Local Homeless

Much is being made here in LA County about the great numbers of homeless.  And the reluctance of some neighborhoods to accept housing for them or the rage of those who have homeless in their areas.  Here are some statistics:

LA City and County - 57,749  homeless out of a total area population of 10 million.  Thus .0057 are homeless.  If this isn't a drop in the ocean, my math is worse than I thought.

The most liked cities for these unfortunates are:

1.  New York - 76,501
2.  Los Angeles - 55,188 - yes I see the discrepancy from above - different years explains it
3.  Seattle - 11,643

The US total is 553,742   Of those, it estimated that 25 per cent of them are mentally ill while only six per cent of the rest of us are.  Reassuring to me.  A quiet but well-meant "so, hah!" to various of my critics.

The predominate mental illness is bipolarity.  It used to be called schizophrenia.  There is a shred of good news though in that it has recently been discovered that persons presenting with this mental illness at the ages of 18 to 25, often "grow out of it" by age 30.  I would assume this remarkable
event includes treatment and medication.

"Well, what about where you live?" many might ask.  "The beach is pretty sweet living - look at the home prices in Palos Verdes!"

Our "beach cities" (and I'm flattering them here) are Manhattan, Hermosa and Redondo Beaches.  Combined we are hosts to 216 homeless, 146 of whom live on the street with another 70 in living in their cars.

Some 30 years ago, I encountered five of them.  And I will tell you about them in grisly detail tomorrow.