom? Answer: The Candy Makers.. It is a fact that the majority of EBT food stamps spending goes for Sugar related products and Candy, not even Nutritional Food.

                Trump budget director Mick Mulvaney declared last week: “If you are on food stamps and you are able-bodied, we need you to go to work.” The administration proposes phasing in work requirements for able-bodied adults without dependents. This is a good first step for a program that swayed to many Americans to work less. A 2012 Journal of Public Economics study concluded that receiving food stamps sharply reduces work hours by single mothers.

                The Trump administration also proposes requiring state governments to begin covering a share of the costs of food stamps, in addition to the share of administrative costs they already pay. Currently, state governments have little or no incentive to police the program since losses from fraud or waste don’t come out of state budgets. Unfortunately, such a smart idea will likely be dead on arrival on Capitol Hill.

                The most important reason to curtail food stamp enrollment is because the program is a dietary disaster. Walter Willett, chair of Harvard University’s Department of Nutrition, observed in 2015, “We’ve analyzed what [food stamp] participants are eating and it’s horrible food. It’s a diet designed to produce obesity and diabetes.” A 2017 study published in BMC Public Health found that food stamp recipients were twice as likely to be obese as eligible non-recipients. This confirms a 2015 USDA report which revealed that food stamp recipients are far more likely to be obese than eligible non-recipients (40% vs. 32%).

                A 2016 USDA report revealed that soft drinks and other sweetened beverages are the most common purchase in food stamp households, accounting for almost 10% of monthly expenditures. “Desserts, salty snacks, candy and sugar” account for another 10% of food stamp expenditures. The USDA report confirms earlier research on federally-funded bad diets. (The USDA and the Obama administration helped block a 2013 congressional proposal to disclose how recipients actually spend food stamps.) Food stamp recipients consume twice as many of their daily calories from sugar-sweetened beverages as do higher incomes groups (12% vs. 6%), according to a 2015 study in Preventive Medicine. A 2015 study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine also found that adult food stamp recipients had less healthy diets than eligible non-recipients.

                The Trump reform proposal ignores the easiest way to save more than $100 billion: prohibit using food stamps for junk food. Food stamps should be remodeled along the lines of the Women Infant and Children (WIC) Program, which distributes coupons redeemable only for relatively healthy foods. A 2014 Stanford University study concluded that prohibiting the use of food stamps for sugary drinks would prevent 141,000 kids from becoming fat and save a quarter million adults from Type 2 diabetes.

                • Amen! When I was young there were a few times when we got some USDA handout food. What was it? I remember generic tuna fish, powdered milk, generic cheese, My mother went back to baking our own bread once a week and we never ate out. We ate at home or at school or at a friend’s house. A neighbor gal lived on a homestead and they raised all of their own food and produce. Those kids worked hard. Family is still on the same spot. A little different but if anyone can make it, they can.

                  • I liked that peanut butter that came in a huge can. When you would try to spread it on a slice of bread, it would roll up behind the knife like you were trying to lay a linoleum rug. You would have to push it back down with your fingers.

                    • Oh yep, I remember that too! The powdered milk was the worst. Yuck!

                    • We received much needed and appreciated help for a few months. I used up every scrap we received and was very grateful. The peanut butter had to be thinned with oil or honey. Both improved flavor and spreadability. All commercial peanut butter has added oil for that reason.
                      Most of the generous help people get now is wasted. They don’t appreciate it. I have several cousins who have been abusing the system for years.

                • That’s a big cut and paste.

                  Anything original?

                • Saw an article about them getting cigarettes too. The biggest items in their carts was soda (or “soder”). I also watched an interview of a LA resident who makes 100K at his job but barely can make his rent. WTF?

                  • Unfortunately $100k doesn’t go far when it costs $200 a pop to get high?

        • Hopyfully Kim Jong drops a nuke on LA and help us all out

        • Sounds like a good next step play for population reduction. Non-Productive people need to parish. Sorry folks. Can’t cut the mustard. See ya. My wallet cannot afford any more compassion for losers. Stop taxing me for your bad decisions. Communism never last for long. We’ve run out of my money.

          • GTL: yep. Same here. I expect some family members will show up looking for a handout. If they want to work, maybe. If they don’t want to work? CYA. Nothing free at my house, not even for kin.

            • I agree, I will help those that help themselves but I won’t even allow family members to sponge.

          • Not surprised. Its just that every country is sinking to their level.

        • “I will say in some ways the homeless will be better off then most as they already scrounge out a living on the streets when the economy goes south/natural disaster etc”.

          Very true. If only because they have already adapted psychologically over time and found the angles to exploit. It will be a shock for the “new poor” next year.

          I met a kid in Prescott one summer a few years ago. I have told the story here before. Kid, he was probably 40+/-. At that time he had lived in Prescott for 12 years, summer and winter, camping in the woods.

          He was a druggie/hippie type and had a previous drug conviction in N Dakota w/prison time. His clothes were always clean, he showered every day, and he was well fed.

          His primary requirements were provided by the Salvation Army and a few other local Social Service agencies/groups. He was a nice guy, but true to form he was re-arrested on drug charges and sent to prison in Arizona.

          When the SHTF and those economically marginal, lower working class lose their jobs in the next crash, they will not know how to survive; but they will adapt.

          If you look closely as you go about your day to day, you will notice people living out of their cars and sleeping in them at night, using National Athletic Clubs like; Lifetime, LA FITNESS or Planet Fitness to shower.

          In Arizona there is a large population of retirees who are “SNOWBIRDS” who migrate intrastate during summer and winter; moving to the high country in summer to keep cool, and moving to Phoenix, Tucson, or along the southern Colorado River in the Winter to keep warm. Some have two homes, some live in RV/Motorhomes, some just camp in the summer and travel. One woman I know, a retiree, keeps a subsidized “senior apartment” in Phoenix and camps in her converted commercial van in the summer up North, eliminating the high summer electric bills in Phoenix.

          These migrants find a way to pick up extra cash by providing services. One guy I know specializes in installing solar systems for RV’s which are a bit more tricky than the average system.

          Use your imagination. The sky’s the limit. 🙂

      2. Fifty seven thousand homeless in LA County?

        Sheesh…there ain’t that many people in the whole county here…

        This is where ALL government is heading. Higher fees, taxes and licenses until everybody is living in a cardboard box down by the river.

        There is little that you can do to shrink government. It may slow it’s growth yoy but it never shrinks. They feel entitled to your money and labor and will send the posse out to kill you should you choose not to co-operate with their edicts.

        FTPS

      3. This is what happens in a socialist state. The bureaucrats live well. The wealthy are fine. Everyone else is left to scrape by and scrounge for government hand outs. Apparently the welfare state in California is failing. This doesn’t surprise me.

      4. JRS,think a lot of people might start shooting first at those posses this keeps up,the one with nothing to lose has everything to gain!

        I will say though not rich am lucky that at moment have work/roof over head/fed ect.This article has me once again giving a little to a homeless shelter with good financial track record,also donate to four footed shelters.You can spare even a couple of bucks do your research and help,understand if you are living penny to penny,been there to a degree but even a once off volunteer help can make a difference.

        Those of us here are lucky with friends/family/choices we made,lets in some small way try and end this or at least diminish this insanity.As a poster likes to say and certainly true when helping others,”The smalls add up!”

        • You make your own luck, I bet you don’t have earrings in your lip and an 8ball tattooed on your forehead.

          • The homeless veterans and youth made their own luck. Right?

          • Gandi,I bet a lot of the homeless do not either,ones you mention usually working starbucks ect.,hell,as long as they are trying to work.That said,have long hair as I have had since 4th grade,will NOT cut it for any job!

            I will when able to try and give anyone a handup,not a hand out.Some too far gone perhaps in mental illness/alcohol/mental pain ect. but will give em a chance.

            • They only work at Starbucks while being supervised on some prison work release program.

      5. Prediction. Crime rates in the inner city are about to explode as stores begin delivering items to the entitlement moocher classes. FREE ITEMS DELIVERED DIRECTLY TO THE MOOOCHERS DUMPS — THEY WELFARE-OBESE ARE TOO FAT AND LAZY TO EVEN VISIT A STORE. When bags of junkfood items, alcohol, TVs, coats, lingerie, crotchless size 7XXL and Sneakers are delivered to the mooochers free of charge on the EBT, the thugs on the street will kill the delivery drivers to intercept the goods, just as they do to the pizza drivers.

      6. !!! re the story, I bet 99% of the “people” mentioned in the story are MEN. Unmarried “womyn” with their bastard children are living high on the hog and multiplying exponentially thanks to the stupid American working taxpayer. Unemployable men and our veterans get the curb. rewrite the story

        • If I was homeless I would take advantage of not doing yard work, repairs and upkeep and read a book on astrophysics then study advanced calculus. Unfortunately I have a house, yard and family to work for?

          • I make ok money ? but I still eat food bank stuff because it tastes better when it is free. They said they don’t mind rich people eating their because at least they get to help someone worth a $hit and besides they paid for it in taxes?

        • America is plumb full of lazy losers. Time to cut off all welfare, and EBT Food stamps and Daddyless momma baby benefits. Screw them for bad decisions. Suddenly watch all of them go find a job and stop making more loser babies. Well most of them.

          When we have a government that reward Failure over success we are on a race to the bottom. Give people who have a job food stamp benefits. Those who work and have kids give them benefits. Too lazy to work screw you.

          • A really bad plaque would cure lots of these ills. Or a 1940s style genocide.

            • Am not sure how “plaque” would help Kemp,we talking a motivational “Plaque”/tooth “Plaque” what?As for genocide,really?!

              • He meant plague

          • Yes, I don’t care how “nice” someone is, I still don’t want to be their slave and support them by force from a fed tax collector bullet.

      7. The socialist state California get’s everything it disserves ….

        • BBC had their global warming expert Gov. Jerry Brown on tonight to trash US President Trump, over dumping the fake Paris Accord.

          The BBC to the rescue with faker Jerry sunshine Brown, with fake news, trying to protect the fake accord, based on fake NOAA data, and fake science.

          Jerry is such an expert on the settled science of global warming……….

          • Jerry Brown? you sure that was not Al Gore??? HAHAHA

      8. When I shut down my business I was in a squabble with the government why I did not hire females. I told them that with their maternity leave requirement for a guaranteed job after 18 months maternity leave that I couldn’t guarantee my own business for 18 months. I closed shop, there fixed it for you.

        • Grandpa,that is the insanity/regulations I am talking about!I was thinking of opening a burrito stand,but,then realized would be stealing from others cultures and thus cannot celebrate diversity!

      9. I wonder what percentage are homeless due to their lifestyle (drugs, booze, crime, dumb, etc…). Me thinks it’s a large percent. Mayor Garcetti said: “We can’t let rents double every year,” he told reporters. But the average rents in Los Angeles County have increased by 32% since 2000…sorry Garcetti, but you are math challenged. That’s not doubling every year..that’s 32/17 = 1.88% per year, not 100%.
        This is just another example of the breakdown of American values, moral, and principles.
        No story here…move on.

        • I expect rents, and thus VALUES for multi family units to decline dramatically in the next crash as real wages have not kept up with inflation. A deflationary cycle will begin to equalize rents and wages.

          As a property owner you cannot squeeze blood from a turnip, and an occupied unit is less likely to be vandalized and does generate some revenue. Time to sell. Take the money and run. 🙂

          • Wrong again DK, Rents will continue to climb, and folks will find ways to get more room mates or multi-generations to pay for the rent. There will always be people willing to pay high rents, especially women who like safety and location over cheap rent in the crappy part of town. When I was in my late teens and early 20’s, we had 5 guys living in a house. This was back in the early 1980’s and my total rent and expenses for my portion was just $175 a month. It worked out great and we all had a blast.

      10. Times are tough but Los Angeles is one of the more expensive cities to line in within the US even if you are working. Move to where its cheaper. Can’t move? The Okies did in in the dustbowl 1930s. Their times were considerably harder.

        • That tis a problem Kevin,many are working/getting taxed yet living penny to penny,some cannot afford to move and one bad hit of luck job/health wise,now homeless.

          • When your living in a cardboard box you can’t afford not to move. LA is way too expensive. If they took a bus somewhere else and got dropped off how could they be worse off?

            • Move to Utah where they are giving the homeless, houses !!! LMFAO !!! 🙂

          • Nonsense. You can board a bus or get in your car and be looking at a quarter to a third of the living expense in an hour or a little more.

      11. A lot of homeless people work long enough to buy a fifth then take the afternoon off to pound it down then go to the crib of their ex wife to eat her food bank goodies.

        • So you still have a relationship with your EX ??? 🙂

          • Nope, my ex shot her self with a 380

        • Gandhi,
          A friend told me a true story.
          Driving home from work he saw a well dressed woman hitch hiking, and gave her a ride.

          She was heading back to the shelter from another failed job interview. Turns out as soon as she gives the address or pay phone number at the shelter, jobs become unobtainium. Her story was: she was a college educated successful corporate accounting executive, but was in a car accident and hospitalized for five months. The sheriff put her belonging on the street and her apartment was gone. Her car was gone and there was a $2000 storage bill for it. She was fired from her job, lost healthcare, and the hospital emptied her bank accounts. She was looking at hundreds of thousands in medical bills.

          He thought about this, and upon pulling up to the shelter gave her his phone number and address. He told her that he or his wife would take calls for her and contact her at the shelter. And that she should use his address and phone number as though it was hers. If available he or his wife would even pick her up and drive her to interviews and would get any mail to her.

          She had a job within a month. The first few months were financial hell, but she made it. Timing: this story is obviously pre-cell phone days, but the principles still apply to life today. After being homeless or long term hospitalized, jobs often become unobtainium.

          A large percent of homeless are the mentally ill. Hardly their choice. This group is a regular victim of cities that give them $50 and a bus ticket to another city.

          • This country does NOT care about the old and those that are suffering from mental issues. They shut down the vast majority of nuthouses and simply turned them loose on the streets of America…just god damned disgraceful!!

            • PP,that is exactly what I am talking about,give folks a hand up,your friend is a great person and you are lucky to have friends of their caliber,I also have friends like that and am thus a rich man.

              I realize that the emptying of mental institutions was in many ways a good idea but there was supposed to be follow thru care/help for folks released which for most part never happened,to a large degree for ‘for profit”prison industry picked up the homeless,makes one wonder was that the plan.personally,no doubt with me that was the plan

          • I met this dumb ass B!tch in a bar and she was looking for a job. So I thought I would try to help her. I knew a buddy who just opened a Auto repair shop. I said here is my card send me an email and your resume. This dumb chicks email address was “HomelessInDenver @ Yahoo. or some gmail addy. I was like WTF? do you like to be stupid and homeless? I skipped the info and told her to get her sh!t together.

            For Many you just can’t fix stupid. And students, if you are attending a college and looking for a Job, do NOT use your College Email Address as employers will think you are just looking for temporary work. Go get yourself a real address from a legitimate email service and find your own identity. Again, just can’t fix stupid.

          • Great story. Money was not the answer to her problem. Taking a little time to see, listen and do what you can. She was not invisible to him and all it took was her openness and honesty. It took compassion on the other side. I think this could happen more if those that can help just take a chance and reach out.

      12. Why doesn’t all the Hollywood people offer up their million dollar mansions? They say they are progressive and welcome migrants, why don’t they house some of the homeless ones?

      13. Fuck LA. Let the communist California die and be no more. Death to the Muslims and illegals and asshole white pugs like Jerry Brown. Nuke the shit hole now

        • Hahahahaha go for it, well said boy.

        • The scum just move like locusts to communist Colorado

      14. Los Angeles has always gotten the children raised by TV moms. Working mothers, whether they are lawyers or maids, have more or less neglected children. Mrs. Clinton once scoffed at the idea of staying home to “bake cookies”. And not a few women were shamed into returning to the workforce.

        Unrealistic and shallow goals of fashion have caused tens of thousands to abandon decent lives to pursue flashy cars and clothes like the gods and goddesses on their TV. “Reality” stars have taught more than ever before that mediocrity can be rewarded by fame and fortune. So, like lambs to the slaughter, they follow their “passion” only to be crucified.

        There are only so many waitresses and waitors needed. With Los Angeles (a Spanish name) being so close to Mexico, many restaurant jobs have been filled. Even sex workers, a nice euphemism for an ugly trap, must compete for pennies. When there are hundreds of teens willing to do anything to make it in show business, being a toy boy or ho doesn’t amount to much. For their trouble most walk away with disease; some of it incurable.

        Stay home, be smart; Hollywood sucks !!!

        __

      15. When you can get govt. bennies not to work why would you? That along with nice climate you are going to get an explosion of people,many of them from south of the border. those that are willing to work have already left the area for other parts of the country. No surprises here.

        • Once a welfare woman has five kids she qualifies for a new home from Habitat for Humanity. Hispanics are sucking up that benefit in Arizona. 🙁

      16. The same thing is going on in San Diego too. It’s the perfect weather for being homeless, you may be uncomfortable at night but it is impossible to freeze to death in SoCal, even in the winter.

        • I used to drive a lot of Business executives around Chicago in Limo’s. I had a lot of time to kill when they were in their meetings. I used to park and watch people. So many homeless, living in the streets of Chicago in the dead of winter freezing temps. Like WTF? Panhandle a few bucks and catch a bus to some warm part of the country. Again, you can’t fix stooped.

      17. Between earthquakes, droughts, high taxes, too many homeless, possible riots from immigration law enforcement, smog, etc. California is no paradise (especially if you’re not wealthy. Stay away!

        • CA is the absolute LAST place I would ever live. If it came to having to live out there I would go and jump off The Golden Gate and call it a day’

        • Brian,
          For the homeless living in cardboard boxes, I don’t see Earthquakes as being much of a risk. Now those giant mansions stuck in the sides of mountains that the rich live in, now those would be scary.

      18. When will we learn that the more “benefits” you offer the more folks will sign up for them…Geez people…Margret Thatcher said it best ” socialism works until you run out of other peoples money”. That’s where we are thanks to the liberals, progressives,and communists. When you expect the middle class to pay for “everything” you get nothing in the end. If you think along “liberal” lines then you are a fool. The only people who will survive the future are those who can care for themselves. It doesn’t take a village folks. It takes one solid citizen to stand on their own two feet!

        • You must be my sister from another mister. I completely agree with you and have for many decades.

      19. Farmers in the Central Valley need laborers to bring the crops in. Well?

        • Well, there are laws on the books to bring in foreign farm workers LEGALLY, however you must provide shelter and medical benefits. That’s expensive, which is why farmers want American Taxpayers to foot the bill and adverse social effects of ILLEGALS like CRIME !!! 🙂

      20. Little money in the budget to help the homeless or poor elderly Americans. But, there is plenty to pay to bring in and support illegal youth (including criminals) and refugees.

        Priorities…
        Obama budgeted $17,613 for every new illegal minor, more than Social Security retirees get – 5/2/16
        “President Obama has budgeted $17,613 for each of the estimated 75,000 Central American teens expected to illegally cross into the United States (in 2016), $2,841 more than the average annual Social Security retirement benefit, according to a new report.”

        “What’s more, the administration is also spending heavily on a program with the United Nations to help the illegal minors avoid the dangerous trip by declaring them refugees and handing them a plane ticket to the U.S. where, and once here, they get special legal status.

        The report, titled “Welcoming Unaccompanied Alien Children to the United States,” is a deep dive into the administration’s evolving efforts to let hundreds of thousands of mostly 16- and 17-year-old males settle in the country.”
        http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/obama-budgets-17613-for-every-new-illegal-minor-more-than-social-security-retirees-get/article/2590078

        I guess this explains why 17 was the “most common GIVEN age” for illegal males entering the U.S.

        2/3 of Illegals Admitted Under Obama’s ‘Minor’ Program Are Adults
        http://www.mrctv.org/blog/23-aliens-admitted-under-obamas-minor-program-are-adults

        Deported CRIMINAL Immigrants from Central America were FLOWN BACK into USA – paid for by Taxpayer Money
        “In 2014, unaccompanied alien ‘children’ from Central America walked across America’s southern border in droves.

        The U.S. government (translate U.S. taxpayers) now PAY for unaccompanied alien children to be FLOWN INTO the country, even if they were convicted of a FELONY, and furnish them with federal benefits to boot.”

        “It’s called the In-Country Refugee/Parole Program for Central American Minors, and the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security introduced it on November 14, 2014.”
        http://www.nationalreview.com/article/416545/previously-deported-immigrants-can-now-enter-us-taxpayers-dime-ryan-lovelace

        Obama EXPANDED the Central American Minor Program – 7/27/16
        http://www.hstoday.us/briefings/daily-news-analysis/single-article/us-expands-central-american-minor-program/b8faf3e0b9c0f70c62fc3f9705d5fb8c.html

        The federal government (American taxpayers) pays to support refugees for the FIRST YEAR. After the first year, STATES (state taxpayers) must assume responsibility to support refugees.

        Allah commands that faithful (Muslims) have MANY children. With limited job skills, many of the Middle Eastern refugee men find it difficult to find high paying jobs that will support their large families. Many of these refugee families REMAIN on government assistance.

        According to government records, “most foreign workers compete directly in the construction, service, and manufacturing industries where unemployment is the highest.”

        “ALL REFUGEES ARE ELIGIBLE FOR LIFETIME GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE and can draw funds from Social Security and Medicare at Americans’ expense.

        “More than 90 percent of recent Middle Eastern refugees are on food stamps.”

        “As soon as they arrive on U.S. soil they are placed on a fast-track to becoming full, voting citizens.”
        http://www.wnd.com/2015/12/congress-hands-obama-blank-check-on-refugees/

        Remember this?
        A parting “gift” from Obama…
        (Secret) Leftover Obama Refugee Deal With Australia
        “In mid-November, just after Donald Trump was elected president, the outgoing Obama administration reached an agreement (which was kept SECRET) with Australia to resettle hundreds of refugees to America.”

        Due to Australia’s immigration laws, thousands of immigrants from the Middle East were sent to offshore detention centers on the Pacific island nation of Nauru and Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island.

        Thanks to Obama, refugees viewed in Australia as a “possible terrorist threat” are now headed to the U.S.
        The Obama administration did NOT inform the public of his plan nor even consult Congress about it.

        *Obama KNEW the plan would NOT take effect until AFTER he was out of office.
        http://dailysignal.com/2017/02/03/leftover-obama-refugee-deal-with-australia-draws-questions/

        • This damned country will never learn that charity starts at home. Why is it so hard to understand that the US has plenty of poor and needy people RIGHT HERE!! We live here, we pay taxes here, we are US Citizens and we all get shit on. WTF is wrong with this god damn place we call home??
          TO hell with all of these foreigners and especially the Muslim mutts that absolutely hate us and everything we stand for. WAKE UP folks.

          • Concerned Citizen,

            I agree! The priorities are WRONG.

            People over age 50 now make up 31 percent of the nation’s homeless population.

            ht tps://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/31/us/americas-aging-homeless-old-and-on-the-street.html

      21. Sucks to be homeless anywhere in the US. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt. No I’m not
        lazy. No I’m not a druggie or an alcoholic. It’s one of life’s misfortunes. It could happen to
        anybody. Sometimes its just a matter of bad circumstances. Be thankful for what you have.

        • What you say is true. But a lot of people have nobody to blame but themselves for their problems. They drink excessively instead of putting that money aside for a rainy day. They smoke, party, buy expensive cars and clothes, etc. I was always frugal and even when I was between jobs I had enough money to pay the rent and get by.

      22. I hope I don’t become homeless because my NEW PREP is to big to pack in my bug out bag. I don’t practice OPSEC on this site because I think it is important to share what people actually do to prepare for emergencies. What they spent their hard earned money on and why.

        With that said, I have to share my new prep because I am really excited. I just ordered the Life Straw Community Water Filter. I was going to get the Kelley Kettle for this months prep, but they has a returned filter for $270.00. Now I feel CONFIDENT that I can provide water for my entire family (I have several other water related preps).

        How LifeStraw Community Works

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5AhVd-kU48

        • I forgot, the reason I chose this over the Berkley Water Filter is because this will handle non-potable water better than the Berkley. You can flush the filter by pulling the red handle and then emptying the red container on the bottom.

          Also, I have a good water system setup already on the house to treat the tap water. I also just got at Overstock (a clearance item)the Doulton W9361236 Gravity Water Filter System. This is very similar to the Berkley.

          Lastly, the life Straw Community Filter will filter 100,000 liters. The average American drinks 263 litres of water per year so 100,000 litres represents 380 years’ worth of drinking water.

          • Anyone who has wanted to get a Burkley Water Filter should check out the Doulton W9361236 Gravity Water Filter System at Overstock. I think it’s like $81.99 with 2 great filter, they have another version, $60.00 with two lesser filters.

            I was going to make a filter with two buckets and then I saw this. It is really easy to set up and works great. It is kind of portable and light weight.

            They say many will die for want of water; NOT THIS GUY!

          • Prepper trick. If you are trying to purify water by any means, pre-filter it whenever possible.

            Take clean sand, add water, boil for ten minutes. Put a coffee filter in the bottom of a food grade container that has holes in the bottom. Add your sand. Trickle a water supply though it. Toss the first gallon.

            Now profiler water can be fed through something like a life straw with great results and longer life out of the final filter.

            • Plan twice, prep once, thanks for the tip.

              • You are right, prefiltering is the key. The ten inch whole house filter housings are about 60 bucks for two. A case of 48, 5 Micron filters with shipping about 70 bucks, same price for a case of 1 Micron filters. Once you filter it to 1 Micron, it goes to your .1 Micron R/O filter. The pre filters last a couple months. You can get everything on Ebay.

                Without clean, healthy water, all your other preps are worthless.

                • Red Leader, thanks for the heads up. I went looking around and I think I found the right setup. You were right, I was able to get a case of 50 1 micron filters for $60.00. Wow!

                  Thanks for getting me motivated to set up a pre-filter setup. It should really help prolong the life of the sub-micron filters (that cost so much).

      23. Reason rent in la is so high is cus they don’t want the poor bums there. That is why I live where it’s expensive no poor bums living around here they come in and stand on the corner holding cardboard signs but nobody really gives them shit cus we don’t want them here. Try to give one of these bums a job to help them get out of the gutter and they will turn it down. They refuse to work in 99 percent of the cases. These people should go move somewhere where they can live within their means not la. Cull the herd of the losers and only people who work will be left. Round up the useless bums and take them to FEMA death camp. They chose their destiny not me.

      24. Every time a republican gets in the White House the “homeless” problem surfaces in the media. Happened under WH Bush then they magically found homes while Clinton was president. GW Bush goes in and suddenly homeless everywhere but they disappeared when Obama took office. Now with Trump it’s back in the media. There will always be homeless because there will always be people too stupid or lazy to take care of themselves. Bring back the mental institutions and get them off the streets.

      25. The story ends with talk about LA raising $1.2 billion to build 10,000 homes for the homeless. Counting administrative cost, each unit will cost $120,000. At that rate, it would cost $66 billion to house 550,000 homeless folks. I think a room equivalent to a motel room, might be more appropriate, as temporary shelter.

      26. There is fruit to be picked!

      27. Solution: Put all of them up in the uber luxe, zillion room mansions of the “caring” Hollywierd Learjet leftists.

        Next question

      28. Why work when the pay doesn’t come close to covering just the cost of living of basic necessities? That’s pretty much anywhere in the US. So constant price inflation across the board is a normal result of a capitalist system. That appears to be the case. A system designed and bound to fail for the vast majority. The outsourcing of living wage jobs and influx of poor immigrants is pure capitalism, more for those better off and less for actual workers. That level of greed is the death of this nation.

      29. There won’t be a huge transfer of wealth when the baby boomers leave us. I see huge houses inhabited by old farts and down the road I see working families with 3 kids living in
        trailer homes and little cookie cutter starter homes. What a difference in only one or two
        generations. The middle class is disappearing right in front of our noses.

      30. Meanwhile, back at the Seth Rich murder corral:

        Washington, D.C. lobbyist and attorney Jack Burkman [has filed] a lawsuit Wednesday to force the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) to release information regarding the murder of Democratic National Committee (DNC) staffer Seth Rich. . .

        While police have refused to divulge information on the case, TheDCNF [the Daily Caller] obtained the public incident report, which revealed that at least three responding officers were wearing body cameras. When TheDCNF reached out to the police for information regarding the presence of body cams or surveillance footage near the scene of the crime, the department refused to confirm or deny the existence of surveillance footage.

        MPD has a history of regularly releasing surveillance video to the public pertaining to unsolved criminal investigations. A quick look at the police department’s YouTube channel reveals that they regularly release video footage in cases involving a person of interest. MPD has released 12 videos in the last week alone, to include unsolved murder investigations. Their habit for transparency with unsolved cases raises the question as to why they’ve been so tight-lipped about the Rich case…

        Cited from http://joemiller.us/2017/05/investigator-working-university-forensic-psychology-group-files-suit-seth-rich-murder-case-family-demands-answers/

      31. I wonder how many of them are Obama voters?

      32. Off subject kind of? Have you seen a Joey Salads video ? Quite enlitening?

      33. Uh Mac,most of the homeless are illegal. They work but don’t make enough money to get a place to live. Not even with a dozen house mates. No sympathy here

      34. I feel the biggest problem is that wages for the average are a joke. People working similar jobs in the 80’s and 90’s made more money than today – WTF is wrong with that picture? Corporate America & the clown Gov’t is responsible for this nonsense. The Corporate GREED has allowed them to shaft the average worker. I think something is really wrong when a person works a Corp type job and is virtually living paycheck to paycheck, come on, that is not right at all. So much for all the time and resources wasted on “higher education”…It’s ALL a damn racket people!

        • Baloney. If you don’t like the wage you are paid then go find another job. The big bad corporate boogie man does not exist except in the minds of people that need an excuse for their own shortcomings. The real problem in California is government greed not corporate greed. Look at the taxes you pay. They are outrageous. You are supporting millions of deadbeats. That’s the real problem.

      35. Democrat solution, raise taxes to put more on the streets. Just another democrat success story.

      36. Sad to see, but this is how it goes for nations that has only one guiding star- Money!

      37. Welcome to hell.

        But it’s ok, don’t worry. If you can’t afford the mystifyingly asinine rent around here, you’ll last 3 months on the street and magically “disappear”. That’s what I see ALL THE TIME here.

        Where do they go?!

        MUMBLE LAPD.

        Our friendly neighborhood boys will serve and protect you right into your new job… as fertilizer. ENJOY!

      38. There are actually indigent people, hidden, all over — many more than the ones you can see on the street.

      39. You have to seek news these days because the media is controlled by the CIA and run by only 6 Corporate powers.

        December 27, 2016 The shantytowns of America: Inside the shacks, cars, tents and boxes that America’s homeless call home

        From Florida to Louisiana, photographer, Mary Lou Uttermohlen, has captured these captivating images of homeless people across the US, who have organized their lives in shantytowns.

        http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4069570/The-shantytowns-America-Inside-shacks-cars-tents-boxes-America-s-homeless-call-home.html?ito=email_share_article-bottom

      40. This article just can’t be true. LA is a Democrat-controlled city in a Democrat-controlled state. The homeless don’t exist in such a utopia.

      41. When the snakes in suits got a hand out it wasn’t welfare. It was a bail out.

      42. The People’s Republic of Kalifornia has invited hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants into the state and those people are consuming resources including housing. What do the morons running the state expect when the demand skyrockets but supply remains relatively static? Maybe they should have studied economics in college instead of masturbation techniques.

      43. problem is that landlords are evicting people on any excuse and then raise the rent on the property Greed is the issue here. When you admit millions of illegals they compete for housing and benefits. Locally they are making shipping crate apts for homeless people but they are to few and not built yet. Politics and greed are creating the problem.

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