- 13 minutes ago
Homelessness is an issue all across the country. These groups in Los Angeles are trying to address some of the symptoms of the problem.
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00:01Across the country, homelessness is becoming a crisis.
00:06I want to know how you're going to strengthen people to get out of homelessness.
00:10Are you planning to do anything to stop the increase of homelessness,
00:14or is this just a welcome sign for the rest of the country?
00:16You need to disperse the problems.
00:18This is a decision between whether we keep people on the streets
00:21or whether we take them off the streets.
00:23And in some places, it's driving a divide between the housed and the homeless.
00:29What does it take to be seen as a person?
00:31How does that feel, Queen?
00:33Instead of a problem.
00:35What is so complicated about that?
00:46I get darker tones to put on, and then I put on the concealer
00:50to lighten up around the eyes and stuff.
00:53I don't even know what to get anymore.
00:55I have a hard time picking what it is that I'm getting
00:58because I want to make sure that I'm not wasting my money on anything
01:01because, you know, I'm homeless.
01:0929-year-old Arian Williams has been homeless for the last five years.
01:14She's part of a new wave of homelessness where women are on the front lines.
01:19It's an epidemic that can be clearly seen on the streets of Los Angeles.
01:24I always have to wash my food.
01:27I have to take care of your skin.
01:29Yeah.
01:31For me, it's a lot easier.
01:35It's really easy.
01:36Yeah.
01:37Sometimes I shower at the church on Gower.
01:39Most of the time, it's in my tent with a lot of baby wipes and soap.
01:44When you see homeless people, your brain can't fathom, honestly,
01:49how somebody could be out there.
01:50All it takes for you to be homeless is they raise your rent
01:54and you lose your job if you're homeless the next month.
01:57Point blank.
01:59One of Arian's most surprising survival techniques involves beauty.
02:03This is my makeup bag.
02:08I use my makeup to cope with being out here to make me feel less homeless.
02:17Well, I've had a few jobs.
02:19I had to wear makeup to work every day because that's what everybody else was doing
02:25and if I don't, then I'll definitely stand out.
02:27When they find out when you're homeless, they treat you a lot differently.
02:37Whether I live inside or outside, I'm still a human being.
02:41I still have needs and necessities just like the next person.
02:45For Arian, a thin layer of eye shadow keeps her connected to society,
02:49but it doesn't shield her from the realities of the street.
02:54What is it like to be a woman out on the streets?
02:56If a woman is out here by herself, she is a walking target.
03:00Every homeless woman I've ever met has been raped.
03:03What kind of unique challenges are faced by women who are experiencing homelessness?
03:08The challenge is that there simply aren't enough resources.
03:12There aren't enough women-focused programs or women-focused housing.
03:17Just 17% of the shelter beds in Los Angeles are designated for women year-round.
03:23And many of them are in mixed-gender spaces.
03:27The services that do exist are largely concentrated on Skid Row.
03:33Skid Row has become a shorthand for the area in cities where homelessness gets pushed to the margins.
03:40The most infamous case can be found in LA, where the city has historically tried to contain the majority of
03:46its homeless shelters, services, and people.
03:51Today, there are more than 2,000 people living on the streets in an area that's less than half a
03:56square mile.
03:58It's become the site for some of the most comprehensive services in the county.
04:02But it's also known as a dangerous place, especially for women.
04:07Dodge is really high strung right here.
04:09I don't know if you guys know, but you guys need security for real, though.
04:14Oh, for sure. You guys need security.
04:16On Skid Row, it's evil, trifling, and scary.
04:18And it's very dangerous, darling. Like, it's very scary here.
04:23Despite this reputation, Skid Row is also the site of the only shelter in this city that refuses to turn
04:29away women.
04:30Union Rescue Mission.
04:33We refuse to leave ladies out on the street.
04:37They feel like they've escaped from a war zone.
04:40To meet the overwhelming demand, URM blows up hundreds of mattresses and puts them anywhere they can.
04:48On any given night, three to four hundred women find shelter here.
04:53But it's just a drop in the bucket.
04:55What happens if this continues and there isn't a massive intervention?
05:00I already think we're past the tipping point.
05:02The other day, I got a call. There was a 26-year-old woman who ran into our building naked
05:08after being beaten and raped.
05:10It is a FEMA-like, Red Cross-like disaster.
05:13And it's not just on Skid Row. It's everywhere in L.A.
05:19In the midst of this disaster, one woman is reaching out.
05:23One of each. Make sure one of each.
05:27Shirley Raines single-handedly started Beauty to the Streets, a volunteer-run project that provides home-cooked meals, makeup, and
05:36more.
05:36I don't think I can end homelessness. I think it's a gangrene situation right now.
05:40We're trying to put a band-aid on a gunshot wound.
05:42She comes to Skid Row every Saturday, along with a few friends.
05:49The Fighters for the World is a biker club that offered to come out and support Shirley.
05:54Skid Row is like, all right, we don't care what happens there.
05:57Keep everybody in one area as long as it stays there.
05:59So we decided to come down and lend our aid to make sure they're safe.
06:02Yeah, I don't think I've seen a single police officer since I actually got down here.
06:06Right. No, we haven't either. So...
06:08It seems like you guys are sort of helping to pick up the slack.
06:10Whatever the powers that be, however they're working out their money, I don't think it trinkles down here.
06:15Because they don't see it, it's not a problem.
06:18Right.
06:18They don't come down here. But it's rapid. It's everywhere.
06:26It's very important to put something on and see something other than what you're going through.
06:31It's going to get warm in a second, LaFonda, okay?
06:33It's nail polish, too.
06:35This could be any of us out here. I think that's the biggest thing people need to understand.
06:39There are real-life stories out here. There's real-life trauma down here.
06:41This could be you.
06:49I did the whole stay-at-home mom thing.
06:51I never imagined that this would happen to me hitting rock bottom.
06:55Michelle Fennell is a 37-year-old mother of four.
06:58This is them. That's a family photo.
07:00Whose world was turned upside down when she had to flee an abusive boyfriend.
07:05I was in a really bad domestic violence situation.
07:09My abuser was trying to kill me.
07:11I had to leave my apartment and I became homeless.
07:14There was really no resources for me and my children.
07:17My children went to go stay with different family members.
07:20After three years on the streets, Michelle finally got housing.
07:24But the only option available to her was a single room occupancy unit.
07:28It means that she still has to be apart from her kids, except for the occasional visit.
07:33What is it like not having your children living with you?
07:36It's so hard.
07:37I have to be strong for my children and make sure we get back into where we once were as
07:44a family.
07:46I'm going to stay here for a while until I'm able to save up and transition to something else.
07:51Michelle's just the money to live in a regular apartment is kind of like intense.
07:57Michelle's case is an increasingly common one.
08:00The lack of housing options and support makes it easy to get knocked off your feet and incredibly hard to
08:07get back up.
08:08We have a responsibility as a community to care for those who are in this crisis.
08:13We're not accepting people who've experienced homelessness as our neighbors.
08:19But not everyone feels the same way.
08:22Hundreds of people, many who live and work in Koreatown, raise their voices in protest today.
08:27Homeless housing has proven to be a hot button issue in Sherman Oaks.
08:31Nothing solves homelessness like your home.
08:35Not in my backyard-ism is the biggest barrier to any success of helping people off the streets.
08:42As the homelessness crisis grows, so does the backlash.
08:47Some residents, fearing for their personal safety and property, are pushing back against homeless services and shelters in their neighborhoods.
08:54Venice is the site of some of the most vocal, not-in-my-backyard, or NIMBY opposition.
09:01What has become one of the most expensive beachfront neighborhoods in Los Angeles now fears it's being overrun by outsiders.
09:15Good evening, everybody.
09:17We're here in Venice at a neighborhood council meeting to learn about a newly proposed housing plan for the homeless.
09:23And as you can see, it's a little bit chaotic.
09:28We could walk away from homelessness. That would not solve homelessness.
09:31This is a decision between whether we keep people on the streets or whether we take them off the streets.
09:36I think that's an easy decision. Thank you.
09:40I have heard the real and genuine fear of women living on our streets in the encampments who are afraid
09:48of being beaten or being raped.
09:49If we do not do this in Venice, the one thing I can guarantee you is that the status quo
09:57will continue and the problem will continue to get worse.
10:00Bullshit! Bullshit! Bullshit! Bullshit! Bullshit! Bullshit!
10:05We're going to go to questions from the audience.
10:09My name is Wendy Lockett. I'm from Venice, and I'm homeless.
10:13What do you intend to do to ensure that we don't both have encampments and bridge housing and we're just
10:18one big homeless community?
10:19We could take that same amount of money and put somewhere else where we would actually get these people the
10:24homes they so desperately need.
10:26What is so complicated about that?
10:28I am in favor of homeless housing, but I am not in favor of containment policies.
10:34What you're doing, I believe, is encouraging more weakness.
10:37And I want to know how you're going to strengthen people to get out of homelessness.
10:42You need to disperse the problem. That's what happens when there's a riot, you disperse it.
10:47You're not thinking in those terms. I don't understand why you're not.
10:50Because I'll tell you why. Because it's no longer just in one place or another. It is everywhere in the
10:55city.
10:56Regardless of the NIMBY movement's intentions, it stalls progress.
11:01Hijacking the conversation of how to solve homelessness and making it about who should have to deal with it.
11:07I wanted to know what the mayor had to say.
11:09Do residents, even wealthy ones, have a right to fight where a shelter is going in a neighborhood?
11:16It's literally the most complicated issue I think I've ever dealt with and ever will deal with in public policy
11:21because it has so many different elements. And each person is different.
11:24I think all of us have a responsibility to solve homelessness.
11:28It's about getting to know one person on the street, figuring out what her story is,
11:32and figuring out what is that combination lock that we have to crack open to make sure she can get
11:36back, you know,
11:38off the street and onward with her dreams.
11:40So, the color she talked about.
11:42That one is fine.
11:45How does that feel, Queen?
11:46It's good to get her on.
11:47What would you say to someone who argues that hair and makeup shouldn't be a primary focus with the homeless?
11:53What I want to do is just restore dignity, just make them feel important and make them feel beautiful.
11:59Now we're cooking with fire.
12:00All the women that I take care of right now, I took care of them with food and water,
12:04and I didn't really get to know them that well until I started giving makeup and doing hair.
12:08It's like the beauty salon. They open up when they're in the chair.
12:13I'm writing. I'm still human.
12:16After being treated like I'm less than human for being broke, you know, I feel like the world needs a
12:23reminder.
12:23You stay on the mission over there, baby?
12:25Yeah, I've just been there for three weeks.
12:28Three weeks? How is it in there?
12:30I'm trying to get housing.
12:32I would say that we have to understand these women are not out here by choice.
12:36Something happened. Somewhere along the line, they were broken. Somewhere along the line, they were damaged.
12:41Whatever broke them and put them on the street, we need to start with that.
12:45It's been about three years. Me fleeing from my abuser and me actually finding housing.
12:51Living in my own place, I'm able to figure out my game plan.
12:55Because if I didn't have this apartment, I wouldn't be able to go out there and worry about a career.
13:00You're not wasting any time.
13:01I can't afford to. I have my children. My babies, they keep me motivated.
13:07It's already lifting.
13:09How did it feel when you first sat down and Shirley was washing your hair?
13:12It's helping out a lot.
13:14When I go look for a place or something, I'll be looking at the park.
13:19Oh my goodness. I haven't had that color in a long time.
13:24Felicia, it looks so good. What do you think everyone at the mission is going to say?
13:27You'll be like, wow, where you were?
13:30I think it's pretty awesome. And how you look and, you know, your appearance and everything is important to everybody.
13:35What she does here is powerful. Everybody needs to look pretty. Right?
13:41Alicia transformed before my eyes. And it wasn't just the shampoo and color.
13:47Shirley's kind words and compassion made Alicia glow.
13:51They deserve kindness. They deserve food. They deserve love. They deserve respect.
13:55You're not your situation on the street. You're not the tent that you sleep in.
13:59Open your eyes.
14:00And your head and your name going to be on the back.
14:03Oh, look how cute. It's cute.
14:05Oh, don't cry love. Don't cry love.
14:10It's clear that homelessness is an incredibly complex problem.
14:14And solving it here in Los Angeles and all across the country will take time and resources.
14:21But just as vital is recognizing that behind every struggle is a story.
14:27It's something that we can all do that costs nothing and can make a difference now.
14:40It's something that we get out.