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Los Angeles shelter program 'short term answer' for homeless

Thursday, 19 November 2015 9:43 AM [ Last Update: Thursday, 19 November 2015 10:09 AM ]

The cost of rents has increased tremendously in recent years and wages have been going backwards, said Rasmus.

A shelter program for the growing homeless population in Los Angeles is a “short term answer” for thousands of people whose lives are in danger as winter approaches, says a professor of political economy in California.

“We are expecting in California some extraordinary bad weather in the coming months particularly rain from what’s called the El Nino effect of the Pacific,” Jack Rasmus said in an interview with Press TV on Thursday.

The El Nino weather pattern eyes California this year and is expected to bring storms and heavy rains that could cause flooding in many homeless encampments.

“Now we have this terrible rain coming and the bad weather coming and many of [the homeless] would be injured or perhaps even killed in that kind of weather,” Rasmus said.

Los Angeles officials said Tuesday that they plan to help the homeless by opening public buildings as temporary shelters.

Under the program the homeless are allowed to sleep in cars in certain parking lots.

A police car stops beside tents on Skid Row in Los Angeles, California, September 23, 2015. (AFP photo)

Rasmus said the development seems to be “a short term answer” for an estimated 26,000 people living on the city’s sidewalks.

“The cost of rents has been accelerating tremendously in recent years and people’s wages have been actually going backwards. We have more people who are part time employed or unemployed and they make up a big part of the growth in the homelessness,” the professor added.

“The other group that’s homeless is people who often have some mental problems, mental illness and unfortunately in California we don’t take care of people with mental problems or illnesses very well and we kind of throw them out on the streets; and that’s been the case for several decades,” he added.