Mental Illness And Drug Addiction Fuel Ever Increasing LA Street Encampments
By Joseph P. Charney
At the beginning of the 17th century, the idea that the earth revolved around the sun was a theory. Galileo looked through his telescope and turned theory into fact upending church dogma with observation. Fast forward 400 years to LA County where tens of thousands live in street encampments. LA’s political class and housing advocates, claim that the primary cause of these encampments is a lack of permanent supportive housing (PSH). Yet one need only observe the individuals and behaviors of those residing in the encampments to conclude that spending billions more on PSH is not the answer. These observations are backed up by studies, including one by the Los Angles Times, that found 67% of those residing on the street suffered from a mental illness or a substance abuse disorder.
So why, with clear evidence that addictions and serious mental illness are the primary causes of ever-increasing street encampments, do our local and state governments fail to direct resources where they are needed? Just as the church was threatened by scientific claims that undermined its authority, refocusing our anti-encampment efforts threatens those with a political, ideological and financial stake in this “housing” dogma.
City News Group published an opinion piece by Fiona Dourif that provides a tragic account of her mother’s battle with mental illness and death by overdose while living on the street.
Ms. Dourif urges elected officials to confront the reality of street encampments and is furious that her mother, caught in a perpetual dangerous mental illness delusion, was given the “right” to “choose” behaviors that ultimately took her life. According to Dourif, “what person not dealing with a debilitating illness or late-stage addiction would decide to pitch a tent on a street corner, surrounded by addiction, psychosis and violence, rather than go to a shelter”?
Tragically, her verifiable observations are ignored by LA’s political class, activists, bureaucrats and the Los Angeles Times editorial board. While each of these power centers pays lip service to the existence of mental illness and addiction, politicians at the state county and city level have consistently promoted and financed a multi-billion dollar “housing” effort for decades through bond issues and increased taxation. Much of this funding is channeled through LAHSA, the Joint Los Angeles City and County Homeless Authority, created in 1993 to better coordinate governmental efforts to address homelessness through outreach and housing placement. But LAHSA’s failures has been apparent for years. In 2019, Los Angeles City Comptroller Ron Galperin published a scathing assessment of LAHSA, including the Authority’s overstating its accomplishments:
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-08-27/homeless-audit-lahsa-outreach-performance
While LAHSA’s efforts haven’t stopped the ever-increasing proliferation of encampments throughout the county, neither LA’s politicians nor advocates will tolerate any attempt to redirect efforts, funding and focus away from the permanent supportive housing mantra.
Such was the case in April 2021 when LA County Supervisor Kathryn Barger announced she would appoint Dr. Drew Pinsky to the LAHSA Board with the intent to add a fresh voice to the conversation surrounding encampments. Barger understood and shared Pinsky’s approach for reducing encampments — having the treatment of serious mental health and substance abuse better integrated into County efforts. While Board nominees are normally approved as a matter of collegial courtesy, it was not the case with the Pinsky nomination. It took one day for Dr. Pinsky to be savaged on-line, accused of wanting to “criminalize the homeless with the intent to forcibly remove them from the streets”. It is apparent from the redundant and scripted online statements against him that this was choreographed pushback to give the impression of spontaneous opposition. Supervisor Barger succumbed to this organized smear campaign and immediately pulled Doctor Pinsky’s name from consideration depriving the LAHSA Board of another perspective.
At the end of last year, Barger returned to the issue with a motion to create a Blue Ribbon Commission to study the weaknesses of LAHSA and explore the possibility of improving the County’s response to homelessness. The Commission formed and made a number of recommendations, including the creation of a new County entity to oversee matters relating to LA’s homeless. The recommendations were adopted prompting Supervisor Mitchell to author a motion reaffirming LA County’s opposition to any efforts to pass legislation undermining the County’s stated “Housing First Model”. The Motion passed effectively prohibiting any attempt to explore different strategies to clear LA’s streets of encampments. Its goal: to remove any political space to challenge present assumptions that encampments are primarily about high rents, discrimination and housing scarcity.
An honest observation of encampments reveals individuals who must be incentivized to seek treatment for their serious mental illness and for their dangerous and degenerative drug addictions. But the decision to leave the street, secure shelter and treatment can not be theirs alone. While they must be offered shelter, they must be required to use it. If they are ever to live in a permanent structure, they must be required to assist in their own treatment. Finally, if they can’t care for themselves, the government must play a role in providing that care.
At this moment, power, influence and money favors those who have no intention of even debating an alternative approach to ending street encampments. Our politicians continue to resemble those who four hundred years ago refused to look through the telescope….they refuse to acknowledge reality at the detriment of their constituents.
