Letters to the Editor: The ‘humiliating process’ of getting and losing temporary housing in L.A.

To the editor: Your article, “Homeless and hoarding in L.A.: The special struggles and anxieties of unhoused people,” is heartbreaking and an example of the endless churning of individuals into and out of temporary housing.

Unhoused individuals go through the humiliating process of getting temporary housing only to be “kicked out” for not observing the rules, because their trauma or lack of coherent thinking prevents them from understanding rules, or because the program ended. Individuals with a disability, especially one that is cognitive or behavioral, are at a disadvantage.

It’s not the fault of case managers who work hard to match people to temporary housing; rather, it’s a lack of housing and resources for the overwhelming number of people in need.

In the community where I live, volunteers like me work with unhoused individuals for years. When those individuals are finally relocated into temporary housing, something happens — an argument, an incident, something else — and the individual is kicked out and back on the street.

And Los Angeles residents wonder why we have a homelessness problem.

Jane Demian, Los Angeles

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To the editor: Thank you for publishing long, detailed articles on the lives and times of homeless citizens.

As a retired special education teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District, I cannot understand how Mario Blanco was allowed to struggle and fail in education, without being referred for special help.

I would like to mandate that all the politicos who claim to have a solution for the problem of homelessness be required to read these articles and explain in detail how their plan deals with each of the points raised.

If only Blanco were living in my Palms neighborhood, I’d treat his dog Leo the Lion to a complimentary grooming.

Lisa Edmondson, Los Angeles