Angelus News | May 31, 2019 | Vol. 4 No. 20

A National Institute of Mental Health study concentrating on Skid Row found that 28 percent of residents were chronically mentally ill and 34 percent
were chronic substance abusers.
But Lopez said a decade is too long
for more than 2,000 unsheltered men,
women, and even children to wait to
receive help.
Another problem is the “camping
atmosphere” on Skid Row among
residents who choose to live there because
of ready access to drugs. Often
overshadowed are homeless persons
and families who reside mostly in and
out of local shelters and missions.
“As long as the streets are an alternative,
you have this very large
population that will choose the street,
where there are no rules,” she pointed
out. “And that’s what’s undermining
the whole thing that the city wants
to put in place. Plus, we’re caught in
this terrible vicious cycle of whenever
the city tries to do something, the
advocates file suit to stop them. It’s
unforgivable.”
The bond measure is just one of the
political issues affecting LA’s darkest
neighborhood. In 2017, a federal
appeals court ruled it unconstitutional
to prosecute individuals who
are homeless for sleeping on public
property as long as they don’t have
access to shelter.
A compromise ruling between the
City of Los Angeles and homeless
advocates has allowed that tents could
lawfully be set up on sidewalks from 9
p.m. to 6 a.m.
But as our brief tour showed, tents
and tarps didn’t come down on Skid
Row during the day.
In early March, the Los Angeles City
Council finally reached a decision on
the property rights of homeless people,
but left its details to City Attorney
Mike Feuer to work out.
Lopez said she believes that won’t
happen until this summer, just before
the case is scheduled to go to court.
And because the decision involves
constitutional rights, Lopez thinks it
will affect the entire city — not just
Skid Row — and limit LA’s ability
even more to clean up encampments.
“We are profoundly scared,” she said,
“because we are on the front lines,
and we don’t see it as City Hall sees it.
We clearly see what a bad track record
the city has on addressing the issue of
street homelessness. And we believe
sincerely this is another step in the
wrong direction.”
Looking down from 5 feet
Almost back to her Central City East
office now, Lopez spotted a woman in
a soiled pink sleeveless blouse whom
she had personally tried to help. “I sat
with her on a curb one day as her tent
was going up in flames. And she was
crying. I said, ‘What happened?’ ” she
recalled.
“She said, ‘My boyfriend went out of
town and now he’s back. He thinks I’m
cheating on him, so he set it on fire.’
“I put her in my car and said, ‘Look,
I know where I can take you — the
Union Rescue Mission. It takes in
women, and I know the director, Andy
Bales. I can get you in.’
“She said, ‘No. I don’t want to go inside.’
She was tattooed up. You could
see she was doing narcotics.
“I said, ‘If your boyfriend came down
here and did this in the daytime, what
do you think he’s going to do tonight if
you’re out here.’ I said, ‘Go with me.’
The woman refused, saying she only
needed money to catch a bus to see
friends in Boyle Heights.
“OK, so maybe she was playing me,
I don’t know,” Lopez mused.
VICTOR ALEMÁN
22 • ANGELUS • May 31, 2019