73,000 People in L.A. County Tonight Are Homeless

73,000 in a single Southern Calif. County, that is hard to digest. I knew things were bad because I have written about the homeless quite a few times over the yrs but the numbers never seemed this big or shocked me in this way. In the last couple days my eyes seem to have been landing of stories along these lines. Even on Cspan this morning the topic was HB1 Visas and bringing in High Tech workers from overseas while we have so many out of work.

I don't want this diary to be about immigration, but about the poverty and the way it is growing here. In Ohio, where I was born and grew up, my old hometown newspaper had a shocking report. You may of seen it, many have picked up this story tho I haven't noticed it here at dkos yet.

From the Columbus Dispatch.

Nearly one in 10 Ohioans now receives food stamps, the highest number in the state's history.

Caseloads have almost doubled just since 2001, with 1.1 million residents now collecting benefits, according to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services...

Advocates estimate another 500,000 Ohioans are eligible but not enrolled in the food-stamp program...

But as the price of milk, fruits and other groceries climb, advocates say, recipients can buy less and less with that $100.

"Food stamps provide only about $1 per person, per meal. Who in the world is buying groceries with that?" asked Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, executive director of the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Food Bank.

On average, food stamps are now providing less than two weeks of groceries.

"There's the presumption that folks have the cash to make up the rest. Well, they don't," Frech said.

Last year there were a few diarys and storys about some of our Congresspeople taking the Food Stamp Challenge where they try to eat on a buck a day. While interesting to read and watch has these politicians went semi-hungry for a week we and they always knew they could reach in their pocket any time. Yes, every one that tried that "diet" promised to work to fix the problem but as we know the wheels of government move slowly while grinding the poor into dust.

In todays LATimes is another story, one of those stories I just don't know how to react to. It hit me on so many levels especially after my readings of the last couple days. CNN , NBC, and the other Networks rarely run stories like this, or question those with the power to change thing about them. More proof of the Presses spiral down to stenographers level.

Ontario police clear out most of Tent City
After months of chaotic growth, the homeless encampment known as Tent City dramatically shrank Monday as Ontario police evicted those who lacked ties to the city...

Tent City began last July when Ontario set aside an area where its local homeless could rest without being hassled. It rapidly grew from 20 to more than 400 people -- some from as far away as Florida. People put up tents and parked decrepit motor homes along the streets. Parolees and probationers found their way to the site, which is near Ontario International Airport.

Officials, who intended the place for local people, feared Tent City was getting out of control and would turn into a new skid row. They decided to limit it to 170 people who had either lived in the city or had immediate family ties to Ontario...

A Tent City of 400 plus homeless being whittled down to 130 or so. After I read this story I tried to imagine what I would feel after being evicted form a Tent City. To be told you were worthy of being allowed to live on a patch of dust, in a tent, with maybe just a small bit of safety must be devastating to a person. There is yet those that are grateful to be among the lucky allowed back in.

This all brings me back to the title of this diary and the article it came from. The article is from the view of a Dr. that does instead of ousecalls, she does curbside, backalley, clinic and park services to the homeless in L.A.

According to the most recent information provided by the Los Angeles Housing Service Assn.(current as of October), about 73,000 homeless people seek shelter or are on the streets on any given night in Los Angeles County. There are fewer than 13,000 shelter beds in the county, so more than 60,000 people live in the streets. Twenty-five percent are part of a homeless family, 15% are under the age of 18, and according to a study by the nonprofit group Shelter Partnership, there are from 3,000 to 4,000 homeless people older than 62 in L.A. County.

When considering the causes of homelessness, the following statistics may provide some insight. Seventy-four percent of L.A.'s homeless are disabled in some way; 33% suffer severe mental illness; 35% are physically disabled; 42% struggle with addiction; and 50% are clinically depressed.

Farther on in the article a question is asked, one many ask but no one ever seems to be able to answer with action. It is the underlying course of thought the Democratic Party and Liberals should explore and help fix. I'll leave you with the question , but please read the story about this young Dr. and her friends.

If a disease emerged that struck hundreds of thousands of people and killed its victims at an average age of 48, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would jump to attention and commit enormous resources to curing it. The National Institutes of Health would grant millions of dollars for research. Scientists who developed effective treatments would rightly be celebrated.

A disease like this does exist: homelessness. Its cure is widely available and even cost-saving. Studies show that one homeless person can cost a community hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in medical and legal expenses. Street medicine's hard choices