Gisela C. 1.Since they are fixing LA, they should fix Skid Row. Skid Row is under poor conditions, and it should not be ignored. The homeless are getting illnesses for living there and they are being neglected. Also if they are trying to fix LA, they should also include Skid Row because it is part of they city. They should offer more ways for the homeless to live in better conditions and clean up Skid Row, instead of arresting the homeless. By cleaning up Skid Row, it would benefit the homeless and the city as well. 2.An interactionist would say that instead of just blaming the homeless for the conditions in Skid Row, they should instead try to make Skid Row better for the homeless. They should make more buildings providing housing for the homeless and focus on how the individuals behave. By determining how each person maybe they can help those that still want another chance to better themselves and break out of being homeless. 3.I chose this topic because it is not right that they do not want to fix Skid Row, yet they are fixing way more places in LA. This shows how they are discriminating the homeless and they do not care if they are getting illnesses by the conditions they are in. I think they should provide way more housing opportunities for the homeless to live in. Also instead of continuing the cycle of the homeless going to jail and back to the streets, they should help the homeless to break out of their situation and get a better life.
Celine A. 1. With downtown LA constantly growing and improving, Skid Row should also be improving. Thousands of homeless people call Skid Row their home. With so many different kinds of people there, it's no shock the diseases and other problems soon surface, causing a lot more complications for everyone. The problem is that a lot of people ignore homelessness because it doesn't affect them, when in reality it affects communities and citys all around. There's a lot more diseases and dangers that could be prevented if the homeless population was under control. 2. A functionalist would view homelessness as a necessity. They believe that homelessness is the fault of the individual. Also, functionalists believe that homelessness serves a function in society. For example, many people have jobs that work with and around homeless people, so if there were no homeless then a lot of people wouldn't have jobs. 3. I chose to write about homelessness because it is barely talked about. People tend to think of Homelesses as dirty and lazy people who's own fault it was to become homeless but that's not the case at all. So many homeless people today, were born into homelessness and had no way of reaching for help, so homeless is what they remained. Almost every homeless person wants to get help and I think people who are more fortunate then them should step up more and help because it would not only help them but it would help our communities as a whole. In the article it talks about the idea of "permanent supportive housing" which is the idea to get homelesses housed before they work on their other issues. I strongly agree with this idea because I think when people have hope and faith restored in them, it can really help the person want to be better.
Susanna J 1.This npr article is about skid road things are only getting worst and not getting better. Skid row is the end of downtown fifty blocks of poverty people living in the street with carts, urine and feces a small that is somewhat unavoidable. This used to be the part of Los Angeles that everyone would ignore but more and more people are moving towards downtown la people investors and business owners are trying to come up with a solution of where people can be placed or moved too. Lea who was interviewed in npr audio but preferred not to give her last name because it was not safe made a comment on cops cracking down lately on people, her assumption is to get rid of them. There are shelters in skid row where people can get help and assistance with counseling and mental problems but that does not tend to help the situation. This is a social problem it tends to be avoided because people try to avoid skid row as much as possible when hospitals don’t want to deal with certain patients there have been instances where people have been caught dumping people off people should try and make an effort to see how we can better this situation instead of adding on or avoiding the issue. 2. An interactionalist analyzes the problem and tries to look for a solution. An example is Bern where assisted him in temporary housing, permanent housing getting people their home first then helping them with their problem. Doctors say it is more important to getting some one housed first before getting to the root of the problem. This can be linked with interactionalist view because they are linking for actual solutions what can we do as a community to try and limit skid row getting people housed they can have mental issues and more than 80% do but they have clinics within these housing that move in and are available to assist them with further help. As a community we can do bigger changes instead of trying to look for ways to make money and buy out the land or property to try and urbanize the area more we should invest money for building more housing places like star housing how can we get this people off of the street help them settle down and then look into their mental problems. 3. I choose this topic because I live in Los Angeles I want what is best for my community and overall city that I live in this is a social problems and it needs to be recognized more not just because people are interested in making money but rather interested in being apart of the change . No one wants to be homeless no one wants to live in these situations we as a community as a city need to gather together and express ideas on what can be done to work on this social problem that has been around for a long time and as time goes by it increases the issue keeps getting bigger. A solution would be to consider building more housing apartments yes the city doesn’t have money or that much money but as a community we can work on building homes together and assist with their issues as a community on what we can do together as a whole.
1. The social problem that this article discusses is homelessness and Skid Row. Skid Row is located in LA and it is 50 blocks of homeless people and their possessions. Due to Skid Row's unsanitary streets, a lot of sickness and death has occurred. With more people moving to downtown LA, a lot more attention has been drawn to fixing Skid Row. While back in the day, society would ignore Skid Row as a whole. With a culture of poverty, people living on Skid Row continue to live this way and the streets are getting worse, instead of getting better. Skid Row always contains a big amount of violence and drugs. 2. A functionalist would say that homelessness is necessary for a society to function. Homelessness provides jobs for many people such as social workers, police, and even gives a chance for society to form organizations to help them. A functionalist would also say that many peoples lives and jobs revolve around helping the homeless. If homeless people did not exist, many opportunities would be taken away from many people. 3. I decided to comment on this specific topic because the video shown in class, "Lost Angeles", really opened my eyes to this topic. I think that fixing Skid Row would be a great idea because LA is constantly improving and more and more people are moving here. The permanent supportive housing idea is a great way to start helping the homeless people living on Skid Row. It not only gives them a place to live and alter their lives, it gives them medical care and drug and alcohol help. The problem here is that there are too many people on the streets of LA, (Skid Row), which leads to medical problems, violence, drug use and death. A possible solution is to start creating more and more of the permanent supportive housing. With more being made, more homeless people will be off the streets and in a safe place where they can alter their lives with a lot of help provided to them.
Arbi N. 1. This NPR report talks about the area in Los Angeles called Skid Row and the difference between other parts of downtown LA. Skid Row is where the homeless go to, the problem is that downtown LA is changing, but Skid Row remains the same. The reason why this becomes more of a social problem is that it affects others living near Skid Row and that many want to change skid row, but solving this problem is not as easy as it sounds. Although, the homeless situation in skid row is changing by programs such as LAMP or Star apartments which provide shelter for the homeless and give them a place to live, these programs have proven to be beneficial, statistically speaking, it shows that 85% of the people remain in the housing shelters, others exit these programs, but go to other scheduled programs and only about a few present return back to homelessness. One reason is that Skid row is not improving drastically like other areas of downtown LA is that investors do not want to invest in skid row because they only think about money and that skid row is not there investments. Most people do not think about Skid Row because it does not affect them, social exchange perspective can be used to describe why Skid Row is becoming such a place, most people in Skid Row do not have much to lose so they start to do drugs, violent crimes, etc. 2. A functionalist would argue and say that not everyone should have a home. The functions of being homeless are that it creates jobs for example social workers, police, housing shelters. And dysfunctions of homelessness would be that as seen in Skid Row the development of the area decreases, crime rates go up, and most people do not want to improve these conditions. 3. The reason I chose this topic is that many know that Skid Row is a problem, but most do not want to do anything about it, yes it has developed throughout the years, but the fact that more than a thousand people live on the streets shows that the problem has yet to be solved. In this NPR report they explain that it is kind of like a cycle, where the population goes from the streets to the hospital then back to the streets and then to the jail and after a while back to the streets again. If we break this cycle and provide help to these people at the first time, the hospital, then they will have more chances to get housing, improve their health, and have regular checkups. As we can see in the case of Jude Burns, the person in the report that is in the star apartments program, is now well better of then when he was on the streets.
1. This NPR report talks about the area in Los Angeles called Skid Row and the difference between other parts of downtown LA. Skid Row is where the homeless go to, the problem is that downtown LA is changing, but Skid Row remains the same. The reason why this becomes more of a social problem is that it affects others living near Skid Row and that many want to change skid row, but solving this problem is not as easy as it sounds. Although, the homeless situation in skid row is changing by programs such as LAMP or Star apartments which provide shelter for the homeless and give them a place to live, these programs have proven to be beneficial, statistically speaking, it shows that 85% of the people remain in the housing shelters, others exit these programs, but go to other scheduled programs and only about a few present return back to homelessness. One reason is that Skid row is not improving drastically like other areas of downtown LA is that investors do not want to invest in skid row because they only think about money and that skid row is not there investments. Most people do not think about Skid Row because it does not affect them, social exchange perspective can be used to describe why Skid Row is becoming such a place, most people in Skid Row do not have much to lose so they start to do drugs, violent crimes, etc. 2. A functionalist would argue and say that not everyone should have a home. The functions of being homeless are that it creates jobs for example social workers, police, housing shelters. And dysfunctions of homelessness would be that as seen in Skid Row the development of the area decreases, crime rates go up, and most people do not want to improve these conditions. 3. The reason I chose this topic is that many know that Skid Row is a problem, but most do not want to do anything about it, yes it has developed throughout the years, but the fact that more than a thousand people live on the streets shows that the problem has yet to be solved. In this NPR report they explain that it is kind of like a cycle, where the population goes from the streets to the hospital then back to the streets and then to the jail and after a while back to the streets again. If we break this cycle and provide help to these people at the first time, the hospital, then they will have more chances to get housing, improve their health, and have regular checkups. As we can see in the case of Jude Burns, the person in the report that is in the star apartments program, is now well better of then when he was on the streets.
Arbi N. 1. This NPR report talks about the area in Los Angeles called Skid Row and the difference between other parts of downtown LA. Skid Row is where the homeless go to, the problem is that downtown LA is changing, but Skid Row remains the same. The reason why this becomes more of a social problem is that it affects others living near Skid Row and that many want to change skid row, but solving this problem is not as easy as it sounds. Although, the homeless situation in skid row is changing by programs such as LAMP or Star apartments which provide shelter for the homeless and give them a place to live, these programs have proven to be beneficial, statistically speaking, it shows that 85% of the people remain in the housing shelters, others exit these programs, but go to other scheduled programs and only about a few present return back to homelessness. One reason is that Skid row is not improving drastically like other areas of downtown LA is that investors do not want to invest in skid row because they only think about money and that skid row is not there investments. Most people do not think about Skid Row because it does not affect them, social exchange perspective can be used to describe why Skid Row is becoming such a place, most people in Skid Row do not have much to lose so they start to do drugs, violent crimes, etc. 2. A functionalist would argue and say that not everyone should have a home. The functions of being homeless are that it creates jobs for example social workers, police, housing shelters. And dysfunctions of homelessness would be that as seen in Skid Row the development of the area decreases, crime rates go up, and most people do not want to improve these conditions. 3. The reason I chose this topic is that many know that Skid Row is a problem, but most do not want to do anything about it, yes it has developed throughout the years, but the fact that more than a thousand people live on the streets shows that the problem has yet to be solved. In this NPR report they explain that it is kind of like a cycle, where the population goes from the streets to the hospital then back to the streets and then to the jail and after a while back to the streets again. If we break this cycle and provide help to these people at the first time, the hospital, then they will have more chances to get housing, improve their health, and have regular checkups. As we can see in the case of Jude Burns, the person in the report that is in the star apartments program, is now well better of then when he was on the streets.
1. In response to Susanna J.: I chose to respond to her comment because she used the interactionist perspective to look at the issue in a way that really made me realize that as a society, we do tend to see the homeless as completely foreign. We have dehumanized the homeless and we can clearly see the consequences at Skid Row. As Susanna mentioned, hospitals are "dumping" people at Skid Row, which I agree is both illegal and an unethical way to treat a person. Susanna also mentioned how people who aren't homeless avoid going through Skid Row, something that is true. I myself have actually avoided going through there, because of fear or simply because the reality of those people is too sad to witness. I think the issue of Skid Row has not been dealt with properly because of a lack of funds and because demand for homeless shelters, housing, transition programs or subsidized housing far exceeds the supply of such resources for the homeless. Skid Row is a few miles away from where I live, and I feel that it is not talked about enough; we have ignored the problem for too long (that is until the Tuberculosis outbreak of last year, and until private interests started taking an interest in the area.) 2. While Susanna wrote from an interactionist perspective and said that a community solving approach might work best, I also believe there is a macro issue in our country that has driven homelessness up. The homeless aren't some alien creatures but a group of people who suffer from things ranging from disabilities to a lack of job opportunities (such as veterans.) We have to look at it from a functionalist perspective, too, where the homeless are a group of people that are technically not productive members of society, not because they don't want to, but because they don't meet the demands of the system. A functionalist would argue that high rates of unemployment drive many people to the streets, and our economy is to blame in that case. In the case of the mentally ill and the addicts who live in Skid Row, we have to realize that our country lacks the proper institutions to deal with mental health and rehabilitation of people who suffer addiction. All these people who live on the streets could contribute to society's improvement if the necessary help was granted to them. Some live on ridiculously low incomes from SSI or ER, which could not ever cover renting the smallest apartment in Los Angeles. But we also need to identify the benefits of homelessness, where many medical professionals, social workers, police officers and shelter managers have jobs that depend on homelessness. Sometimes, because they approach the issue at a micro level, they lack the needed resources to help the homeless.
3. I think Susanna's proposed solution is ideal, and building permanent homes for the homeless such as Star Apartments seems like the right way to go. Yet I doubt people of Los Angeles would be willing to get their taxes raised to help the poor. On the other hand, if we raised awareness about the issue and promoted volunteering at Skid Row, many people who live in Los Angeles would start realizing how deeply the homeless need our help. From personal experience, I can tell that volunteering can make a huge difference in someone's perspective about an issue; when I served at a Soup Kitchen at Skid Row during summers, I used to come back home with a heavy heart and wondering why we weren't doing more about the problem. I believe that Susanna's proposed solution and mine combined could definitely work, because raising awareness would increase public initiative to build more homeless shelters, support facilities (like job training) and permanent housing with the proper mental and health care staff could mean the solution to Skid Row.
Sarina V In response to Tawny B. I agree with Tawny, Skid Row is now receiving more attention due to the increase of people moving to Downtown Los Angeles. It is a social problem that Skid row is incredibly unsanitary. Lots of people are getting sick because of how dirty the living conditions on the street are. I chose to respond to Tawny because I liked how we both have the same thoughts on this issue. Fixing skid row is a great solution to the poor health of the homeless people who live there. A conflict theorist would say that there is a ruling class and a subject class; in this case the homeless people are the subject class. One group is favored and the other isn’t, some people are enough money to afford a roof over their heads and some have nothing. Society needs to have one group that is in charge so that it can have a stable social order. I really like Tawny’s solution, but I think that if we were to make more houses for the homeless people it would have to cost someone to hire construction workers to build the houses, it would cost a lot to have someone manage the houses, and truthfully I do not like the idea of just giving people a house for free because they lost theirs. It would not be fair for the people who work hard in order to have a home. Another possible solution might be to offer they homeless people free counseling that could be done by volunteer workers who are trying to become counselors for a living. And maybe we could give the homeless people a small job that not many people want to do such as a janitor or street cleaner until they can pick themselves up. I believe helping someone up is far better than just giving them everything because than they wont become completely helpless.
1) I chose to respond to Arbi’s post because he brings to light that yes everyone has heard of Skid Row at least once in his or her life, but they choose to do nothing about it. Of course in recent years there has been more changes throughout downtown LA but those changes are small. The reasons behind the changes are because many people want to expand downtown LA and make it safer for businesses and neighborhoods. Skid Row is described as “as is the biggest man-made disaster in the United States.” Arbi described it perfectly; Skid Row is a constant cycle. People who run the Union Rescue Mission, as well as business can only do so much. While these people are helping some homeless get off the streets, there are hospitals and jails that have been dumping homeless patients and inmates on Skid Row illegally. The reason why homelessness becomes more of a social problem is that it affects others living near Skid Row and solving the issue isn’t that easy. There are many solutions that have been tested over the years to get the homeless off the streets. LAMP Community, and Star Apartments have created 700 units of apartments for supportive housing for the homeless on Skid Row. While some remain in the housing shelters provided, others exit these programs, and go to other programs. A small percent return to the streets. Many do not think about Skid Row and the affect it has because it does not affect them. I agree with Arbi when he says that social exchange learning can be used to describe why Skid Row is becoming the place that it is. People that are homeless turn to something bigger and more powerful because they get some type of “reward” from it. People on Skid Row do not have anything to lose so they turn to do drugs, and involve themselves in crimes. Skid Row is not improving like other areas of downtown LA because the investors don’t want to invest in Skid Row because they only think about money aspect of it.
2) While Arbi looks at the functionalist perspective of homelessness and argues that everyone shouldn’t have a home, I viewed it from the interactionist perspective. An interactionist analyzes the problem and tries to look for a solution. A good example would be when Burns was in and out of a hospital every 2 months for his surgeries, diabetes, and pancreatitis. After Burns was in and out of the hospital rooms, he went from going to temporary homes, to permanent homes. Many people will get a better understanding of this perspective when I say that it is important to have someone be in a safe and healthy environment before getting to the real issue. Interactionist perspective looks at how the community can help the people on Skid Row get out and live healthy lives. Interactionists will look at how to help people as a community before they look at the money aspect of it. Instead of looking at it like a businessman and saying “let’s get these people off the street so we can start building that new building we’ve been talking about,” you say “let’s try and help these people get off the streets so we can help them deal with their mental problems.”
3) I chose this topic because I went to a party in downtown LA a while ago and it was so sad to look at all the people sitting on the concrete in their big coats shaking because they were so cold. It wasn’t Skid Row but just to see these people have no home made me want to do something about it. I think this topic should be talked about more often not for the money factor, but for the people who actually want to make a difference. I understand, “not everyone can be a doctor,” but no one should be sitting in the cold at 12 o’clock at night with nowhere to go. Jerry Brown has financed $68 billion for a bullet train why can’t that go towards something that will actually better California? A solution would be to build more apartment units and work as a community to get to where we need to be to better ourselves as a whole. It will take time, money, and hard work, but it is not impossible.
Anthony M. In response to Celine A. 1. I agree with Celine a lot of people ignore homeless people and choose to do so because homelessness is not relevant to them at all it is sad to say that homeless people are constantly being ignored by the media and public in terms of finding a solution to homelessness and make the whole country an active participant in wanting to help the homeless and supplying them with jobs. I also liked how she mentioned the false misconceptions of homeless people that they are "lazy" and "choose to be homeless" most people would believe this but the fact of the matter is that most homeless people are veterans people who can not find employment or drug addicts all of these people are still human and they all need pulling them selves out of the poverty line
2. As an Interactionalist we need to take into account why they are homeless if they were veterans, addicted to drugs, or unable to find employment to make ends meet etc. and find a solution to this so this would consist of first sending them to shelters that help people who want to be helped to identify what kind of help they need an interactionalist would suggest that we reach out the veterans administration or send a drug addict to proper rehabilitation
3. I agree with the solution's that are already set to help pull people out of the poverty line. From my volunteer experience at Hope International in high school I observed meals being prepared and counseling rooms for the people who seek help during my experience at Hope International I got to interact with some of these people who are homeless and I learned that some people chose to be homeless because they are fed up with the normal way of live others ran into financial issues and the majority of people struggled to find employment and decided to just move into the streets. I am for all the solutions that are already in place are effective but the problem is that these solutions are in place for people who want the help not for people who do not want it the people who do not want the help are the ones that we need to worry about because there are more people who dont seek help are the ones that we need to worry about
12 comments:
Gisela C.
1.Since they are fixing LA, they should fix Skid Row. Skid Row is under poor conditions, and it should not be ignored. The homeless are getting illnesses for living there and they are being neglected. Also if they are trying to fix LA, they should also include Skid Row because it is part of they city. They should offer more ways for the homeless to live in better conditions and clean up Skid Row, instead of arresting the homeless. By cleaning up Skid Row, it would benefit the homeless and the city as well.
2.An interactionist would say that instead of just blaming the homeless for the conditions in Skid Row, they should instead try to make Skid Row better for the homeless. They should make more buildings providing housing for the homeless and focus on how the individuals behave. By determining how each person maybe they can help those that still want another chance to better themselves and break out of being homeless.
3.I chose this topic because it is not right that they do not want to fix Skid Row, yet they are fixing way more places in LA. This shows how they are discriminating the homeless and they do not care if they are getting illnesses by the conditions they are in. I think they should provide way more housing opportunities for the homeless to live in. Also instead of continuing the cycle of the homeless going to jail and back to the streets, they should help the homeless to break out of their situation and get a better life.
Celine A.
1. With downtown LA constantly growing and improving, Skid Row should also be improving. Thousands of homeless people call Skid Row their home. With so many different kinds of people there, it's no shock the diseases and other problems soon surface, causing a lot more complications for everyone. The problem is that a lot of people ignore homelessness because it doesn't affect them, when in reality it affects communities and citys all around. There's a lot more diseases and dangers that could be prevented if the homeless population was under control.
2. A functionalist would view homelessness as a necessity. They believe that homelessness is the fault of the individual. Also, functionalists believe that homelessness serves a function in society. For example, many people have jobs that work with and around homeless people, so if there were no homeless then a lot of people wouldn't have jobs.
3. I chose to write about homelessness because it is barely talked about. People tend to think of Homelesses as dirty and lazy people who's own fault it was to become homeless but that's not the case at all. So many homeless people today, were born into homelessness and had no way of reaching for help, so homeless is what they remained. Almost every homeless person wants to get help and I think people who are more fortunate then them should step up more and help because it would not only help them but it would help our communities as a whole. In the article it talks about the idea of "permanent supportive housing" which is the idea to get homelesses housed before they work on their other issues. I strongly agree with this idea because I think when people have hope and faith restored in them, it can really help the person want to be better.
Susanna J
1.This npr article is about skid road things are only getting worst and not getting better. Skid row is the end of downtown fifty blocks of poverty people living in the street with carts, urine and feces a small that is somewhat unavoidable. This used to be the part of Los Angeles that everyone would ignore but more and more people are moving towards downtown la people investors and business owners are trying to come up with a solution of where people can be placed or moved too. Lea who was interviewed in npr audio but preferred not to give her last name because it was not safe made a comment on cops cracking down lately on people, her assumption is to get rid of them. There are shelters in skid row where people can get help and assistance with counseling and mental problems but that does not tend to help the situation. This is a social problem it tends to be avoided because people try to avoid skid row as much as possible when hospitals don’t want to deal with certain patients there have been instances where people have been caught dumping people off people should try and make an effort to see how we can better this situation instead of adding on or avoiding the issue.
2. An interactionalist analyzes the problem and tries to look for a solution. An example is Bern where assisted him in temporary housing, permanent housing getting people their home first then helping them with their problem. Doctors say it is more important to getting some one housed first before getting to the root of the problem. This can be linked with interactionalist view because they are linking for actual solutions what can we do as a community to try and limit skid row getting people housed they can have mental issues and more than 80% do but they have clinics within these housing that move in and are available to assist them with further help. As a community we can do bigger changes instead of trying to look for ways to make money and buy out the land or property to try and urbanize the area more we should invest money for building more housing places like star housing how can we get this people off of the street help them settle down and then look into their mental problems.
3. I choose this topic because I live in Los Angeles I want what is best for my community and overall city that I live in this is a social problems and it needs to be recognized more not just because people are interested in making money but rather interested in being apart of the change . No one wants to be homeless no one wants to live in these situations we as a community as a city need to gather together and express ideas on what can be done to work on this social problem that has been around for a long time and as time goes by it increases the issue keeps getting bigger. A solution would be to consider building more housing apartments yes the city doesn’t have money or that much money but as a community we can work on building homes together and assist with their issues as a community on what we can do together as a whole.
Tawny Baghdassarian
1. The social problem that this article discusses is homelessness and Skid Row. Skid Row is located in LA and it is 50 blocks of homeless people and their possessions. Due to Skid Row's unsanitary streets, a lot of sickness and death has occurred. With more people moving to downtown LA, a lot more attention has been drawn to fixing Skid Row. While back in the day, society would ignore Skid Row as a whole. With a culture of poverty, people living on Skid Row continue to live this way and the streets are getting worse, instead of getting better. Skid Row always contains a big amount of violence and drugs.
2. A functionalist would say that homelessness is necessary for a society to function. Homelessness provides jobs for many people such as social workers, police, and even gives a chance for society to form organizations to help them. A functionalist would also say that many peoples lives and jobs revolve around helping the homeless. If homeless people did not exist, many opportunities would be taken away from many people.
3. I decided to comment on this specific topic because the video shown in class, "Lost Angeles", really opened my eyes to this topic. I think that fixing Skid Row would be a great idea because LA is constantly improving and more and more people are moving here. The permanent supportive housing idea is a great way to start helping the homeless people living on Skid Row. It not only gives them a place to live and alter their lives, it gives them medical care and drug and alcohol help. The problem here is that there are too many people on the streets of LA, (Skid Row), which leads to medical problems, violence, drug use and death. A possible solution is to start creating more and more of the permanent supportive housing. With more being made, more homeless people will be off the streets and in a safe place where they can alter their lives with a lot of help provided to them.
Arbi N.
1. This NPR report talks about the area in Los Angeles called Skid Row and the difference between other parts of downtown LA. Skid Row is where the homeless go to, the problem is that downtown LA is changing, but Skid Row remains the same. The reason why this becomes more of a social problem is that it affects others living near Skid Row and that many want to change skid row, but solving this problem is not as easy as it sounds. Although, the homeless situation in skid row is changing by programs such as LAMP or Star apartments which provide shelter for the homeless and give them a place to live, these programs have proven to be beneficial, statistically speaking, it shows that 85% of the people remain in the housing shelters, others exit these programs, but go to other scheduled programs and only about a few present return back to homelessness. One reason is that Skid row is not improving drastically like other areas of downtown LA is that investors do not want to invest in skid row because they only think about money and that skid row is not there investments. Most people do not think about Skid Row because it does not affect them, social exchange perspective can be used to describe why Skid Row is becoming such a place, most people in Skid Row do not have much to lose so they start to do drugs, violent crimes, etc.
2. A functionalist would argue and say that not everyone should have a home. The functions of being homeless are that it creates jobs for example social workers, police, housing shelters. And dysfunctions of homelessness would be that as seen in Skid Row the development of the area decreases, crime rates go up, and most people do not want to improve these conditions.
3. The reason I chose this topic is that many know that Skid Row is a problem, but most do not want to do anything about it, yes it has developed throughout the years, but the fact that more than a thousand people live on the streets shows that the problem has yet to be solved. In this NPR report they explain that it is kind of like a cycle, where the population goes from the streets to the hospital then back to the streets and then to the jail and after a while back to the streets again. If we break this cycle and provide help to these people at the first time, the hospital, then they will have more chances to get housing, improve their health, and have regular checkups. As we can see in the case of Jude Burns, the person in the report that is in the star apartments program, is now well better of then when he was on the streets.
1. This NPR report talks about the area in Los Angeles called Skid Row and the difference between other parts of downtown LA. Skid Row is where the homeless go to, the problem is that downtown LA is changing, but Skid Row remains the same. The reason why this becomes more of a social problem is that it affects others living near Skid Row and that many want to change skid row, but solving this problem is not as easy as it sounds. Although, the homeless situation in skid row is changing by programs such as LAMP or Star apartments which provide shelter for the homeless and give them a place to live, these programs have proven to be beneficial, statistically speaking, it shows that 85% of the people remain in the housing shelters, others exit these programs, but go to other scheduled programs and only about a few present return back to homelessness. One reason is that Skid row is not improving drastically like other areas of downtown LA is that investors do not want to invest in skid row because they only think about money and that skid row is not there investments. Most people do not think about Skid Row because it does not affect them, social exchange perspective can be used to describe why Skid Row is becoming such a place, most people in Skid Row do not have much to lose so they start to do drugs, violent crimes, etc.
2. A functionalist would argue and say that not everyone should have a home. The functions of being homeless are that it creates jobs for example social workers, police, housing shelters. And dysfunctions of homelessness would be that as seen in Skid Row the development of the area decreases, crime rates go up, and most people do not want to improve these conditions.
3. The reason I chose this topic is that many know that Skid Row is a problem, but most do not want to do anything about it, yes it has developed throughout the years, but the fact that more than a thousand people live on the streets shows that the problem has yet to be solved. In this NPR report they explain that it is kind of like a cycle, where the population goes from the streets to the hospital then back to the streets and then to the jail and after a while back to the streets again. If we break this cycle and provide help to these people at the first time, the hospital, then they will have more chances to get housing, improve their health, and have regular checkups. As we can see in the case of Jude Burns, the person in the report that is in the star apartments program, is now well better of then when he was on the streets.
Arbi N.
1. This NPR report talks about the area in Los Angeles called Skid Row and the difference between other parts of downtown LA. Skid Row is where the homeless go to, the problem is that downtown LA is changing, but Skid Row remains the same. The reason why this becomes more of a social problem is that it affects others living near Skid Row and that many want to change skid row, but solving this problem is not as easy as it sounds. Although, the homeless situation in skid row is changing by programs such as LAMP or Star apartments which provide shelter for the homeless and give them a place to live, these programs have proven to be beneficial, statistically speaking, it shows that 85% of the people remain in the housing shelters, others exit these programs, but go to other scheduled programs and only about a few present return back to homelessness. One reason is that Skid row is not improving drastically like other areas of downtown LA is that investors do not want to invest in skid row because they only think about money and that skid row is not there investments. Most people do not think about Skid Row because it does not affect them, social exchange perspective can be used to describe why Skid Row is becoming such a place, most people in Skid Row do not have much to lose so they start to do drugs, violent crimes, etc.
2. A functionalist would argue and say that not everyone should have a home. The functions of being homeless are that it creates jobs for example social workers, police, housing shelters. And dysfunctions of homelessness would be that as seen in Skid Row the development of the area decreases, crime rates go up, and most people do not want to improve these conditions.
3. The reason I chose this topic is that many know that Skid Row is a problem, but most do not want to do anything about it, yes it has developed throughout the years, but the fact that more than a thousand people live on the streets shows that the problem has yet to be solved. In this NPR report they explain that it is kind of like a cycle, where the population goes from the streets to the hospital then back to the streets and then to the jail and after a while back to the streets again. If we break this cycle and provide help to these people at the first time, the hospital, then they will have more chances to get housing, improve their health, and have regular checkups. As we can see in the case of Jude Burns, the person in the report that is in the star apartments program, is now well better of then when he was on the streets.
Alejandra D.
1. In response to Susanna J.:
I chose to respond to her comment because she used the interactionist perspective to look at the issue in a way that really made me realize that as a society, we do tend to see the homeless as completely foreign. We have dehumanized the homeless and we can clearly see the consequences at Skid Row. As Susanna mentioned, hospitals are "dumping" people at Skid Row, which I agree is both illegal and an unethical way to treat a person. Susanna also mentioned how people who aren't homeless avoid going through Skid Row, something that is true. I myself have actually avoided going through there, because of fear or simply because the reality of those people is too sad to witness. I think the issue of Skid Row has not been dealt with properly because of a lack of funds and because demand for homeless shelters, housing, transition programs or subsidized housing far exceeds the supply of such resources for the homeless. Skid Row is a few miles away from where I live, and I feel that it is not talked about enough; we have ignored the problem for too long (that is until the Tuberculosis outbreak of last year, and until private interests started taking an interest in the area.)
2. While Susanna wrote from an interactionist perspective and said that a community solving approach might work best, I also believe there is a macro issue in our country that has driven homelessness up. The homeless aren't some alien creatures but a group of people who suffer from things ranging from disabilities to a lack of job opportunities (such as veterans.) We have to look at it from a functionalist perspective, too, where the homeless are a group of people that are technically not productive members of society, not because they don't want to, but because they don't meet the demands of the system. A functionalist would argue that high rates of unemployment drive many people to the streets, and our economy is to blame in that case. In the case of the mentally ill and the addicts who live in Skid Row, we have to realize that our country lacks the proper institutions to deal with mental health and rehabilitation of people who suffer addiction. All these people who live on the streets could contribute to society's improvement if the necessary help was granted to them. Some live on ridiculously low incomes from SSI or ER, which could not ever cover renting the smallest apartment in Los Angeles.
But we also need to identify the benefits of homelessness, where many medical professionals, social workers, police officers and shelter managers have jobs that depend on homelessness. Sometimes, because they approach the issue at a micro level, they lack the needed resources to help the homeless.
Alejandra D.
3. I think Susanna's proposed solution is ideal, and building permanent homes for the homeless such as Star Apartments seems like the right way to go. Yet I doubt people of Los Angeles would be willing to get their taxes raised to help the poor. On the other hand, if we raised awareness about the issue and promoted volunteering at Skid Row, many people who live in Los Angeles would start realizing how deeply the homeless need our help. From personal experience, I can tell that volunteering can make a huge difference in someone's perspective about an issue; when I served at a Soup Kitchen at Skid Row during summers, I used to come back home with a heavy heart and wondering why we weren't doing more about the problem. I believe that Susanna's proposed solution and mine combined could definitely work, because raising awareness would increase public initiative to build more homeless shelters, support facilities (like job training) and permanent housing with the proper mental and health care staff could mean the solution to Skid Row.
Sarina V
In response to Tawny B.
I agree with Tawny, Skid Row is now receiving more attention due to the increase of people moving to Downtown Los Angeles. It is a social problem that Skid row is incredibly unsanitary. Lots of people are getting sick because of how dirty the living conditions on the street are. I chose to respond to Tawny because I liked how we both have the same thoughts on this issue. Fixing skid row is a great solution to the poor health of the homeless people who live there.
A conflict theorist would say that there is a ruling class and a subject class; in this case the homeless people are the subject class. One group is favored and the other isn’t, some people are enough money to afford a roof over their heads and some have nothing. Society needs to have one group that is in charge so that it can have a stable social order.
I really like Tawny’s solution, but I think that if we were to make more houses for the homeless people it would have to cost someone to hire construction workers to build the houses, it would cost a lot to have someone manage the houses, and truthfully I do not like the idea of just giving people a house for free because they lost theirs. It would not be fair for the people who work hard in order to have a home. Another possible solution might be to offer they homeless people free counseling that could be done by volunteer workers who are trying to become counselors for a living. And maybe we could give the homeless people a small job that not many people want to do such as a janitor or street cleaner until they can pick themselves up. I believe helping someone up is far better than just giving them everything because than they wont become completely helpless.
Julie B.
1) I chose to respond to Arbi’s post because he brings to light that yes everyone has heard of Skid Row at least once in his or her life, but they choose to do nothing about it. Of course in recent years there has been more changes throughout downtown LA but those changes are small. The reasons behind the changes are because many people want to expand downtown LA and make it safer for businesses and neighborhoods. Skid Row is described as “as is the biggest man-made disaster in the United States.” Arbi described it perfectly; Skid Row is a constant cycle. People who run the Union Rescue Mission, as well as business can only do so much. While these people are helping some homeless get off the streets, there are hospitals and jails that have been dumping homeless patients and inmates on Skid Row illegally. The reason why homelessness becomes more of a social problem is that it affects others living near Skid Row and solving the issue isn’t that easy. There are many solutions that have been tested over the years to get the homeless off the streets. LAMP Community, and Star Apartments have created 700 units of apartments for supportive housing for the homeless on Skid Row. While some remain in the housing shelters provided, others exit these programs, and go to other programs. A small percent return to the streets. Many do not think about Skid Row and the affect it has because it does not affect them. I agree with Arbi when he says that social exchange learning can be used to describe why Skid Row is becoming the place that it is. People that are homeless turn to something bigger and more powerful because they get some type of “reward” from it. People on Skid Row do not have anything to lose so they turn to do drugs, and involve themselves in crimes. Skid Row is not improving like other areas of downtown LA because the investors don’t want to invest in Skid Row because they only think about money aspect of it.
2) While Arbi looks at the functionalist perspective of homelessness and argues that everyone shouldn’t have a home, I viewed it from the interactionist perspective. An interactionist analyzes the problem and tries to look for a solution. A good example would be when Burns was in and out of a hospital every 2 months for his surgeries, diabetes, and pancreatitis. After Burns was in and out of the hospital rooms, he went from going to temporary homes, to permanent homes. Many people will get a better understanding of this perspective when I say that it is important to have someone be in a safe and healthy environment before getting to the real issue. Interactionist perspective looks at how the community can help the people on Skid Row get out and live healthy lives. Interactionists will look at how to help people as a community before they look at the money aspect of it. Instead of looking at it like a businessman and saying “let’s get these people off the street so we can start building that new building we’ve been talking about,” you say “let’s try and help these people get off the streets so we can help them deal with their mental problems.”
3) I chose this topic because I went to a party in downtown LA a while ago and it was so sad to look at all the people sitting on the concrete in their big coats shaking because they were so cold. It wasn’t Skid Row but just to see these people have no home made me want to do something about it. I think this topic should be talked about more often not for the money factor, but for the people who actually want to make a difference. I understand, “not everyone can be a doctor,” but no one should be sitting in the cold at 12 o’clock at night with nowhere to go. Jerry Brown has financed $68 billion for a bullet train why can’t that go towards something that will actually better California? A solution would be to build more apartment units and work as a community to get to where we need to be to better ourselves as a whole. It will take time, money, and hard work, but it is not impossible.
Anthony M.
In response to Celine A.
1. I agree with Celine a lot of people ignore homeless people and choose to do so because homelessness is not relevant to them at all it is sad to say that homeless people are constantly being ignored by the media and public in terms of finding a solution to homelessness and make the whole country an active participant in wanting to help the homeless and supplying them with jobs. I also liked how she mentioned the false misconceptions of homeless people that they are "lazy" and "choose to be homeless" most people would believe this but the fact of the matter is that most homeless people are veterans people who can not find employment or drug addicts all of these people are still human and they all need pulling them selves out of the poverty line
2. As an Interactionalist we need to take into account why they are homeless if they were veterans, addicted to drugs, or unable to find employment to make ends meet etc. and find a solution to this so this would consist of first sending them to shelters that help people who want to be helped to identify what kind of help they need an interactionalist would suggest that we reach out the veterans administration or send a drug addict to proper rehabilitation
3. I agree with the solution's that are already set to help pull people out of the poverty line. From my volunteer experience at Hope International in high school I observed meals being prepared and counseling rooms for the people who seek help during my experience at Hope International I got to interact with some of these people who are homeless and I learned that some people chose to be homeless because they are fed up with the normal way of live others ran into financial issues and the majority of people struggled to find employment and decided to just move into the streets. I am for all the solutions that are already in place are effective but the problem is that these solutions are in place for people who want the help not for people who do not want it the people who do not want the help are the ones that we need to worry about because there are more people who dont seek help are the ones that we need to worry about
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