Skid Row
by Reuel Castillo

INTRODUCTION: LOS ANGELES Downtown Los Angeles is a fascinating city. Since 1969, one who is fairly familiar with the city of Los Angeles, I have noticed the changes, growth and the increasing number of peoples migrating into our beautiful city of angels. We have Blacks, Latinos, Whites, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Guatemalans, El Salvadorenos, to name few. We have Nissans, Toyotas, Hyundais, Cherokees, Wranglers, Blazers, Impalas, Mercedes, Mazeratis, Lamborghinis...also to name but a few. Abundance of supermarkets, like Ralphs, Food4less, Vons, Luckys, Kmart, Walmart, Robinson's, Macys. There are malls, mini-malls, and liquor stores, discount stores, 99centstores, specialty stores like Office Depot, Circuit City, Best Buy, Good Guys, again to name a few. We also have culture restaurants and variety stores that cater to the specific needs of the diverse culture that thrive and work in the city of Los Angeles. What we have then is a city, with all it's trimmings, mechanics, technology and engineering geared to serving the needs of a multi-racial, international community, in education level, family orientation and religion beliefs. To serve the needs of the working class is quite visual in Los Angeles through all the different businesses and billboard and media advertising throughout the community. Los Angeles is a city with the makings of an ever growing expansion of markets, enterprise, and population. This City of Angels is continually growing year after year. From the Harbor Freeway going northbound, we can see the skyline of the city of Los Angeles. Clearly one can see the numbers of skyscrapers that has been added only within the last decade. One can exit on Sixth street and suddenly you are in the middle of a towering jungle of glass and steel, while others have foundations made of granite and marble. These massive structure of high rises are home and offices to some of the richest financial magnates and corporations of the world. As we cruise further down we can cross Broadway, a part of the old downtown, where the Grand Central Market still stands until now. This is where some of the older building still stands, the lucky ones that survived the new earthquake safety standard codes of the city. Some are actually retrofitted to meet those standards. Along Broadway is still a vast array of vendors. From wedding chapels, sidewalk vendors of all sorts, clothes, shoes, toys and what have you. Anything that a working person might want to buy or acquire for his or her personal use or his or her love one. Further down is Los Angeles street, the beginning of the garment district. Los Angeles boasts the largest garment district in the world. We can go south on Los Angeles and turn left on Olympic, this corner is the California Mart where wholesalers and entrepreneurs wheel and deal their wares and offers. Down the street to the left on Olympic we see a colorful alley to the full of clothes, fashion coordinators and things and such like, toys, handbags, jackets, more shirts, more clothes. This The Alley, a popular three to four block long alley bursting with merchandise and filled with people, shoppers, vendors, lookers, bargain hunters, and tourists that have heard that this is the best buy for souvenirs and clothes from Los Angeles. You can buy single items at wholesale prices. Brand names and designer brands that are so cheap, one may wonder if they are the originals, if they are real.....but who cares, the price is right...and who can tell the difference, RayBans, Guess merchandise, Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Kleins....more product for the working class. Going south around the block on Santee we can take Maple southward and before we reach 6th street, there is a peculiar place that I would like to show you. This area on Maple and Wall streets is about a two square block area where it emits a rather sweet smelling fragrance of flowers. This is the wholesale dock for flower shops around Los Angeles. Roses by the dozens, gladiolies, petunias, carnations, you name it they got it...orchids? Yes. But once we cross 6th Street from Wall we can see a new development... or rather a sad fact...a reality of the great Los Angeles Metropolis. This is the part that is mostly forgotten, probably ignored by most, and this is also the beginning of what we Los Angelenos call Skid Row. Skid Row; What is skid row and where did we get that term? When you say skid row what comes to mind? What is the definition of Skid Row.... homelessness? Yes. Skid Row is an area of downtown LA wherein we see a whole lot of dilapidated buildings, homelessness is the norm, transient is the common address, rescue missions, rehabilitation programs, SRO housing (single residence occupancy). Soup kitchens, church volunteers feeding the hungry by the sidewalk in their vans and station wagons, sometimes a makeshift table is put up on the sidewalk where the meals are distributed to the homeless and the poor. We are going to take a look a place in Los Angeles called Skid Row. Let me try to put it in perspective and do my best to draw our imaginary boundaries, because in actuality, Skid Row does not have any boundaries. Beginning from the corner of 3rd and Main streets and go east on 3rd all the way to Central, from here we can turn and go south on Central all the way to 7th and then we turn west on seventh and we go on back to Main street go north and this will take us back to our point of origin. This is my own visual boundary of the Skid Row of the City of Angels. But wait, for the untrained eye, this may look just like any other part of the city, the eastside part of course. Skid Row is a concentration of pup-up tents and cardboard boxes as living quarters. Skid Row is where we see the dying poor, neglected and unwanted residents of the great City of Angels. Skid Row is where society squeeze the life out of some of the homeless, most helpless people in L.A. Skid Row is a place where we as working parents do not want our child to be in. Skid Row is living proof that we are the lucky one, on the outside looking in. But, are we, really? Let us take a closer. Let me take you out of the car and we will walk slowly and I will take you into the inner sanctum of what became known as the Skid Row of the City of Angels. This time around we will begin from the heart, then to the guts as we follow the life trail of Skid Row. Ever since I started working in the human services field, I've always had the feeling that I was in the front line of a battlefield in the arena of homelessness, hopelessness, addiction, alcoholism, hunger, poverty, disease and mental illnesses, both physical and emotional called Skid Row. My first internship was with Volunteers of America at the Weingart Center. The Central City Recovery Services occupied the ninth floor of the Weingart and a sub-component, Detox was at the time on the first floor on the corner of the Weingart building. The Weingart sublets different floors of the building to various programs and agencies under contract with the state and county offices dealing with social services, rehabilitation, mental health, employment programs, parolee re-entry programs, shelter, cold-wet weather programs, department of social services, temporary shelter vouchers, and at the same time the Weingart building doubled-up as a low cost hotel for transients. The building has it's own cafeteria in contract with it's lessees' to feed their residents, and also sells low cost meals to the homeless transients on the streets. I call the Weingart Center, the heart of Skid Row because of the multiple interaction of different programs and agencies working together to help the "throwaways," of the city of Los Angeles. This is the heart of Skid Row because for someone to work at the Weingart Center, the individual must have the patience and courage to stay focus in his or her goal of helping, without reservations. Because of the inadequate compensation that one gets in this particular field. The willingness to work in the environment of the Skid Row area is all one needs to be convinced that an individual must have a big heart towards his or her fellowman. The Weingart center then, in my book, is the heart of Skid Row, constantly pumping the blood that is needed to keep the needy individuals of Skid Row alive and hopeful for the betterment of things to come for a day in the life on Skid Row. The Weingart Center is a symbol in itself to represent the efforts of the various peoples, volunteers, human services workers, foundations and organizations, collectively and individually making their own unique contribution to serving the poor and the needy on Skid Row. The many facets of the much needed services is represented in the Weingart Center. In the Skid Row area, the normal resident population is in itself a special population. And within this special group of people bears it's own sub-groups with a unique characteristics of their own. Most of the people in the Skid Row area do not have a home. They live under the freeways, in cardboard boxes, makeshift tents or the sidewalks surrounding Skid Row. The other homeless and destitute depend on the missions for food and shelter, and more depend on nothing at all. This is a part of the daily struggle of living on Skid Row, alley after alley, from one sidewalk to another, corrugated boards and boxes to lay your weary head after the day's toil of wandering where you will get your next meal. As we go north on San Pedro street and 6th the sidewalk starts to get somehow filthier and you can smell a fowl kind of stench. When we get to the corner of 5th and San Pedro, one can notice gathering of groups of people on, at and by the sidewalk. There are those on soup lines, waiting for their turn. Some standing along the 5th street wall, doing their thing...mainly wheeling and dealing, doing drugs, usually crack cocaine, the cheapest one on the block! There are more that are huddled up across the street hanging around by the portable outhouses, provided by the city of Los Angeles. From this corner, we can either go west on 5th, or east. The feeling, the visual, and the smell, all just the same. From just standing at this corner, one can evaluate, one can see, one can feel the dire straits a person is in...but one cannot fathom the depth of the hardship, the suffering one goes through being homeless and hopeless living in Skid Row, until one has been, or one has worked or lived with the special population of Skid Row. As we go west on 5th, we can see on the right hand side of the street a few old hotel buildings that somehow looks renovated, well not actually. I would call it more like a facelift. Looks good on the outside, but has the same old musky feeling inside. The outside is for the city folks to see, to look, to know that their money is not going to waste, but what do they know? What do you know? Not enough! This old hotel buildings have been renovated to accommodate some of the Skid Row population, a tiny some. These buildings are now called SRO housing, Single Residence Occupancy. Most if not all the SRO's are funded through both local and federal fundings by the government. The rooms are tiny single rooms, with community bathrooms and showers by the hallway, the newer ones have community kithchens on the ground floor. These are state of the art renovation that actually helps a single person out of homelessness, if only there were enough of them! What about if you had a family...then you are not qualified to occupy or live in SRO housing unit. Accross the street, at the corner of 5th and San Julian is a small park. An area usually packed with people during the day and the gates are closed at night! The reason being that crime rate is high in the streets of downtown Skid Row. On the northside of the park accross the street is the new towering building of the LA Mission. Surrounding the perimeter is a tall fence, and surrounding the tall fence are the lines of people trying to get into the mission for their services, but more for the basic needs services, rather than the church services that are mandatory before you can get any service at all! If you go south from 5th on San Julian, we can see that more people are lined up, some just hanging out, some have their own cardboard boxes set up and some have their own tents along the sidewalk, past the few rows of more SRO housing on both sides of the street. On this end of the street is yet another mission, the Union Rescue Mission, the back side. This happens to be their entrance, on the north end is the women's entrance and the south end is the men's. Both sidewalk in front of the backside of the Union Rescue Mission is filled with more homeless people, drug users, hackers, tricksters, lost, destitute, alone, dire strait! They call this street the "thieves market". This is where a lot of trading, wheeling and dealing takes place. Drugs, merchandise, meal voucher's, lodging voucher's, you name it, they have it, to buy or to take, one way or another. Social Darwinism, or survival of the fittest, is a way of living, a reality down here in Skid Row. As we continue on south on San Julian, we find that we are back on 6th street, about a block from where we started, at the Weingart Center.which consists of programs from different agencies dealing with the various social ills/individual crisis of society in Skid Row. If you remember, the few blocks we just got done walking through, the religious foundations, non-profit organizations, county and state facilities, including all the non-profit entities and missions that are actually trying to make a differencein someone's life, working day in and day out. Yes! Maybe not the society as a whole, maybe not everyone down here, in the bottomless pit of downtown Los Angeles, maybe not the Skid Row community in general, but yes, there are some of those human services workers, whor are making a whole lot of difference in someone's life. To be able to give that one person a ray of hope, a quench for thirst, food for hunger, blanket for the chilly winter, an ear for the lonesome or angry, a chair for the weary...is to be able to make a world of difference a homeless, hopeless individual. When we go further east on 6th street past the Weingart building, we come to Crocker street. To the left on Crocker is the building, where the new VOA detox is situated and next to it is Lamp, the residential facility for the dual-diagnosed. Towards the corner on 5th street is more tents, more people, hugging the wall of the Fred Jordan Mission. As this is a continuation of 5th street from San Pedro, we see, we hear, we smell, the hopeless, the addict, the lost, the homeless. The wheeling and dealing continues, the trading of merchandise, drugs, the getting high are the normal 24-7 activities for a normal day. We find ourselves right here again in the thickness of homelessness, the gut of Skid Row. We turn east this time on 5th street and we find more treatment/rehabilitation centers for the alcohol/drug abuser. The Fred Jordan Mission on the right hand side of 5th street, Safe Harbor, a drug rehabilitation residency for women sponsored by Salvation Army and Harbor Light, the men's residence for alcohol/drug abuse are also on this street. I will concentrate my community analyses in this geographical boundaries, but I want to make one point clear before I go on... Skid Row is not limited to this parameters of the city of Los Angeles, Skid Row goes far beyond this area because Skid Row is a conglomeration of homelessness, helplessness, poverty, hunger, addiction, alcoholism, unemployment, neglect, psychological impairment, mental health, crime and desperation all around our city. Any or all these factors that make up Skid Row are alive and well, both visible and invisible in your neighborhood and mine. After having had the opportunity of first hand experience working with a special group of people in this area all Los Angelenos have come to call the Skid Row, it is clear in my heart and mind that there are these peoples that actually need somebody, anybody that will help guide, assist and direct them to the proper resources that they may be able to better their daily lives...even if only for a short while. It will be much better than what they have now. What we have today are multiple human services programs and agencies, both profit and non-profit, private and public entities that serve the general public. What we do not have is a link between all these outlet of resources that we, the human service workers, might be able to give a "continuum of care" approach, where we can work more efficiently to reduce the human suffering that we see evident in the Skid Row area of Los Angeles. There is always the notion that one day we can have peace and tranquility in the great urban neighborhoods of America. There is always the longing that one day we can live, every single one of us, in the ideal neighborhood. The perfect neighborhood, a place where there are no crime, no drugs, no hunger, no hate, no lies, no deceit, only love and harmony that we may attain our highest potential....this perfect neighborhood does not exist yet, not in our society, and I believe not in my lifetime. This perfect neighborhood certainly does not exist in Skid Row, far from it. But I do believe that love exist in Skid Row, plenty of it. What Skid Row does not have is support and access to a centralized system. The actual participation and leadership of the elected politicians of both local and federal governments. Beaureacratic boundaries, corporate policies, and community leadership are all part of the missing link that will start the new beginning of human service agenda. Centralizing, accountability, the linking, or working together, of all the agencies and entities to provide the necessary needs and treatments for the destitute people in Skid Row can make that change. Our attitude as a society, as a whole, towards homelessness can make the change, the change of successfully helping people in dire straits, homeless and hopeless, living the heart of downtown Los Angeles, here in Skid Row. Without the needed link, we can go on helping this special group of people, and all we see is the cycle that so many of them keep coming back and forth...without ever going nowhere, as I see so often working in the Skid Row area. There are the times when even the human service worker get so lost and frustrated that he or her gets on the brink of burnout and thus finding himself or herself as one of the destitute and desperate persons down in Skid Row. According to statistics, burnout is highest among human services workers. One of the factors is the frustration of running into a dead-end. As a matter of fact, this dilemna is the main factor that can cause many of our programs, the human services machinery, to come to a grounding halt. The unavoidable dead end ties our hands, making us helpless and frustrated because we cannot do for one what we can for another. Without the proper link, centralization, and accountability of all human services program, we often find ourselves in this unavoidable dead end. There are ethical standards that we do follow regarding the client that does not fit the qualification criteria for a particular program for sure...but that does not guarantee any, if at all, the possibility of a client being given the proper help he or she needs at the time. In order for us to be effective, centralization, accountability, and government leadership is needed. The fact that an agency was able to refer that individual does not mean that certain individual was able to get all the necessary help he or she needs. Centralizing or linking both agencies, public and private entities to work together to serve the public for the common good of all peoples is the only way to actually begin the process of implementing the work of a human services professional, to serve our public for the common good of all and any individual, that is needing and wanting the help. "Continuum of care" approach, working together as one, can and will be able to provide efficiently, effectively and most important that we are able to help the individual in a positive manner that he or she may live a better life. "Contnuum of care approach" is working together to have a common ground that will create a group of knowledgeable professionals in the helping field.giving the individual worker a wider spectrum of services available for the needy, desperate and destitute. Centralization and accountability is to have a proper link. To regulate the programs in such a way, to ensure the individual client to have the quality care that he or she needs and deserves. The linking of the human services workforce can in fact make an overwhelming difference in the field of human services and in fact can change the face of homelessness we call Skid Row. The centralization of all the agencies and entities can create the ideal community that we so much dream and think about for the future.... our kids. Skid Row, homelessness is a social problem with a definite solution. Centralization, accountability and "continuum of care approach" is looking at homelessness as a social rather than an individual problem. Our individual negative attitude certainly is also a barrier. Myth: "In today's booming economy, anyone can get a job. Homeless people just don't want to work." NCH. TERMS AND DEFINITIONS: Homeless-according to the Stewart B. Mckinney Act, 42 U.S.C. & 11301, et seq. (1994), a person is considered homeless who "lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate night-time residence and ; and.has a primary night time residencecy that is: A) a supervised publicly or privately operated shelter designed to provide temporary living accommodations.B) an institution that provides a temporary residence for individuals intended to be institutionalized, C) a public or private place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodations for human beings," such as sidewalks, riverbanks, freeway underpasses, cardboard boxes, etc., and this means only the persons who are "literally homeless," that are on the streets or in shelters. Skid Row-to some the skid row of is in the eastern part of downtown LA and to most of the worn-out, the drug addicted, the mentally ill and parolees skid row is San Julian, Crocker, and Wall streets, along with Towne and Gladys avenues. These streets are home, at least for the time being to these poor unfortunate individuals, the homeless of LA. Skid Row consists of a 50- square-block area that stretches from Third street to the north, Seventh to the south, Main street to the west and Alameda to the east. Poverty-people who frequently are unable to pay for housing, food, child care, health care, and education. Difficult choices are made when limited resources cover only some of these necessities. Often it is housing which absorbs a high proportion of poor people's income, that must be dropped. Being poor means being an illness, an accident, or a paycheck away from living on the streets. By 1996, 36.5 million Americans lived in poverty (U.S. Bureau of Census, 1997a). Moreover, there has been a significant increase in the number of Americans living in extreme poverty: in 1996, 14.4 million people-nearly two-fifths of all poor persons-had incomes of less than half the poverty level. Eroding work opportunities-an estimated 29.4% of the workforce are employed in nonstandard work arrangements, these arrangements, such as day labor, temps, or regular part-time employment typically offer lower wages, fewer benefits, and less job security. Diminished work opportunities is stagnating wages. Thus, work provides no escape from poverty. AFDC-Aid to Families with Dependent Children, between 1970 and 1994, the typical state's AFDC benefits for a family of three fell 47% (Greenberg and Baumohl, 1996). TANF-Temporary Assistance to Needy Families. The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 repealed the AFDC program and replaced it with a block grant program called TANF. The current TANF benefits are below the poverty level in every state, and in most states they are below 75% of the poverty level. Welfare does not provide relief from poverty. GA-General assistance program, public assistance for poor single individuals. Several states have cut or eliminated GA benefits for single impoverished people, despite the evidence that the availability of GA reduces the prevalence of homelessness (Greenbergh and Baumohl, 1996). SSI-Supplemental Security Income, for poor and disabled individuals. Eligibility to both legal and undocumented immigrants are denied, leaving these persons more vulnerable to homelessness. SSI grant does not cover the Fair Market Rent for a one bedroom apartment (Kaufman, 1997). Even if the SSI grant does cover the rent, only a few dollars remain for the other necessities. Housing-lack of affordable housing and the inadequacy of housing assistance programs have contributed to the current housing crisis and to homelessness. The status of housing for low- income people in the United States is grim. SRO-Single Room Occupancy housing. SRO housing has served to house poor individuals, including poor persons suffering from mental illness or substance abuse. From 1970 to the mid 1980s, an estimated one million SRO units were demolished (Dolbeare, 1996). Los Angeles had lost more than half of its downtown SRO housing (Koegel, et al, 1996). Thus, the destruction of SRO housing is a major factor in the growth of homelessness. PURPOSE AND RATIONALE: The purpose of this study is to verify the necessity of further government intervention into the ongoing social problem we call homelessness. To identify the need of a centralized system for accountability and accessibility for both the private and public agencies in the human services field, dealling with the homeless population. To address the gap that is created by the lack of participation and leadership from both local and federal levels of government. To solicit and deliver firsthand input and feedback from the homeless population and service providers of the Skid Row area. The opinion and and statements of both the homeless individuals and advocates are incorporated into the analyses project as further proof that the present day system of utilizing the resources is ineffective. The rationale of the project is to educate both the public and the system, about the reality and seriousness of homelessness, a social dilemna, needing to be dealt with in a social perspective rather than a individual situation. Homelessness is a social issue that needs to be dealt with by all of us. As a rule, when a member of a system is dysfunctional, the entire system becomes dysfunctional and each individual must alter their functioning to accommodate or adjust. The rationale is to give us, the community, a different perspective on homelessness, to change our attitudes towards the homeless individual. We need to have accurate information in order for us to be able to lobby and fight for a centralized form of a system to deal with the issue of homelessness, with top priority in utilizing resources and have accountability to meet homeless needs. The purpose for centralizing the social care is to develop a "continuum of care" approach which attempts to solve homelessness by addressing the various causes of homelessness. According to the Office of the Community Planning and Development the "continuum of care" strategy must include the vital components of homeless prevention, outreach, assessment, emergency shelter, transitional housing, permanent housing, and supportive housing. FACTS AND STATISTICAL DATA: Skid Row is a place with a group of poor unfortunate people that have fallen into the cracks of the social service system of Los Angeles. The greatest factor of Skid Row is homelessness. What governs homelessness can be a variety of factors, such as family problems, emotional problems, mental, drug abuse, physical, sexual, child abuse, and poverty. In order for us to get into a definite solution, we need to take at a closer look of what we have, the problem, Skid Row. We need to analyze some hard facts and data in order for us to get an understanding of the problem called Skid Row. Most of the data collected here are coming from the census bureau, HUD and local and state agencies for the years 1991-1997. California is one of the nation's largest and most populous states and has been growing at twice the national average, creating complex and dynamic urban environments. And according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development..."to meet future demands, the State must guide it's communities in community planning that responds to the growing demand for affordable housing, neighborhood revitalization and economic development" Over the next two decades the projection of Hud is that household s will increase because of projected decrease in size of each household. "By the year 2020, the 65-69 year-old baby boomers will be the dominant age-cohort in the housing market, demanding yet another change in housing size." Over the last two decades according to HUD increases in housing values (749%) and rents (392%) have increased faster than houshold incomes (285%) in the state of California. Affordability is a factor in the widespread housing problem in California. According to Hud, crude estimates of homeless persons in California range from 150,000 to 300,000 on any given day. Single men being the dominant factor , women with children, the most common family type, 30 to 40 percent are mentally ill, 10 to 20 percent have alcohol or drug problems. What is identified with the data as special needs besides shelter, food and a stable source of income for the homeless population are: counseling, child care, employment assisstance, health care, mental health care, money management, transitional housing-with case work, education and training, and referrals to public and private agencies. I must also point out that a critical need exists for permanent supportive housing needs for homeless and non-homeless with special needs such as the frail elderly, persons with disabilities and persons with HIV/AIDS. In the consolidated plan for 1995 Executive Summary, lack of affordable housing is named as the most widespread housing problem in the State. What's really ironic is that the state aknowledges that tax policies, public referenda for public housing, rent control, impact fees, building codes, and land use controls affect affordable housing development. In other words,red tape and economics are both critical factors. The other ironic part of this dilemna is the word "control", land use control, but how about "affordable housing control". Unfortunately this census is from the federal level, focused on the state of California. The State of California has no public housing authority. Los Angeles County is a complex, highly diverse urban region of Southern California, comprised of 80 cities and various unincorporated aeas. California has a population of over 30 million, and almost half of that 14.5 million residents are in the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) predicts the Los Angeles County to increase by an additional 2.4 million people by the year 2010. From the Conslolidated Plan data of 1995, there are 123,280 families on the Los Angeles County Housing Authority Section 8 waiting list, with an average wait of 2-5 years. The CDC who owns and operates public housing units under stateor other federal programs, 19,772 households are on waiting lists for these units. According to the Consolidated Plan data of 1995, between 1980 and 1988, an estimated 249,946 units were added to the County housing stock, an 8.8 percent increase. The general population increased by 12.4 percent and households increased by 9.1 percent in the same time frame. I must add that the data states the homeless population or the 40,000 households estimated to be living illegally in garages and other substandard units are not included in the count. The 1995 plan summarizes then that a minimum of 4,600 housing units affordable to low and moderate income households will need to be constructed by thye year 2000 in the Urban County to theoretically meet the demand, which is very liberal indeed.The 1990 census data also indicates that nearly 112,000 existing households in the extremely low and very low-income categories are overpaying for housing, what they don't show are the guidelines on how they draw the lines from poor to very poor. The Greater Los Angeles Partnership for the homeless estimates that the total number of individuals who qualify as recent or chronic homeless in Los Angeles at any given time during the course of the year to be 33,000 to 65,000 and again let me warn you, a liberal estimate. In Los Angeles County during the past few years have increased housing prices and rents rapidly, far outpacing the increase in household incomes. From 1980 to 1990, the median rent increased substantially to $570, a whooping 132 percent increase. With these given, a high number of extremely low income households overpay for housing. The breakdown goes like this; 55 percent of the elderly, 73 percent of small families, and 70 percent of large families, pay more than 50 percent of their incomes for housing. The city of Los Angeles, the largest city in Southern California has an estimated population of 3.6 million as of January 1994. Los Angeles is also the center of a metropolitan area with a population greater than 8 million people. The 1990 census suggests the city had 3,485,398 residents, by January 1994 the population increased by 4 percent, to a total of 3,620,500. The racial and ethnic makeup of Los Angeles according to the 1990 census, was: White (non-hispanic)--37 percent African American -- 13 percent Asian American/Pacific Islander -- 9 percent The census data also shows us the following levels of low and moderate income households: Extremely low (0-30 percent of MFI)--228,481 (19 percent) Very low-income (31-50 percent of MFI)--171,743 (14 percent) Low-income (51-80 percent of MFI)--190,140 (16 percent) Moderate-income (81-95 percent of MFI)--94,355 (8 percent) Within the urban county, racial and ethnic minorities, with the exception of Asian/Pacific Islanders, are highly concentrated in the lower-income categories whereas Whites and Asian/Pacific Islanders are relatively concentrated in the above moderate-income category, the highest income category defined. In 1990 median family income(MFI) for the Los Angeles-Long Beach Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) was $42,200 and that was almost a decade ago, it is probably higher if only slightly...insignificant difference. The rent rates is a different story, it virtually doubled between 1980 and 1990 continually rising, whatever happened to rent control, there is always the loophole isn't there...for the well-off, but only slightly for the extremely poor, insignificant. In 1990, the median rent for a vacant apartment was $600, by June 1993 it had increased to $685. The median price for existing single-family homes fell from 212,130 in 1990 to 183,000 in late-1994. According to the California Association of Realtors, 80 percent of Los Angeles households could not afford a median-priced home in 1991. Citywide, 22 percent of single-family homes are absentee-owned, meaning they are rented out. In low-income areas, such as South Central and East Los Angeles, the rate is 40-50 percent, which are mostly dominated by African American and Hispanics respectively. The annual unduplicated number of homeless people within the city limits of Los Angeles is estimated between 17,200 and 42,000. According to HUD, individuals shift into and out of homelessness, and one estimate of the annual cumulative number of homeless persons in the city is 90,500. Data from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services indicate that 42 percent of the homeless families and 52 percent of the homeless individuals in the county are located within the city of Los Angeles. And the figures that they have come up with is that the city has 7,809 homeless families with 21,297 family members, including 14,847 children. They further suggest that only an estimated 14 percent of the city's homeless sleep in emergency shelters or live in transitional housing, with a large number of the homeless unsheltered and living on the streets, in parks, in abandoned buildings, encampments and in Skid Row, a home for the homeless in the City of Angels. The following is a suggested profile of homeless persons living on the streets of LA. Majority are single males getween the ages of 30 to 50. Over 50 percent are African American. Approximately 21-33 percent are Hispanic. Many are disabled. 40 percent say they have a drug or alcohol problem. Most have been homeless for more than a year. Over 50 percent have completed high school or had some college. And this is a sub-population of the homeless with special needs as estimated by Consolidated Plan for the City of Los Angeles: Severe mental illness only--30 percent. Alcohol/other drug addiction--20 percent Severe mental illness and alcohol/other drug addiction--20 percent Domestic violence--25 percent AIDS/related diseases--35 percent According to the plan there is a need for emergency shelter beds for homeless youth. Social service agencies estimate that there are 10,000 to 12,000 unaccompanied homeless youth in Los Angeles. There are 164 shelter beds to serve this population and services available for adults do not serve this group. With respect to our data more than 1/3 of the homeless population are mentally ill; the city in turn has only 106 short-term beds for severely mentally ill persons. Jails have become last resort housing for this population. Based on this facts, it is obvious that both this segment of the homeless population desperately needs low-cost or no-cost housing to take these vulnerable, helpless people off the streets. The consolidated plan also gives us some factors that lead to increased housing costs. Let us take a quick look ; ? Land and construction costs. $15,000/unit for multifamily developments. ? Complex, unpredictable, discretionary land-use approval process. ? Regulatory delays, processing and development fees. ? Davis-Bacon prevailing wage requirements-set wages at a higher level whenever Federal funds are used for housing construction. ? Resistance to development of affordable housing; embodied in zoning, permit processes, or building code regulations. Is it not ironic that some of these factors are actually barriers for acquiring affordable housing. Bureaucratic, administrative manipulation are actually trying to make a little more money from the homeless population. The underlying factor of course is who is influencing who. Whereas, most sides of the elite and the well-off have adequate resources and representation, the government officials, both elected and appointed are more than inclined to do the bidding of the rich businessman who are always generously supportive financially during the election of the officials. In short, the haves will not allow the have-nots to have anything. The advocates for the homeless are usually understaffed, with limited resources, if they are not homeless themselves. With this in mind, there is no contest; there might as well not be any representation at all. In order for us to help the poor unfortunate person we must all work together as a society of one; to have the same purpose and goal; to solve our own unique social problem, homelessness. METHODOLOGY: Today there are up to 236,400 homeless people in Los Angeles County in the course of a year, according to the UCLA School of Nursing Health Center at the Union Rescue Mission. Homeless individuals do not have adequate food, shelter and basic hygiene necessities, having an impact on their health. Homeless individuals are often sicker than the general population, and complex health care issues are more often than not. Many of the homeless people live in Skid Row. Most of these homeless people who became homeless do not fit one general description as our data shows. However, homeless do have certain shared basic needs, such as affordable housing, adequate income and health care. Some, may need additional services, like mental health care, or drug treatment services, still others may need guidance, tutoring or advocacy. All of these needs must be met to prevent and to end homelessness. How many people are homeless? There is no easy answer to this question. In fact, the question itself is misleading-homelessness is a temporary condition, not a permanent condition, therefore a definite solution is a definite possibility. The National Coalition for the Homeless surveyed homeless in this manner; how many people experience homelessness, not how many people are homeless. Studies of homelessness are complicated by problems of definition and methodology. As a result of methodological and financial limitations other studies are limited to counting people who are literally homeless-in the shelters or on the streets. What the results give us, and to the government officials in charge to help deal with our social ill called homelessness are actually underestimates of homelessness. Could this be a factor in not having adequate shelters, facilities, and resources, because we actually underestimated our problem? Let us take a look at a few data on the national level, by the National Coalition for the Homeless; ? Recent study of 29 U.S. cities; 20% of all requests for emergency shelter went unmet due to lack of resources. ? In 50 U.S. cities; virtually every city, the city's official estimated number of homeless people greatly exceeded the number of emergency shelter and transitional housing spaces. There are few or no shelters in rural areas of the U.S., despite significant levels of homelessness. People living in unstable housing arrangements-but because they are not literally homeless, they will not be counted. NCH named two methods of research being used to measure homelessness, one method attempts to count all the people who are literally homeless on a given day or during a given week, they call this point-in-time counts. A second method examines the number of people who are homeless over a given period of time, the period prevalence counts. Whichever method is used, there is the important methodological issue that should be considered. Regardless of the of the time period, many people will not be counted because they are not in places researchers can easily find. This particular group, frequently stay in automobiles, campgrounds, boxes, freeway underpass, sidewalks, street corners, or wherever they can lay their head down. These unsheltered, "hidden" homeless are real and they are out there and homeless counts may miss significant numbers who are literally homeless, as well as those in the doubled-up situations. A study undertaken in 1994 with a refined analysis, more explicit definitions and detailed information gives as conclusion."it appears that 12 million of the adult residents of the United States have been literally homeless at some point in their lives." NCH Fact sheet#2. What is really ironic is how these organizations call our homeless, residents. These people don't have what they can call residence! And by it's nature homelessness is impossible to measure with 100% accuracy. More important than knowing the precise number of people who experience homelessness is our progress in ending it. According to the NCH the United States generates homelessness at a much higher rate than previously thought. CONCLUSION: A person is not correctly defined as being homeless when he/she lacks a fixed night time shelter, therefore we must rethink our ideas of the homeless. Homelessness is not defined by those living in boxes, under bridges, or on subway gates. Homelessness then according to my analyses is defined by the loss of control, by both the government and society in general. We as a system, must work, and live together as a system. When a part of the system is dysfunctional, we must work together to get it back in order. under the leadership of our elected officials, that we give enormous amount of annual salary for, for what? To rethink, and resolve the social ill that we have called homelessness. "Psychologists consult with, refer to, or cooperate with other professionals, and institutions to the extent needed to serve the best interests of their patients, clients, or other recipients of their services.contribute to human welfare...concerned about and work to mitigate the causes of human suffering.encourage the development of law and social policy that serve the interests of their patients and clients and the public." APA,1995. AHRW recommends 1.Integration of mental health and substance abuse interventions, ex. through intensive case management and group interventions. 2. Provision of services to families as well as to individual clients, 3. Development of culturally relevant services and 4. Development of long- term, stagewise interventions. And further the AHRW research concludes, "preventive interventions should be used to treat homeless people susceptible to these illnesses." AHRW,1996 "Consequently, programs that first address the clients' subsistence needs and then provide long- term treatment in progressive stages are best suited for dually diagnosed homeless people." (Drake et al. 1994.) Meeting the homeless needs requires an intensive effort over months or years, with multidisciplinary teams providing outreach; addressing subsistence needs; integrating mental health, substance abuse, and housing interventions; and allowing a longitudinal, stagewise recovery process. Because researchers have identified some of the pathways by which individuals frequently become homeless, interventions to prevent homelessness also may be possible. Such preventive interventions could focus on 1) unstable housing situations and evictions 2) more careful discharge planning from institutional settings, 3) greater support for families, 4) more efficient use of resources, and 5) help with money management. Integrating administrative, fiscal, and clinical authority is one of the most problematic service system issues related to the homeless Skid Row population. No matter how many agencies or individual providers are involved, one must be identified as the lead authority at each level of government, accountable for ensuring access, appropriateness, and continuity of services. People who are homeless and severely mentally ill require a system of care that they can maneuver, one that is capable of a coherent response to their many needs. REFERENCES: American Psychological Association, Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct, 1995. Alcohol Health and Research World, Homelessness and dual diagnosis, 1996, Washington. Drake, R.E.; OstER, F.C.; and WALLACH, M.A. Homelessness and dual diagnosis. American Psychologist 46:1149-1158, 1991 Blank Ertz, L.E., and CNAAN, R.A. Assessing the impact of two residential programs for dually diagnosed homeless persons. Social Service Review 68: 536-560, 1994. Burnam,M.A.;Morton, S.C.; McGlynn, E.A.; Petersen, L.P.; Stecher, B.M.; Hayes,C.; and Vacarro, J.V. An experimental evaluation of residential and nonresidential treatment for dually diagnosed homeless adults. Journal of Addictive Diseases 14(4): 111-134, 1995. Rahav, M.; Rivera,J.J.; Nuttbrock,L.;Ng-Mak,De.;Sturz,E.L.;Link,B.G.; Struening,E.L.; Pepper.B.; And Gross,B. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs 27: 93-103, 1995. Baxter,E., And Hopper,K. Private Lives/Public Spaces: Homeless Adults on the Streets of New York City. New York: Community Service Society, 1981. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 1996. Cooperative Agreements for DMHS/CSAT Collaboration Program to Prevent Homelessness. GFA No. SM 96-OL. Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1996. Weinberg, D., and Koegel,P. Impediments to recovery in treatment programs for dually diagnosed homeless adults: An ethnographic analysis. Contemporary Drug Problems 22: 193-236, 1995. USA TODAY. Outcasts on Main Street: Homelessness and the Mentally Ill, March 1994: 26-30, Society for the Advancement of Education, 1994.