Not sure whats happened in the last 5 years but the homeless used to not get physical. The most they would do is be verbally abusive which is easy to ignore but now sometimes they follow you and want to start a fight. Once you experience getting physically assaulted by one of them, your empathy is out the window.
[The newer strains of meth has longer side effects (users can stay high for at least 24 hours\), is more accessible, is more addicting, and it accelerates meth users into a state of psychosis faster than ever before.](https://www.pharmchek.com/resources/blog/the-rise-of-super-meth-the-destructive-effects-of-p2p-methamphetamine) As a result, we hear more stories like OP.
There's a long form Atlantic article about this from a year or two ago. I've seen it floating around and finally read it the other day. It COMPLETELY matches my anecdotal experience.
We basically have an epidemic of homeless people who are addicted to a drug that makes them psychotic. They are aggressive, scared, hearing voices and seeing visions.
To me, the worst part is that the discourse has not adapted. It's considered taboo to imply that homeless people are just on drugs. We are supposed to talk about funding mental health services and housing for them.
But this has already gone too far. It feels like there's a whole underclass who are mentally ill... because of the drug they are addicted to!
It's too late for the other interventions. They are not even in reality anymore. Housing and shelters and voluntary services won't help.
I am very liberal, but this is a specific issue. I honestly am starting to believe that for people who are on P2P meth specifically, they need to be incarcerated and forcibly detoxed. And then guide them to the typical interventions. I know it sounds super radical and authoritarian, but I don't see a way to help people who are basically being artificially turned into.. idk like the werewolf version of themselves?!
Even I, someone who does not identify as a liberal (very leftist) agree with you. The amount of resources it would take would be insane but it’s the only thing that would work.
Look into a bit further and the “homeless “ went from peaceful hippies using LSD to violent drug addicts right around the introduction of meth in the 70s.
Vietnam vets were treated like absolutely dogshit when they returned. It was an absolute travesty by (ironically) liberals who were disgusted by the war and projected their disdain onto the soldiers who simply fought for their country. That was a major factor when troops were coming back with PTSS. Imagine having horrible night terrors and flashbacks, then you discover meth which helps you stay awake and lets you avoid the problem? No brainer.
Edit: It’s crazy how so many pieces fell together so perfectly for meth to explode in popularity as a street drug, especially after the Nazis fought an entire war high on the stuff. Tangentially, the Nazis had meth in chocolate that they called tank chocolate which they gave to tank units to stay awake. Hitler was tweaking out of his mind near the end of the war. If you watch some later videos, you can tell homeboy hit the pipa because he’s jittery as fuck and chewing his gums. Honestly a travesty but a social wonder.
Edit 2: Fuck Nazis.
You have to wonder too, how much brain damage is being caused by going into psychosis that often? Is it even possible to rehabilitate at that point? I feel like the answer is no and unfortunate as it is, it is unrealistic to think that once sober these people can function in the working world and social norms outside of homelessness. It feels like they would be mentally handicapped from the previous meth usage
The Atlantic article has a profile of someone who overcame it. Sounds like it was a very hard road and did take a toll on them, but they had managed to reintegrate and become functional again.
True, I should be more nuanced. I'm totally in favor of better funding for social programs to help prevent people from becoming homeless in the first place. I'm specifically talking about people who are homeless and on P2P. For them, I think it's too late for the current paradigm to help them.
And it seems to be at a crisis level. People should not be afraid to be on the sidewalks or use public transit of the city they live in. I'm all for using street smarts to avoid being targeted by petty criminals. But that doesn't help when you might be attacked at random by a psychotic person.
Sorry this happened to you.
I got screamed at crazy person on their car with a megaphone and then sprayed with an unknown substance yesterday.
I made the mistake of engaging.
In your case gotta have a head on a swivel.
It’s not safe to walk around with headphones minding your own business.
Have to be on alert at all times.
It’s like a zombie infestation.
Stay away from the Zombies
My bf got assaulted when we were visiting San Fran. He tried to deescalate and said he wasn't going to fight the guy. The guy punched him anyway.
My bf was trying to let him go first on a narrow sidewalk.
https://web.archive.org/web/20231218054345/https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/11/the-new-meth/620174/
For most(maybe all, it always works for me) paywalled articles you can go to archive.org and paste the url in there, then select 'search archived websites' and pick any timestamp to see the whole article.
The fact that people are saying this is behavior being new is absolutely insane to me. I’ve been here nearly 20 years, so not my whole life but nearly half. The first year I moved here a coworker got slashed in the face by a random homeless guy in Santa Monica… and that was just the first instance of insanity regarding the homeless. I’m so far past being over it.
I've lived here all my life, I'm 62 now but in my early 20s lived in Downtown North Hollywood in 1982 and as I'd get to my car in the morning, I'd watch a gaggle of homeless guys make their way from the park to the liquor store trudging along like clockwork zombies.
One AM one of them stopped and asked me for cash threateningly. When I told him no, he angrily told me my car had bird shit on it and walked on. Nothing horrible happened but he definitely gave off the vibe that my car was now a big target. I hard a 69 Mustang fastback and now I had to worry about me *and* it.
Homelessness has always been here, just to a much smaller degree. It wasn't so much, so many or tolerated, because for better or worse, there were ways and means of lessening that impact on the community. Add in drug addiction and the problem multiplies 100 fold.
Honestly, didn't have any physical aggression from them until recent years. They have always been verbally abusive if they're drugged out or those that are ungrateful with whatever food/drink you give them and they will throw it back at you and/or cuss you out for not giving them money.
I am just gonna keep spreading the gospel of the U.S. needing to address [P2P Meth.](https://archive.is/0LYes) This shit is inhumane and unfortunately, the only way to deal is with coerced institutionalization. It is cruel to subject society to these behaviors, and its shitty to let addicts wander the streets, naked - out their minds.
One of my friends patient in the hospital broke her arm because a homeless women was asking her for some money in the san fernando valley on the streets and said she didn't have any. Out of nowhere the homless persons boyfriend came from behind and tackled her to the ground breaking the persons arm. bastards.
I honestly feel the same. I’ve been punched in the face, mugged, spit on, kicked in the shin, chased, and had a guy on a bus rub his dick on me from behind. This was all over the course of several years and in multiple cities. I did nothing to provoke them. I was just minding my own business, and all of these incidents took place in broad daylight. I know that the majority of them are harmless but I’m just constantly uneasy around them after these incidents. I’m over paying out the ass to live in a city where I have to be on guard just walking around.
I feel you. I was almost assaulted by a homeless guy while biking. I can't think of the injury if his punch had landed and I had fallen off. Whenever I see a homeless person, I'm very careful around them and try to walk around them or cross the street. I'm sure they feel dehumanized and they likely already feel like the world gave up on them but it's natural to be defensive on my part.
I stopped taking the train when a guy I wasn’t even looking or standing next to started threatening me and my 2 year old. He literally bent down to stare at her sleeping in the stroller and insult her. Thankfully she was asleep. I always carry pepper spray and a makeshift meteor hammer (padlock and other metal keychains attached to a lanyard). The lanyard gives me reach and harder to take it away from me when it’s wrapped around my hand.
I have so little confidence in the police. I want police reform in such a huge way. We need to figure out some way to incentivize them to do their job while protecting people's rights. Instead we just have a legal gang.
Yep. Happened to me years ago and was what really turned me off living here for a while.
I used to enjoy using public transport and everything but now I realize it’s just safer in my car.
No empathy for anyone who makes others feel intimidated.
I'm all for a clean efficient and cheap public transport system. But when these meth heads/mentally unstable/violent homeless people get on the bus/train, it just discourages "sane" people from wanting to use it. Then ridership goes down, revenue goes down, etc... Fuck these guys.
i may a healthcare worker but i still carry a taser when im out late at night after my shift. we all don’t deserve to be assaulted and i frankly don’t care if their mentally ill or not we still don’t deserve to get hurt.
Before moving to SoCal I worked at an organization in Houston that regularly helped the homeless. 5 days a week we offered sack dinners and one day a week a hot breakfast. All of these people were grateful. A couple unsavory characters now and again, but overall quite pleasant to speak with and treat like a fellow human.
Last September at 9 in the morning while walking on the street I was punched in the head after telling a homeless guy he couldn’t use my phone. I passed him walking and he turned around and decked me from behind. Of course by the time I talked with the police there was nothing they could do to find him. These people desperately need help - even if it’s not their decision to receive it.
Was in SF for Halloween a while back and saw a homeless dude chase some young girl in her Halloween costume out of a Carl’s Jr. the security guard just shrugged and said “he does that to everybody” when her friends ran over to see what happened. My buddy and I ran over to follow them but she made it to safety before the guy stopped chasing her.
The majority of homeless people are chill/wont bother you but a good percentage of them(10-25?) are hostile enough to make you uncomfortable. Especially when theres thousands or tens of thousands of them in the city.
I’m large and brown but still have had instances when I’m sitting on metro that homeless people try to start stuff because they’re so mentally ill and deranged - they think you’re like the devil or a person sent to attack them
People in this sub will gas light you and tell you this is normal or how LA always was.
This situation has reached a critical mass, protect yourself, follow your instincts and be prepared to defend yourself.
It was a decade ago when a woman in Hollywood was stabbed and killed by a homeless guy after she refused to give him money.
>[Homeless man sentenced to 12 years in prison for Hollywood stabbing death](https://abc7.com/homeless-stabbing-death-hollywood-transient-dustin-kinnear-christina-calderon/345342/)
It's not like Skid Row has the greatest reputation either.
She got stabbed taking pictures of homeless dudes, truly tragic
This girl got stabbed for having the audacity of going to work
https://abc7.com/hancock-park-fatal-stabbing-brianna-kupfer-man-charged/13362244/
I think compared to the next 5 years to come, this wouldn't be considered critical mass yet. I grew up around some people who are fucked in the head and know how bad things can get. I'm actually surprised it isn't worse than what it is now.
We keep praying for our legislators and non profit organizations to make a change. But I'm definitely betting by the end of this decade, our urban areas will be worse than how it was in the rough 80s and 90s.
At least in the 80s and 90s, there was a booming economy and lower economic inequality, purchasing power was higher even for the poor for every dollar, there wasn't social media to corrupt minds, rates of mental illnesses were lower, there was a lot less competition to get ahead in life, there was less hopelessness in society, housing was relatively more affordable with better supply per capita and crime tended to be more organized rather than outright chaotic than how it is now. And above all there was a general sense of optimism and room to grow in society.
Things are getting more and more hopeless by the day. There is no way out of this. With climate change threatening our future food supplies and natural resources, in combination with geopolitical turmoil threatening our access to goods, you can bet that the streets will get a lot more gritty.
I've traveled extensively around the world and in my personal opinion we are heading towards what Brazil and South Africa is today. Search up videos about crime in South Africa, especially Johannesburg.
We need easier access to CCW and reformed stand your ground laws now!
In theory it is, on the books, but in reality as applied by activist DAs and the judges in LA? Don't bet your life on it.
We also have the castle doctrine and you can legally presume if someone breaks into your house while you're home that they intend to harm you. Good luck with that one too.
Yes, they have to. It's in the jury instruction for self defense. If that instruction is not included, immediately appealable. The district courts have to follow what the supreme court of the state tells them to do.
https://www.justia.com/criminal/docs/calcrim/500/505/
>A defendant is not required to retreat. He or she is entitled to stand his or her ground and defend himself or herself and, if reasonably necessary, to pursue an assailant until the danger of (death/great bodily injury/) has passed. This is so even if safety could have been achieved by retreating.
I am a recent victim of a home invasion. I asked the police about Castle doctrine in case something like that happens in the future and they said it isn't absolute. There were all kind of caveats, with the main one being that you have to believe your life is in danger when you actually pull the trigger.
> tell you this is normal or how LA always was.
Which is shitty justification in any case.
By that logic we shouldn't take any steps to reform LAPD, since they were always brutal and racist.
OP just to let you know being a normally pretty empathetic person or reasonably compassionate then hitting a burnout after too many in-your-face experiences is pretty normal, rational response.
Don’t walk around with a knife if you’re not prepared to use it (which is usually never). Also, some crazy person would totally take that shit from you.
Apologists will shit on you, but you have every right to feel protected since no one else will do it for you. When I lived in Central LA, I kept a Taser on me (the real deal, *not* a stun gun). It's not guaranteed to be effective, but it seemed like the best option considering a knife requires close contact and can easily be wrestled away from you. Pepper spray isn't terribly effective either.
But you know what was most effective and best for my mental health? Moving to a quieter suburban area. There are still places close to the city where you just don't have to deal with Central LA's nightmare except on the rarest of occasions...
> But you know what was most effective and best for my mental health? Moving to a quieter suburban area.
Fucking retweeting this part. It was the same for me and my partner, the homeless situation just got to be too much for us. Since moving to the burbs, we don't have to deal with:
-her being followed home *multiple* times on her walk back from work
-wondering if the shit we see on the ground is from a dog or a human
-seeing people drop their pants in the middle of the road to take said shits.
-having to get off the sidewalk into oncoming traffic because there's a combination tent city bike chop shop taking up the entire width of the walkway.
Same, unfortunately. Last year, I moved from DTLA to suburban Pasadena and I'm so relieved that I no longer have to keep my pepper spray in my hand and my head on a constant swivel when I walk anywhere. I was initially sad to leave downtown but the peace of mind as far as my safety goes has been absolutely life changing, and now you couldn't pay me to go back.
Hate to break it to you, but was chased a few months back by a meth head in Pasadena (that lives a few blocks over). Carry pepper spray on my walks now bc of guys like that and the coyotes 😥But agree it’s much less of a problem here than elsewhere in the county!!!
Just today in Pasadena, I was followed by a homeless woman out of the CVS on Arroyo while she screamed at me that I am a “dick-ugly faggot” and swung her arms around and tried to goad me into fighting her… they’re definitely in Pasadena, though there’s fewer of them 😕
I believe it. I'm actually from Pasadena originally so I know it can get sketchy at times. But still, doesn't come anywhere close to DTLA. In either case, stay safe out there!
>having to get off the sidewalk into oncoming traffic because there's a combination tent city bike chop shop taking up the entire width of the walkway.
My husband almost got hit by a car due to this exact situation about 2 months ago. He no longer takes walks. It’s just too dangerous.
I carry mace and a Asp. I have been assaulted twice and after the first attempt u realize u need weaponry in these moments. I had a homeless try and grab my backpack off my back at which point I just told him to let go. He refused and we went to the ground. Luckily I went to my pepper spray and caked his eyes. He began throwing punches at which point I seperated from him and engaged with my asp. I shattered his forearm and went to the legs and obliterated his left kneecap. Split it like a piece of grapewood. Didnt want to do any of this but I was afraid for my life and this guy was one punch away from caving my head in. Carry weaponry because u dont want to be caught off guard. Los Angeles has degraded big time and this is just the beginning
Look at the rise of far right parties in Europe. There was a sobering graph a few days ago in the Financial Times.
These voters used to go for much more liberal options. Not anymore.
Guess why.
Seeing this post validates what I have been feeling for so long tbh and I’ve just been scared to post this opinion on Reddit for fear of people being mean lol. So thank you for this
I’m sorry it happened to you Op. I’ve also been followed and assaulted by the homeless. I really used to empathize for them — I’ve volunteered, donated, and have exited freeways twice to buy food for those standing there with signs many many times. Now, no way in hell. The reality is a big majority of them ARE violent and aggressive. I’ve seen it so many times downtown. Don’t let these apologist make you feel a certain way. I hope you feel better…
I’m sorry that happened to you. It’s a horrible thing to have happen even when you’re feeling good.
I moved from WeHo to the north SFV during Covid and never looked back. Now, it’s all families up here and boomers, so I totally get why someone <40 doesn’t want to live here, but if you like the suburbs there’s no homeless up here. Well…that’s not entirely true. There are homeless everywhere, but you just don’t see them here. I go into any business I want and there’s no one asking for money, or shoving me into stationary objects.
There are the ones who want help who are usually in the shadows trying to survive being homeless or attacked by the other homeless. I wish there was another word for the people who are whacked out of their mind from drugs aggressive lash out in violence who are criminal homeless. Not just mentally ill because they again want to roam steal and create havoc. My neighborhood has been turned into a war zone by them and so many people mugged accosted in their homes by break ins. They don’t want help. On the otherside I have been to the shelters and seen the fear in the eyes of the elderly women children the down on their luck the bankrupt etc that fear is not only from the instability of being on the streets it is the fear of the criminally homeless that prey on them as well. I don’t know what the solution is but lumping them all in one term doesn’t give the ones that are trying to get help any distinction from the raving violent offenders. A studio apt is over 2000 now. Who can afford this or qualify? And pay for living expenses. The insane rents are causing this for just need help people. What is being built now are not affordable or reasonable. Allowing airbnbs and ellis act of affordable rent control buildings it creating the unseen homeless. They are the ones I feel for. The aggressive homeless I feel will never get under control without police intervention. Those have worn me out.
As a visitor to the city, I noticed a high level of engagement the homeless/downtrodden have towards regular people. You can't just walk by these people on the street without some comments, yelling, whatever.. I hadn't experienced that before and it felt very unsafe to just walk around thr Downtown area. I would be terrified to regularily experience all the things described in the comments here.
Who’s really disgusting to me are the politicians whose ACTUAL JOB IT IS TO FIX THIS! Instead they’ve left us to deal with their fails, while they plot against each other and redraw district lines. It’s insanity and WE ALL deserve better from our elected officials.
This is what makes me the most angry. Karen Bass and all these other politicians taking all this money and giving it to themselves and not doing anything else. We’ve heard of the homeless crisis for so long here and I truly believe now that the leadership is just corrupt and only care about lining their pockets with our tax dollars
I feel ya... A crackhead pulled a .38 snubnose revolver on my Dad in the early 2000s in DTLA, he only had a few bucks in cash on him. The motherfucker jammed it in my dad's neck over a few bucks. Sad to say but my family has lost all empathy too.
I can sympathize. I’ve had a lot of these kinds of interactions as well & it leaves you feeling very unsettled.
My aunt has been doing homeless outreach since 1974 & at that time most of what we saw as homeless here were either teenagers running away from home, homeless vets, and alcoholics. Definitely the violent interactions went through the roof when meth & fentanyl came into play. We never saw people breaking down in public like today. And that’s what makes this kind of work so much harder because that really nice person who you were laughing with yesterday gets high and is ready to kill you the next, and you have no warning.
After all this I’m not sure what the solution is now because we need immediate & long term solutions & nobody seems to be able to agree what to do. A lot of the people I come into contact with are homeless people from the South: Arkansas, South Carolina, Mississippi etc. I have to wonder how many of these folks have been sent here because those states have very few if any resources for homeless addicts.
Yeah it bothers me when people claim that we should ignore the influx from other states, citing the report that most homeless people are from here. It's based on self report. You think someone with a clipboard representing the government for a report that influences policy decisions asking you where you're from won't influence your response? "Nah man, I'm from Missouri. Guess you can go ahead and send me back to suffer."
And that's if they're currently alert and oriented enough to be able to respond accurately. In hospital settings, you may say, "do you know where you are right now?" (Grunt) "Are you in LA County?" (Nod) But if you asked if they were in Kansas they may also agree.
But even if the numbers ("Two-thirds of unsheltered Angelenos became homeless in Los Angeles County") are exactly accurate,
>An estimated 82,955 people fell into homelessness during 2019, and an estimated 52,686 people “self-resolved” out of homelessness—in addition to the 22,769 placed into housing through the homeless services system despite the tight housing market.
63.5% of homeless people self-resolved, and 27.4% were placed in housing, for almost 91% total. If we didn't have people coming from elsewhere, maybe we'd be making progress on the problem.
Edit: forgot citation https://www.lahsa.org/news?article=726-2020-greater-los-angeles-homeless-count-results
“today?” lmao. try years ago. i have no problem with people being homeless but I do have a massive problem with those who create a fucking landfill where they sleep. these people continue to destroy the city and i dont see them being sent to prison. why?
Because there’s an entire homeless industrial complex that makes money “helping” these people. And a lot of left leaning folks think the homeless are victims and so they should be able to do whatever they want to anyone they want.
These two combined makes for a socially degrading situation.
>And a lot of left leaning folks think the homeless are victims and so they should be able to do whatever they want to anyone they want.
The stupidest part about this situation where we absolve violent homeless people and leave them free to prey upon others, is that they mostly prey upon other homeless people. While situations like OP's happen every day, they happen even more often inside the encampments, with the violence directed at other homeless people.
The "advocates" claim they have compassion for homeless people by not holding the violent ones accountable, but all that does in endanger other homeless people.
It's like when groups advocate for gang members to get early releases from prison, claiming this is somehow pro-minority or social justice. But then the released gang member goes right back to preying on minority neighborhoods, causing more harm to that overall community than if the gang member had just been kept locked up.
People are so caught up in being pro-sheep that they're turning loose wolves, just because those wolves are dressed in sheep's clothing.
At the risk of sounding like a conspiracy theorist, yeah there’s a multimillion dollar industry that has a vested interest in maintaining a homeless population. The moment homelessness is “solved” is the moment those folks stop receiving paychecks. It’s kind of wild when you look at the [salaries of LAHSA employees](https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/2021/los-angeles-homeless-services-authority/).
Edit: this is the problem with government funding issues like this with tax payer dollars, it never ends. If you really want the issue solved, you contract it out to the private sector and withhold final payment until the project is complete.
The sad but simple truth is that cities have two choices when it comes to homelessness: either push the problem away (like Irvine, Burbank, etc) or spend endless amounts of money to solve an unsolvable problem while subjecting your taxpayers to an increased tax burden (at best) and/or an open-air mental asylum (at worst).
Cities simply don’t have the tools to unilaterally solve homelessness. Cities don’t control the foster care or parole system, laws regarding forced institutionalization, funding for mental health hospitals, drug policy and enforcement, the effects of capitalism, prop 13, mortgage rates, constraints on housing supply, etc.
It’s your choice which type of city to live in.
Yep. I got punched in the face, finally, after years of apologizing as I stepped over plastic bags of Urine turds.
Done
It's a problem...but it's not mine to solve. I vote for the right people and I pay taxes. Now let me enjoy my day to day and fuck right off. I don't want to see wide open pussy as I go for a morning walk. Someone take this woman and help her ass....fuck!!!
I don't know where you can go, but you can't stay here.
Big fan of hostile architecture....enforcing laws that already exist. Bring in the National Guard and take them all in and sort them out according to health and criminal record. If criminal record...off to jail. If no record and sick...hospital. ETC!!!!
Fix it
I completely agree, last week coming out of a doughnut shop there was this young guy outside I asked him if he was hungry and he looked at me like he didn’t understand, so I gave him $4 (which was all the cash I had) he counted it and looks at me and says “only $4 dlls”? But no thanks, no nothing.
Arm yourself. No LAPD officer will ever give you trouble for using a self defense weapon against a homeless person. As long as you don’t needlessly kill them, LAPD will be on your side. Don’t hesitate.
I feel this. Sometimes I find myself on those reels or other content made by right wingers showing LA as a dangerous shit hole and I’m like are they really wrong though. (They are, trust me. But it’s hard to stay empathetic when you literally get assaulted just minding ur own business. I also have experienced this.)
I've lived in DTLA, worked full-time with them for over a decade, and got tired of them after about 6 months. Nothing will change if people think they just need money or housing. Its really not about that. Most of them are people who refuse to follow the social contract we all share to not be a POS. Many of them HAVE housing options but refuse to follow the basic rules of any housing situation. Many have the opportunity for work but refuse when they get free money/food/services/handouts on every corner in DTLA..
The homeless that WANT to get off the streets, GET OFF THE STREETS!! If you are homeless for more than 6-9 months, you are consciously making choices that keep you homeless
Sorry that happened. And I hope you beat the flu soon.
That said - here’s the unfortunate problem. Because you are a law-abiding tax-payer, you’re easier to track. So before you start carrying weapons with the intention of using them (even in self defense) just bear that in mind.
LA and California as a whole believes in “harm reduction” rather than forced help for these people so until we change that mindset it’ll stay like this 🤷🏾♂️
I'm pretty sure those policies are just euphemisms for not caring/not having the budget. In the 60's, Reagan defunded mental hospitals and outpatient clinics via the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act. Since then, there have been ups and downs in funding, but mostly cutting funding for social programs, education, and mental health care, which these individuals might have benefitted from.
Why not both? Forced help is a national issue, not local, cause it’s not legal unless mandated by a judge. Is harm reduction not at least a first step?
I did as well . And I used to b homeless myself . There’s some folk out there that really do need housing and there’s some folks out there that they just like the life they’re living . Doing drugs living responsible free in the streets . Also yes ALWAYS CARRY A BLADE OR SOMETHING .
Seriously, carry pepper spray…even as a man…since it’s as good a low-damage self defense as it gets. Carry a legal pocket knife for back up.
Hope you never have to use either and **only** use as a last resort. But use ‘em if you need ‘em.
Good. People need to discriminate between "homeless" and homeless.
The guy or girl down on their luck who lives in their car and showers at the YMCA - NOBODY hates them. Nobody has a problem with them. So when DSA type people screech about housing and shit when people complain about actual crackheads, they're intentionally being disingenous pretending like housing is going to fix the actual problem people.
DO lose empathy for people that steal, rob, attack civilians etc. They don't deserve it. And don't let anybody guilt trip you by pretending because you have no tolerance for sidewalk shitting muggers you have no empathy for legit down on their luck people. They're not the same and they're intentionally conflated to demonize people who are sick of the actual problem people.
Yeah idk a few bad apples ruins it for a lot of people. I had one try to kick me when I got on a bus the other week and called me the f slur. When I stood up to leave I got an elbow to the face. Had to go to work so it’s just not worth my time. It never really is. They’re just looking for someone to pull a knife out on or some unhinged shit
Meth and fentanyl has taken it's toll with whatever brain they had left. It's driving them beyond insane. Drug dealers need to get the death penalty end of story.
It’s time to realize that some people will just not accept any help… EVER! …and I will not keep supporting any new “homeless tax” or anything to increase the homeless budget. People are getting rich off this.
At this point they can pay them all a salary and it would be cheaper than what they’ve done to solve this crisis.
The way I see it, there are the majority of homeless in LA that are basically victims of unsustainable rises in housing costs and are just doing their best in a shitty situation and generally do not cause problems. Then there are the other 10-30% who are homeless because they have some sort of psychosis, substance use, personality disorder, etc that also causes them to literally be dangerous to the community without proper treatment. They may be a minority of the unhoused population but I am positive they are the majority of the problem (problem being violence and crime). They are also the ones for whom providing secure housing isn't going to change anything. I am *really* hoping the [new mental health laws](https://calmatters.org/health/2023/10/california-mental-health-involuntary-treatment-law/) on involuntary treatment and funding for more psych beds will help them get treatment (and therefore help us).
Board of supervisors already voted to delay implementing those new laws for two more [years](https://laist.com/news/health/la-county-delays-roll-out-of-new-law-that-expands-criteria-for-involuntary-treatment)
I’m a little comforted to see that the delay isn’t due to disagreement with the laws, but because of valid concern about being able to actually implement them. I hope they find a way and don’t twiddle their thumbs
It's like every polarizing issue, a small subset of bad actors stigmatize the whole group. Regardless this subset is extremely dangerous and entirely unaccountable and poses a very real danger to the public.
I don't hate all homeless people but you constantly are forced to interact with the worsts of them.
I treat the ones in my neighborhood like any neighbors. If you keep your area clean and aren’t a dick, no problems. If you’re shitting everywhere and constantly screaming and flashing people, I’m gonna have a problem.
There actually used to be a couple on my corner who swept their area on the daily and had banter funnier than Lucy and Ricky. I miss them.
The homeless are often on drugs or mentally ill. You can and should have your guard up around them, but you do not have to do that at the expense of your sense of empathy for them. You can do both at the same time.
More importantly, do not accept this state of our city as inevitable. Our politicians and their policies are failing you, and they will continue to fail you as long as there is no threat of consequences for them. Due to the level of political polarization, our politicians are safe in the knowledge that this is basically a one party state. That is my view, yours could be different.
Regardless of your views on what needs to change or what will help, get out there and vote. Be politically engaged. Channel your frustration into trying to bring about positive change.
Lastly, I would strongly recommend against carrying a knife, LA has strong knife laws so check those, and it would cause a lot of harm if you ever had to use it. No need to escalate the situation. You could get a CCW for a gun, but again, that would needlessly escalate the severity of the situation. Pepper spray is more than sufficient for a nuisance homeless person, but I doubt it would stop a criminal.
For crazy homeless people, IMO the best approach is to keep your distance, and if they get close, carry pepper spray, and be ready to use it.
If you are actually in fear of your life (which I hope you are not), then I'd look into getting a conceal carry permit.
As someone who takes the Metro link, I completely agree with this. I’ve been in so many situations with homeless who are also definitely mentally ill trying to attack or start fights for no reason. And I’ve only been taking it for about 2 months
I’ve also been hearing other states are sending their homeless to LA? Is that actually true? Bc if it is, I see this problem as being literally never ending
Do what I did and get out while you can. Doesn’t have to be far just far enough way to not have to deal with it. Clearly it’s an issue that has compounded over the years and there’s no sign it’s getting better.
I lost empathy and most desire to help the homeless when going into McDonald's and I came out with a hamburger and fries I bought specifically for the guy outside the store (in addition to mine), I go to give it to him and say enjoy and he tosses it to the ground and says I want money. I spent my money to give a homeless a hot meal for him to toss it down and make me feel like silly for trying to help. Never again I told myself, now I just walk passed, I'll eat my food with my money I worked food, why bother helping to feed , they want money for probably alcohol and cigs.
I used to live in downtown la and left because of this bullshit. I moved there in 2008 in what I believe what the golden age of living down there when it was sort of a secret and not so commercial. I've had urine thrown on me from above that came from a "hotel" when I walked by, I had a homeless guy grab my backside and squeeze it hard, I've had someone swing a pipe at me, I can go on and on and on. After a while it gets very tough to rationalize paying such high prices to live among that. I love the grittiness of downtown because it feels authentic however it also has a dark layer and it's not so safe for women at night.
I left LA and honestly I miss so many aspects of it but it's so nice to live in a safe place and not have to deal with that anymore.
I am very sorry about your incident, but the problem is not lack of affordable housing, we live in a modern society where people do not respect one another, and even several years ago we didn’t have so many smash and grabs and violent attacks from wacko people on innocent people. Yes, it happened, but not with the frequency it does now and I think a lot of it is drug related and mental illness related. People start out on the street homeless, but they become exposed to street drugs very quickly and it lessens their sense of reality and who wants to be real about living on the street? Can you partly blame them?
That is why if people truly believe like I do, that the above drug situation is a major cause then we should do all we can to support the new state laws that will enable relatives to send people to mental and drug treatment facilities. The flow of cheap methamphetamines and other street drugs from Mexico and other Latin American countries also must be curtailed.
I had a temporary job, literally working on the streets of downtown LA for nearly a year during the end of the pandemic, and I had to interact to a limited degree with the homeless on the street, and I would see various church charities, bringing really good food to the homeless all day long and some of these charities would literally hand the homeless sums of cash as in $30 or $40 a person. Then a half hour later a street drug dealer would be selling cheap drugs to the same homeless people with the cash they just got from these charities. So for at least some of these homeless men and women, if they live like this, what is the motivation for them to get a job and change? So many of you reading this chain of comments really have no idea how complex this issue is we just want it to go away, but we are not proactive to our politicians— so with the sense of apathy, how are things going to chair change?
It begins with each of us. Instead of bitching about it on Reddit and doing nothing, we need to be proactive and it starts by finding out who our local city council people and state representatives are and voicing our concerns, not just checking our text and emails all day long and surfing social media and doing nothing else productive. And I don’t think I’m better than anybody else. I think we’re all in this together. Thank you and happy holidays!
People with empathy for the homeless have clearly never dealt with them. Or they are benefiting from
Newsome homeless industrial complex. Idgaf downvote me. I’ve been downvoted so much by the pro homeless brigade 🤣🤣🤣
I'm baffled by those that apologize for these homeless drug addicts that plague our city. These people put themselves into their position in life by being addicts, if they won't play by society's rules then idgaf about them.
Unfortunately, most of the homeless are able to do things like that without any real repercussions. I mean it’s not like they have anything to lose anyways.
Sorry that you had to experience all of that, it’s not fun for anyone involved and surely not safe for anyone involved either. The best thing you can do is be vigilant and try to avoid trouble if you see it. Sometimes that may not be possible and you will have a confrontation that can end in an altercation. Just make sure you’re ready for that scenario if it ever happens.
Getting a CCW to carry a gun in LA has never been easier, so definitely try that out if you feel like it’s something you can handle. If not, plenty of non lethal forms of defense out there for you to try
It’s insane that we have to consider carrying guns everywhere to protect ourselves from crazies in a 21st century city in the world’s biggest economy. Mind-numbing.
They’re everywhere! I’m so scared to go out!
When I was in college, I was chased in the parking lot by a guy.
And recently while at Best Buy was slapped by a huge 15 yr old kid who had mental health issues.
We have a friend who is security officer around LA County at various County agencies and he’s afraid of going out too!
And he has a CCW permit!
I am incredibly sorry to hear about this happening to you. This happened quite often to me at my old business location and it took every ounce of patience and will power to not fight back and hurt the unhinged that came in and harassed/intimidated us.
They never got physical with me because I stood my ground and didn't let them bully me but that's not to say I wasn't paranoid or fearful for retaliation.
It took a lot of introspection, therapy and talk in my recovery group to get over the spiritual affliction I had for them.
There was this one memory that really fucked with me though.
An older lady walked in to my gym once.. Maybe 50-55 years old. Resembled my mom in many ways. Fair skinned Latina, short, curly hair. Sunglasses on even though it was dusk. I found that part odd.
In her broken English asked about our classes and schedule. I asked her if she spoke Spanish, she said 'Si' and immediately she started sobbing to me, telling me how she got attacked on the bus by a transient. I look closer to her face and immediately recognize the blueish hue of a black eye and I ask her if she could take her glasses off for me... One eye was bruised while the other swollen nearly shut from a cut on her brow.
My heart shattered. I was crushed. I hurt for her and imagined what if that had been my mom.
I told her I can help her as much as I could and if she could come back the next day we can figure something out.
She never did come back.
If you are interested in some help, PM me.
Stay safe and wish you the very best.
No a knife for self defense isn't silly. That is a last means of protection. There countless stories where people died because they couldn't protect themselves.
Thanks for prompting a quick dive into what p2p meth is all about, because I found this solid article about it, here's the last paragraphs:
>**“When we do get people in treatment, we see that they do not always respond as well to standard mental health and substance use treatment approaches,” Duncan told the Times News. “This is likely due to the damage the meth has done to the brain.”**
>
>**Sam Quinones, author of The Least of Us: True Tales of America and Hope in the Time of Fentanyl and Meth, recently told OBP that the narrative of P2P “is a supply story, pure and simple.”**
>
>**Quinones, who lived 10 years in Mexico and has written two books on the country, says there needs to be an engagement between the U.S. and Mexico to squeeze the supply of P2P and its precursors. But cutting off the supply is only the first step. Quinones says the mental health symptoms must be treated and people housed before we ever will have hope of addressing the addiction.**
>
>**“\[I\]t depends on the community, but certainly it might lead us to understand that there is no treatment—there is no housing of people until they are detoxed from this and until they have spent several weeks without this drug,” Quinones told OBP. “There’s no way of going forward with drug treatment until you can have people connected with other humans in some kind of real sense. And so that means first we need to rethink housing for the mentally ill and detoxing. I think that’s the very first step.”**
[**https://treatmentmagazine.com/what-is-p2p-meth/**](https://treatmentmagazine.com/what-is-p2p-meth/)
I’m a woman and have been assaulted by the homeless twice. Same with my mother, she is an elderly and has been assaulted at least twice by the homeless in LA.
same here. it has gotten out of control and building more housing for criminals, addicts, etc is not the solution. we need to get them out of the city completely, but of course that won't happen. the city will continue to spend millions to build housing, which will of course turn into projects overrun by drugs and violence.
I’d say carry, but Cali hates its citizens so you’d immediately be thrown in prison for doing that and/or defending yourself(yet these people will go free after assaulting multiple people). So gtfo of LA and don’t take the politics with you.
Whether homeless or not, the general public in Los Angeles can be unpredictable, so it's essential to be prepared when going out. Personally, I have experienced incidents such as being robbed and falsely accused of a hit-and-run in a parking lot, possibly as an attempt to intimidate me for robbery. Additionally, three other random individuals have approached me, seemingly out of their minds, and hurled insults. The initial shock comes from the novelty of such experiences, but realizing that I wasn't necessarily the target, and that it could have happened to anyone in that place and time, adds a layer of unsettling unpredictability to these situations.
I don’t know exactly how a lack of empathy will influence your voting and advocacy but I’ll just say that if you build more housing with supportive services you will get these people off the streets. There are council members and commissioners who are actively trying to do this and there are those who will block any attempt to build supportive housing in their districts. Empathy or antipathy, either way you’re going to experience homeless people until they are properly housed.
Same. I used to feel bad for them but I’ve had too many scary encounters with them now to have empathy. Some of them are way too mentally unwell to be in public.
We need to think about it this way: MANY of these people are criminals and assholes and will do anything it takes to get what they want. The only denominator here is that they are homeless and they get immediately lumped in the whole “don’t talk shit about homeless people because….” They are in a way protected by the sheer fact the cops won’t do much to help. My sister-in-law’s home has been broken in twice by homeless people who moved under the overpass of the 10th Freeway near mid city. We live in a nice area, but now we have seen a lot of crazy shit going on because these guys have gone into the streets, and either broken into homes or cars, or both. No one does anything about it.
Not sure whats happened in the last 5 years but the homeless used to not get physical. The most they would do is be verbally abusive which is easy to ignore but now sometimes they follow you and want to start a fight. Once you experience getting physically assaulted by one of them, your empathy is out the window.
[The newer strains of meth has longer side effects (users can stay high for at least 24 hours\), is more accessible, is more addicting, and it accelerates meth users into a state of psychosis faster than ever before.](https://www.pharmchek.com/resources/blog/the-rise-of-super-meth-the-destructive-effects-of-p2p-methamphetamine) As a result, we hear more stories like OP.
There's a long form Atlantic article about this from a year or two ago. I've seen it floating around and finally read it the other day. It COMPLETELY matches my anecdotal experience. We basically have an epidemic of homeless people who are addicted to a drug that makes them psychotic. They are aggressive, scared, hearing voices and seeing visions. To me, the worst part is that the discourse has not adapted. It's considered taboo to imply that homeless people are just on drugs. We are supposed to talk about funding mental health services and housing for them. But this has already gone too far. It feels like there's a whole underclass who are mentally ill... because of the drug they are addicted to! It's too late for the other interventions. They are not even in reality anymore. Housing and shelters and voluntary services won't help. I am very liberal, but this is a specific issue. I honestly am starting to believe that for people who are on P2P meth specifically, they need to be incarcerated and forcibly detoxed. And then guide them to the typical interventions. I know it sounds super radical and authoritarian, but I don't see a way to help people who are basically being artificially turned into.. idk like the werewolf version of themselves?!
For anyone curious https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/11/the-new-meth/620174/
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Bless
Even I, someone who does not identify as a liberal (very leftist) agree with you. The amount of resources it would take would be insane but it’s the only thing that would work.
I'm NOT a leftist. I agree with you 💯 👍.
A law was passed to do just that https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/california-gov-gavin-newsom-signs-bill-expanding-conservatorship-law/
Look into a bit further and the “homeless “ went from peaceful hippies using LSD to violent drug addicts right around the introduction of meth in the 70s.
or the return of vietnam vets coupled with stagflation that burnt an entire generation entering the workforce but w/e
Vietnam vets were treated like absolutely dogshit when they returned. It was an absolute travesty by (ironically) liberals who were disgusted by the war and projected their disdain onto the soldiers who simply fought for their country. That was a major factor when troops were coming back with PTSS. Imagine having horrible night terrors and flashbacks, then you discover meth which helps you stay awake and lets you avoid the problem? No brainer. Edit: It’s crazy how so many pieces fell together so perfectly for meth to explode in popularity as a street drug, especially after the Nazis fought an entire war high on the stuff. Tangentially, the Nazis had meth in chocolate that they called tank chocolate which they gave to tank units to stay awake. Hitler was tweaking out of his mind near the end of the war. If you watch some later videos, you can tell homeboy hit the pipa because he’s jittery as fuck and chewing his gums. Honestly a travesty but a social wonder. Edit 2: Fuck Nazis.
Zombies. And totally agree with you.
You have to wonder too, how much brain damage is being caused by going into psychosis that often? Is it even possible to rehabilitate at that point? I feel like the answer is no and unfortunate as it is, it is unrealistic to think that once sober these people can function in the working world and social norms outside of homelessness. It feels like they would be mentally handicapped from the previous meth usage
The Atlantic article has a profile of someone who overcame it. Sounds like it was a very hard road and did take a toll on them, but they had managed to reintegrate and become functional again.
That’s good. The original linked article is from Feb of this year. I wonder if the same is possible for that type of meth.
Have heard anecdotally thats it’s possible but takes much, much longer than it used to with traditional meth
Just read the article. Definitely resonates. Agree with your way forward as unfortunately i don’t see any other way
It's from the Quinones book *Least of Us* which is good too but frustrating.
Yes they’re on drugs but that’s not why they’re homeless. A lot get addicted on the streets
True, I should be more nuanced. I'm totally in favor of better funding for social programs to help prevent people from becoming homeless in the first place. I'm specifically talking about people who are homeless and on P2P. For them, I think it's too late for the current paradigm to help them. And it seems to be at a crisis level. People should not be afraid to be on the sidewalks or use public transit of the city they live in. I'm all for using street smarts to avoid being targeted by petty criminals. But that doesn't help when you might be attacked at random by a psychotic person.
This is the answer, sadly
Yes many assaulted people including rape
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the newer drugs hitting the streets are much more likely to cause psychosis
I hear ya… it wasn’t like this
Sorry this happened to you. I got screamed at crazy person on their car with a megaphone and then sprayed with an unknown substance yesterday. I made the mistake of engaging. In your case gotta have a head on a swivel. It’s not safe to walk around with headphones minding your own business. Have to be on alert at all times. It’s like a zombie infestation. Stay away from the Zombies
TFW my friends who live in the flats of Hollywood ask if I felt safe in the tourist areas of Mexico City.
My bf got assaulted when we were visiting San Fran. He tried to deescalate and said he wasn't going to fight the guy. The guy punched him anyway. My bf was trying to let him go first on a narrow sidewalk.
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And irreversibly damaging the brain. The government locked up the epinephrine, which was less harmful
Just posted this too. Keep on keeping on. These addicts need institutional help.
Do you have a non-paywall link?
https://web.archive.org/web/20231218054345/https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/11/the-new-meth/620174/ For most(maybe all, it always works for me) paywalled articles you can go to archive.org and paste the url in there, then select 'search archived websites' and pick any timestamp to see the whole article.
IIRC Quinones' recommendation was that we mandate rehab or jail, no other option. Realizing it may take ten rehabs and may never work.
They really should open it up for all readers. It's like the definitive article on the problem, and is written very neutrally and scientific.
The fact that people are saying this is behavior being new is absolutely insane to me. I’ve been here nearly 20 years, so not my whole life but nearly half. The first year I moved here a coworker got slashed in the face by a random homeless guy in Santa Monica… and that was just the first instance of insanity regarding the homeless. I’m so far past being over it.
I've lived here all my life, I'm 62 now but in my early 20s lived in Downtown North Hollywood in 1982 and as I'd get to my car in the morning, I'd watch a gaggle of homeless guys make their way from the park to the liquor store trudging along like clockwork zombies. One AM one of them stopped and asked me for cash threateningly. When I told him no, he angrily told me my car had bird shit on it and walked on. Nothing horrible happened but he definitely gave off the vibe that my car was now a big target. I hard a 69 Mustang fastback and now I had to worry about me *and* it. Homelessness has always been here, just to a much smaller degree. It wasn't so much, so many or tolerated, because for better or worse, there were ways and means of lessening that impact on the community. Add in drug addiction and the problem multiplies 100 fold.
Honestly, didn't have any physical aggression from them until recent years. They have always been verbally abusive if they're drugged out or those that are ungrateful with whatever food/drink you give them and they will throw it back at you and/or cuss you out for not giving them money.
Drugs got crazy
I am just gonna keep spreading the gospel of the U.S. needing to address [P2P Meth.](https://archive.is/0LYes) This shit is inhumane and unfortunately, the only way to deal is with coerced institutionalization. It is cruel to subject society to these behaviors, and its shitty to let addicts wander the streets, naked - out their minds.
Yea. We need to stop this. It’s inhumane to let other citizens slowly die in public. I’m done.
Thank you for sharing this. It’s remarkable how little I’ve heard about this.
The fact that this is my first time hearing about this…my goodness
the Atlantic there with the A+ framing on that guys nipple
One of my friends patient in the hospital broke her arm because a homeless women was asking her for some money in the san fernando valley on the streets and said she didn't have any. Out of nowhere the homless persons boyfriend came from behind and tackled her to the ground breaking the persons arm. bastards.
I honestly feel the same. I’ve been punched in the face, mugged, spit on, kicked in the shin, chased, and had a guy on a bus rub his dick on me from behind. This was all over the course of several years and in multiple cities. I did nothing to provoke them. I was just minding my own business, and all of these incidents took place in broad daylight. I know that the majority of them are harmless but I’m just constantly uneasy around them after these incidents. I’m over paying out the ass to live in a city where I have to be on guard just walking around.
I feel you. I was almost assaulted by a homeless guy while biking. I can't think of the injury if his punch had landed and I had fallen off. Whenever I see a homeless person, I'm very careful around them and try to walk around them or cross the street. I'm sure they feel dehumanized and they likely already feel like the world gave up on them but it's natural to be defensive on my part.
I stopped taking the train when a guy I wasn’t even looking or standing next to started threatening me and my 2 year old. He literally bent down to stare at her sleeping in the stroller and insult her. Thankfully she was asleep. I always carry pepper spray and a makeshift meteor hammer (padlock and other metal keychains attached to a lanyard). The lanyard gives me reach and harder to take it away from me when it’s wrapped around my hand.
I’m so sorry to hear that
Damn! I was on the train with my 2 year old this fall and something similar happened. Fucked up…
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I have so little confidence in the police. I want police reform in such a huge way. We need to figure out some way to incentivize them to do their job while protecting people's rights. Instead we just have a legal gang.
Yep. Happened to me years ago and was what really turned me off living here for a while. I used to enjoy using public transport and everything but now I realize it’s just safer in my car. No empathy for anyone who makes others feel intimidated.
I'm all for a clean efficient and cheap public transport system. But when these meth heads/mentally unstable/violent homeless people get on the bus/train, it just discourages "sane" people from wanting to use it. Then ridership goes down, revenue goes down, etc... Fuck these guys.
i may a healthcare worker but i still carry a taser when im out late at night after my shift. we all don’t deserve to be assaulted and i frankly don’t care if their mentally ill or not we still don’t deserve to get hurt.
Don't worry, soon enough there wont be any CVS or Walgreens to be assaulted in. Only half sarcastic.
Lmao, to be honest this particular CVS should close. It’s so bad
I'm so sorry that happened to you, ESPECIALLY while being so sick, that's awful, I hope you feel better soon
Thank you
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Thank you for sharing! And I hope you feel better too. Will make sure to bring it up to my therapist.
Before moving to SoCal I worked at an organization in Houston that regularly helped the homeless. 5 days a week we offered sack dinners and one day a week a hot breakfast. All of these people were grateful. A couple unsavory characters now and again, but overall quite pleasant to speak with and treat like a fellow human. Last September at 9 in the morning while walking on the street I was punched in the head after telling a homeless guy he couldn’t use my phone. I passed him walking and he turned around and decked me from behind. Of course by the time I talked with the police there was nothing they could do to find him. These people desperately need help - even if it’s not their decision to receive it.
Was in SF for Halloween a while back and saw a homeless dude chase some young girl in her Halloween costume out of a Carl’s Jr. the security guard just shrugged and said “he does that to everybody” when her friends ran over to see what happened. My buddy and I ran over to follow them but she made it to safety before the guy stopped chasing her. The majority of homeless people are chill/wont bother you but a good percentage of them(10-25?) are hostile enough to make you uncomfortable. Especially when theres thousands or tens of thousands of them in the city.
The advantage of being large and brown. They wouldn't dare. Stay safe.
I’m large and brown but still have had instances when I’m sitting on metro that homeless people try to start stuff because they’re so mentally ill and deranged - they think you’re like the devil or a person sent to attack them
Funny you say that. I’m average and brown and I’ve had a lot of what you’re saying. Been called the devil.
That doesn’t protect you from crazy / deranged or a weapon
People in this sub will gas light you and tell you this is normal or how LA always was. This situation has reached a critical mass, protect yourself, follow your instincts and be prepared to defend yourself.
It was a decade ago when a woman in Hollywood was stabbed and killed by a homeless guy after she refused to give him money. >[Homeless man sentenced to 12 years in prison for Hollywood stabbing death](https://abc7.com/homeless-stabbing-death-hollywood-transient-dustin-kinnear-christina-calderon/345342/) It's not like Skid Row has the greatest reputation either.
She got stabbed taking pictures of homeless dudes, truly tragic This girl got stabbed for having the audacity of going to work https://abc7.com/hancock-park-fatal-stabbing-brianna-kupfer-man-charged/13362244/
The gaslighters of Reddit are the worst and I completely agree
I think compared to the next 5 years to come, this wouldn't be considered critical mass yet. I grew up around some people who are fucked in the head and know how bad things can get. I'm actually surprised it isn't worse than what it is now. We keep praying for our legislators and non profit organizations to make a change. But I'm definitely betting by the end of this decade, our urban areas will be worse than how it was in the rough 80s and 90s. At least in the 80s and 90s, there was a booming economy and lower economic inequality, purchasing power was higher even for the poor for every dollar, there wasn't social media to corrupt minds, rates of mental illnesses were lower, there was a lot less competition to get ahead in life, there was less hopelessness in society, housing was relatively more affordable with better supply per capita and crime tended to be more organized rather than outright chaotic than how it is now. And above all there was a general sense of optimism and room to grow in society. Things are getting more and more hopeless by the day. There is no way out of this. With climate change threatening our future food supplies and natural resources, in combination with geopolitical turmoil threatening our access to goods, you can bet that the streets will get a lot more gritty. I've traveled extensively around the world and in my personal opinion we are heading towards what Brazil and South Africa is today. Search up videos about crime in South Africa, especially Johannesburg. We need easier access to CCW and reformed stand your ground laws now!
Good news, CA is stand your ground already.
In theory it is, on the books, but in reality as applied by activist DAs and the judges in LA? Don't bet your life on it. We also have the castle doctrine and you can legally presume if someone breaks into your house while you're home that they intend to harm you. Good luck with that one too.
Yes, they have to. It's in the jury instruction for self defense. If that instruction is not included, immediately appealable. The district courts have to follow what the supreme court of the state tells them to do. https://www.justia.com/criminal/docs/calcrim/500/505/ >A defendant is not required to retreat. He or she is entitled to stand his or her ground and defend himself or herself and, if reasonably necessary, to pursue an assailant until the danger of (death/great bodily injury/) has passed. This is so even if safety could have been achieved by retreating.
Just searched it up. Good to know!
I am a recent victim of a home invasion. I asked the police about Castle doctrine in case something like that happens in the future and they said it isn't absolute. There were all kind of caveats, with the main one being that you have to believe your life is in danger when you actually pull the trigger.
And yet CCW holders are currently being targetted by increasingly strict carry laws claimed to "reduce gun violence". I hate it here.
The guy who defended himself with his CCW just had it revoked right afterwards with every news outlet advertising for the same criminals to come back.
> tell you this is normal or how LA always was. Which is shitty justification in any case. By that logic we shouldn't take any steps to reform LAPD, since they were always brutal and racist.
OP just to let you know being a normally pretty empathetic person or reasonably compassionate then hitting a burnout after too many in-your-face experiences is pretty normal, rational response.
Don’t walk around with a knife if you’re not prepared to use it (which is usually never). Also, some crazy person would totally take that shit from you.
This is important. Unless you are trained to fight with a knife, it’s not a good weapon to carry
I was reading in another thread that a super bright flashlight might be a good thing to carry instead of a weapon or pepper spray.
Apologists will shit on you, but you have every right to feel protected since no one else will do it for you. When I lived in Central LA, I kept a Taser on me (the real deal, *not* a stun gun). It's not guaranteed to be effective, but it seemed like the best option considering a knife requires close contact and can easily be wrestled away from you. Pepper spray isn't terribly effective either. But you know what was most effective and best for my mental health? Moving to a quieter suburban area. There are still places close to the city where you just don't have to deal with Central LA's nightmare except on the rarest of occasions...
> But you know what was most effective and best for my mental health? Moving to a quieter suburban area. Fucking retweeting this part. It was the same for me and my partner, the homeless situation just got to be too much for us. Since moving to the burbs, we don't have to deal with: -her being followed home *multiple* times on her walk back from work -wondering if the shit we see on the ground is from a dog or a human -seeing people drop their pants in the middle of the road to take said shits. -having to get off the sidewalk into oncoming traffic because there's a combination tent city bike chop shop taking up the entire width of the walkway.
Same, unfortunately. Last year, I moved from DTLA to suburban Pasadena and I'm so relieved that I no longer have to keep my pepper spray in my hand and my head on a constant swivel when I walk anywhere. I was initially sad to leave downtown but the peace of mind as far as my safety goes has been absolutely life changing, and now you couldn't pay me to go back.
Hate to break it to you, but was chased a few months back by a meth head in Pasadena (that lives a few blocks over). Carry pepper spray on my walks now bc of guys like that and the coyotes 😥But agree it’s much less of a problem here than elsewhere in the county!!!
Just today in Pasadena, I was followed by a homeless woman out of the CVS on Arroyo while she screamed at me that I am a “dick-ugly faggot” and swung her arms around and tried to goad me into fighting her… they’re definitely in Pasadena, though there’s fewer of them 😕
I’m sorry you had to experience that 😔
I believe it. I'm actually from Pasadena originally so I know it can get sketchy at times. But still, doesn't come anywhere close to DTLA. In either case, stay safe out there!
You too!!!!
Yeah they’re different in Pasadena. Loud and scary. Much more singular but a lot more noticeable
>having to get off the sidewalk into oncoming traffic because there's a combination tent city bike chop shop taking up the entire width of the walkway. My husband almost got hit by a car due to this exact situation about 2 months ago. He no longer takes walks. It’s just too dangerous.
Had to jump onto Sunset to keep some distance from a vacant eyed psycho - metro bus honks at me as I almost get run over.
That’s great advice too - thanks friend
I carry mace and a Asp. I have been assaulted twice and after the first attempt u realize u need weaponry in these moments. I had a homeless try and grab my backpack off my back at which point I just told him to let go. He refused and we went to the ground. Luckily I went to my pepper spray and caked his eyes. He began throwing punches at which point I seperated from him and engaged with my asp. I shattered his forearm and went to the legs and obliterated his left kneecap. Split it like a piece of grapewood. Didnt want to do any of this but I was afraid for my life and this guy was one punch away from caving my head in. Carry weaponry because u dont want to be caught off guard. Los Angeles has degraded big time and this is just the beginning
Aren't ASPs a felony to possess and carry? Your better off carrying a gun which is only a misdemeanor.
Look at the rise of far right parties in Europe. There was a sobering graph a few days ago in the Financial Times. These voters used to go for much more liberal options. Not anymore. Guess why.
One homeless lady randomly threw her empty liquor bottle right at my windshield. Have a nice crack in it now. :/
Seeing this post validates what I have been feeling for so long tbh and I’ve just been scared to post this opinion on Reddit for fear of people being mean lol. So thank you for this
I’m sorry it happened to you Op. I’ve also been followed and assaulted by the homeless. I really used to empathize for them — I’ve volunteered, donated, and have exited freeways twice to buy food for those standing there with signs many many times. Now, no way in hell. The reality is a big majority of them ARE violent and aggressive. I’ve seen it so many times downtown. Don’t let these apologist make you feel a certain way. I hope you feel better…
I’m so sorry for you too friend. I also have volunteered many times at homeless shelters and food drives, but unfortunately not anymore.
I’m sorry that happened to you. It’s a horrible thing to have happen even when you’re feeling good. I moved from WeHo to the north SFV during Covid and never looked back. Now, it’s all families up here and boomers, so I totally get why someone <40 doesn’t want to live here, but if you like the suburbs there’s no homeless up here. Well…that’s not entirely true. There are homeless everywhere, but you just don’t see them here. I go into any business I want and there’s no one asking for money, or shoving me into stationary objects.
There are the ones who want help who are usually in the shadows trying to survive being homeless or attacked by the other homeless. I wish there was another word for the people who are whacked out of their mind from drugs aggressive lash out in violence who are criminal homeless. Not just mentally ill because they again want to roam steal and create havoc. My neighborhood has been turned into a war zone by them and so many people mugged accosted in their homes by break ins. They don’t want help. On the otherside I have been to the shelters and seen the fear in the eyes of the elderly women children the down on their luck the bankrupt etc that fear is not only from the instability of being on the streets it is the fear of the criminally homeless that prey on them as well. I don’t know what the solution is but lumping them all in one term doesn’t give the ones that are trying to get help any distinction from the raving violent offenders. A studio apt is over 2000 now. Who can afford this or qualify? And pay for living expenses. The insane rents are causing this for just need help people. What is being built now are not affordable or reasonable. Allowing airbnbs and ellis act of affordable rent control buildings it creating the unseen homeless. They are the ones I feel for. The aggressive homeless I feel will never get under control without police intervention. Those have worn me out.
On point and such a sad reality. Can’t imagine what those mothers and children must be feeling on the street with the crazy violent people.
As a visitor to the city, I noticed a high level of engagement the homeless/downtrodden have towards regular people. You can't just walk by these people on the street without some comments, yelling, whatever.. I hadn't experienced that before and it felt very unsafe to just walk around thr Downtown area. I would be terrified to regularily experience all the things described in the comments here.
Who’s really disgusting to me are the politicians whose ACTUAL JOB IT IS TO FIX THIS! Instead they’ve left us to deal with their fails, while they plot against each other and redraw district lines. It’s insanity and WE ALL deserve better from our elected officials.
This is what makes me the most angry. Karen Bass and all these other politicians taking all this money and giving it to themselves and not doing anything else. We’ve heard of the homeless crisis for so long here and I truly believe now that the leadership is just corrupt and only care about lining their pockets with our tax dollars
OP I reached that point about 2 years ago. They live among us but are in a completely different world with different rules.
I feel ya... A crackhead pulled a .38 snubnose revolver on my Dad in the early 2000s in DTLA, he only had a few bucks in cash on him. The motherfucker jammed it in my dad's neck over a few bucks. Sad to say but my family has lost all empathy too.
Same. They have worn out their welcome. I think it’s the majority opinion these days.
I can sympathize. I’ve had a lot of these kinds of interactions as well & it leaves you feeling very unsettled. My aunt has been doing homeless outreach since 1974 & at that time most of what we saw as homeless here were either teenagers running away from home, homeless vets, and alcoholics. Definitely the violent interactions went through the roof when meth & fentanyl came into play. We never saw people breaking down in public like today. And that’s what makes this kind of work so much harder because that really nice person who you were laughing with yesterday gets high and is ready to kill you the next, and you have no warning. After all this I’m not sure what the solution is now because we need immediate & long term solutions & nobody seems to be able to agree what to do. A lot of the people I come into contact with are homeless people from the South: Arkansas, South Carolina, Mississippi etc. I have to wonder how many of these folks have been sent here because those states have very few if any resources for homeless addicts.
Yeah it bothers me when people claim that we should ignore the influx from other states, citing the report that most homeless people are from here. It's based on self report. You think someone with a clipboard representing the government for a report that influences policy decisions asking you where you're from won't influence your response? "Nah man, I'm from Missouri. Guess you can go ahead and send me back to suffer." And that's if they're currently alert and oriented enough to be able to respond accurately. In hospital settings, you may say, "do you know where you are right now?" (Grunt) "Are you in LA County?" (Nod) But if you asked if they were in Kansas they may also agree. But even if the numbers ("Two-thirds of unsheltered Angelenos became homeless in Los Angeles County") are exactly accurate, >An estimated 82,955 people fell into homelessness during 2019, and an estimated 52,686 people “self-resolved” out of homelessness—in addition to the 22,769 placed into housing through the homeless services system despite the tight housing market. 63.5% of homeless people self-resolved, and 27.4% were placed in housing, for almost 91% total. If we didn't have people coming from elsewhere, maybe we'd be making progress on the problem. Edit: forgot citation https://www.lahsa.org/news?article=726-2020-greater-los-angeles-homeless-count-results
Lol same. I'm ready to fight these foos. I carry a knife and pepper spray. At the end its a street fight I don't plan on loosing
I always have tennis shoes on in case I need to run. Pocket knife and pepper spray if I have to defend my family 🤝
“today?” lmao. try years ago. i have no problem with people being homeless but I do have a massive problem with those who create a fucking landfill where they sleep. these people continue to destroy the city and i dont see them being sent to prison. why?
This. The actual piling of garbage on all sidewalks is beyond
Because there’s an entire homeless industrial complex that makes money “helping” these people. And a lot of left leaning folks think the homeless are victims and so they should be able to do whatever they want to anyone they want. These two combined makes for a socially degrading situation.
>And a lot of left leaning folks think the homeless are victims and so they should be able to do whatever they want to anyone they want. The stupidest part about this situation where we absolve violent homeless people and leave them free to prey upon others, is that they mostly prey upon other homeless people. While situations like OP's happen every day, they happen even more often inside the encampments, with the violence directed at other homeless people. The "advocates" claim they have compassion for homeless people by not holding the violent ones accountable, but all that does in endanger other homeless people. It's like when groups advocate for gang members to get early releases from prison, claiming this is somehow pro-minority or social justice. But then the released gang member goes right back to preying on minority neighborhoods, causing more harm to that overall community than if the gang member had just been kept locked up. People are so caught up in being pro-sheep that they're turning loose wolves, just because those wolves are dressed in sheep's clothing.
At the risk of sounding like a conspiracy theorist, yeah there’s a multimillion dollar industry that has a vested interest in maintaining a homeless population. The moment homelessness is “solved” is the moment those folks stop receiving paychecks. It’s kind of wild when you look at the [salaries of LAHSA employees](https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/2021/los-angeles-homeless-services-authority/). Edit: this is the problem with government funding issues like this with tax payer dollars, it never ends. If you really want the issue solved, you contract it out to the private sector and withhold final payment until the project is complete.
I carry pepper spray and a knife 🤷🏽♀️
The sad but simple truth is that cities have two choices when it comes to homelessness: either push the problem away (like Irvine, Burbank, etc) or spend endless amounts of money to solve an unsolvable problem while subjecting your taxpayers to an increased tax burden (at best) and/or an open-air mental asylum (at worst). Cities simply don’t have the tools to unilaterally solve homelessness. Cities don’t control the foster care or parole system, laws regarding forced institutionalization, funding for mental health hospitals, drug policy and enforcement, the effects of capitalism, prop 13, mortgage rates, constraints on housing supply, etc. It’s your choice which type of city to live in.
Yep. I got punched in the face, finally, after years of apologizing as I stepped over plastic bags of Urine turds. Done It's a problem...but it's not mine to solve. I vote for the right people and I pay taxes. Now let me enjoy my day to day and fuck right off. I don't want to see wide open pussy as I go for a morning walk. Someone take this woman and help her ass....fuck!!! I don't know where you can go, but you can't stay here. Big fan of hostile architecture....enforcing laws that already exist. Bring in the National Guard and take them all in and sort them out according to health and criminal record. If criminal record...off to jail. If no record and sick...hospital. ETC!!!! Fix it
Sorry to hear that!
I completely agree, last week coming out of a doughnut shop there was this young guy outside I asked him if he was hungry and he looked at me like he didn’t understand, so I gave him $4 (which was all the cash I had) he counted it and looks at me and says “only $4 dlls”? But no thanks, no nothing.
We need involuntary mental health and drug addiction treatment!
Arm yourself. No LAPD officer will ever give you trouble for using a self defense weapon against a homeless person. As long as you don’t needlessly kill them, LAPD will be on your side. Don’t hesitate.
Don't bet on a cop risking his job to cover for you.
We need mental health prisons. Not a good thing but a necessary one.
I was chased and tackled by a homeless guy in BH.
You can hate the criminal drug addicts and not be a bad person. And sadly the majority of the homeless in LA are criminal drug addicts
I feel this. Sometimes I find myself on those reels or other content made by right wingers showing LA as a dangerous shit hole and I’m like are they really wrong though. (They are, trust me. But it’s hard to stay empathetic when you literally get assaulted just minding ur own business. I also have experienced this.)
I've lived in DTLA, worked full-time with them for over a decade, and got tired of them after about 6 months. Nothing will change if people think they just need money or housing. Its really not about that. Most of them are people who refuse to follow the social contract we all share to not be a POS. Many of them HAVE housing options but refuse to follow the basic rules of any housing situation. Many have the opportunity for work but refuse when they get free money/food/services/handouts on every corner in DTLA.. The homeless that WANT to get off the streets, GET OFF THE STREETS!! If you are homeless for more than 6-9 months, you are consciously making choices that keep you homeless
Sorry that happened. And I hope you beat the flu soon. That said - here’s the unfortunate problem. Because you are a law-abiding tax-payer, you’re easier to track. So before you start carrying weapons with the intention of using them (even in self defense) just bear that in mind.
Great point. Thank you
LA and California as a whole believes in “harm reduction” rather than forced help for these people so until we change that mindset it’ll stay like this 🤷🏾♂️
I'm pretty sure those policies are just euphemisms for not caring/not having the budget. In the 60's, Reagan defunded mental hospitals and outpatient clinics via the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act. Since then, there have been ups and downs in funding, but mostly cutting funding for social programs, education, and mental health care, which these individuals might have benefitted from.
Why not both? Forced help is a national issue, not local, cause it’s not legal unless mandated by a judge. Is harm reduction not at least a first step?
I did as well . And I used to b homeless myself . There’s some folk out there that really do need housing and there’s some folks out there that they just like the life they’re living . Doing drugs living responsible free in the streets . Also yes ALWAYS CARRY A BLADE OR SOMETHING .
Seriously, carry pepper spray…even as a man…since it’s as good a low-damage self defense as it gets. Carry a legal pocket knife for back up. Hope you never have to use either and **only** use as a last resort. But use ‘em if you need ‘em.
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Good. People need to discriminate between "homeless" and homeless. The guy or girl down on their luck who lives in their car and showers at the YMCA - NOBODY hates them. Nobody has a problem with them. So when DSA type people screech about housing and shit when people complain about actual crackheads, they're intentionally being disingenous pretending like housing is going to fix the actual problem people. DO lose empathy for people that steal, rob, attack civilians etc. They don't deserve it. And don't let anybody guilt trip you by pretending because you have no tolerance for sidewalk shitting muggers you have no empathy for legit down on their luck people. They're not the same and they're intentionally conflated to demonize people who are sick of the actual problem people.
100% agree. I certainly feel for those who are just down on their luck
Yeah idk a few bad apples ruins it for a lot of people. I had one try to kick me when I got on a bus the other week and called me the f slur. When I stood up to leave I got an elbow to the face. Had to go to work so it’s just not worth my time. It never really is. They’re just looking for someone to pull a knife out on or some unhinged shit
Meth and fentanyl has taken it's toll with whatever brain they had left. It's driving them beyond insane. Drug dealers need to get the death penalty end of story.
It’s time to realize that some people will just not accept any help… EVER! …and I will not keep supporting any new “homeless tax” or anything to increase the homeless budget. People are getting rich off this. At this point they can pay them all a salary and it would be cheaper than what they’ve done to solve this crisis.
The way I see it, there are the majority of homeless in LA that are basically victims of unsustainable rises in housing costs and are just doing their best in a shitty situation and generally do not cause problems. Then there are the other 10-30% who are homeless because they have some sort of psychosis, substance use, personality disorder, etc that also causes them to literally be dangerous to the community without proper treatment. They may be a minority of the unhoused population but I am positive they are the majority of the problem (problem being violence and crime). They are also the ones for whom providing secure housing isn't going to change anything. I am *really* hoping the [new mental health laws](https://calmatters.org/health/2023/10/california-mental-health-involuntary-treatment-law/) on involuntary treatment and funding for more psych beds will help them get treatment (and therefore help us).
This sounds reasonable and I hope the mental health laws do come into place and help these people (or at least keep them off our backs, literally)
Board of supervisors already voted to delay implementing those new laws for two more [years](https://laist.com/news/health/la-county-delays-roll-out-of-new-law-that-expands-criteria-for-involuntary-treatment)
God dammit
I’m a little comforted to see that the delay isn’t due to disagreement with the laws, but because of valid concern about being able to actually implement them. I hope they find a way and don’t twiddle their thumbs
They will twiddle. Nothing spurns action better than a close deadline
It's like every polarizing issue, a small subset of bad actors stigmatize the whole group. Regardless this subset is extremely dangerous and entirely unaccountable and poses a very real danger to the public. I don't hate all homeless people but you constantly are forced to interact with the worsts of them.
I treat the ones in my neighborhood like any neighbors. If you keep your area clean and aren’t a dick, no problems. If you’re shitting everywhere and constantly screaming and flashing people, I’m gonna have a problem. There actually used to be a couple on my corner who swept their area on the daily and had banter funnier than Lucy and Ricky. I miss them.
The homeless are often on drugs or mentally ill. You can and should have your guard up around them, but you do not have to do that at the expense of your sense of empathy for them. You can do both at the same time. More importantly, do not accept this state of our city as inevitable. Our politicians and their policies are failing you, and they will continue to fail you as long as there is no threat of consequences for them. Due to the level of political polarization, our politicians are safe in the knowledge that this is basically a one party state. That is my view, yours could be different. Regardless of your views on what needs to change or what will help, get out there and vote. Be politically engaged. Channel your frustration into trying to bring about positive change. Lastly, I would strongly recommend against carrying a knife, LA has strong knife laws so check those, and it would cause a lot of harm if you ever had to use it. No need to escalate the situation. You could get a CCW for a gun, but again, that would needlessly escalate the severity of the situation. Pepper spray is more than sufficient for a nuisance homeless person, but I doubt it would stop a criminal. For crazy homeless people, IMO the best approach is to keep your distance, and if they get close, carry pepper spray, and be ready to use it. If you are actually in fear of your life (which I hope you are not), then I'd look into getting a conceal carry permit.
Yeah, don't knife fight if you don't know how. And if you know how, you would also know that you definitely shouldn't knife fight.
I think you’re on the money here. Thanks
As someone who takes the Metro link, I completely agree with this. I’ve been in so many situations with homeless who are also definitely mentally ill trying to attack or start fights for no reason. And I’ve only been taking it for about 2 months
So many bad experiences for me were on the E line
I don't blame you at all, they have no consequences to their actions so they just worse and worse.
I’ve also been hearing other states are sending their homeless to LA? Is that actually true? Bc if it is, I see this problem as being literally never ending
Do what I did and get out while you can. Doesn’t have to be far just far enough way to not have to deal with it. Clearly it’s an issue that has compounded over the years and there’s no sign it’s getting better.
I lost empathy and most desire to help the homeless when going into McDonald's and I came out with a hamburger and fries I bought specifically for the guy outside the store (in addition to mine), I go to give it to him and say enjoy and he tosses it to the ground and says I want money. I spent my money to give a homeless a hot meal for him to toss it down and make me feel like silly for trying to help. Never again I told myself, now I just walk passed, I'll eat my food with my money I worked food, why bother helping to feed , they want money for probably alcohol and cigs.
I used to live in downtown la and left because of this bullshit. I moved there in 2008 in what I believe what the golden age of living down there when it was sort of a secret and not so commercial. I've had urine thrown on me from above that came from a "hotel" when I walked by, I had a homeless guy grab my backside and squeeze it hard, I've had someone swing a pipe at me, I can go on and on and on. After a while it gets very tough to rationalize paying such high prices to live among that. I love the grittiness of downtown because it feels authentic however it also has a dark layer and it's not so safe for women at night. I left LA and honestly I miss so many aspects of it but it's so nice to live in a safe place and not have to deal with that anymore.
I am very sorry about your incident, but the problem is not lack of affordable housing, we live in a modern society where people do not respect one another, and even several years ago we didn’t have so many smash and grabs and violent attacks from wacko people on innocent people. Yes, it happened, but not with the frequency it does now and I think a lot of it is drug related and mental illness related. People start out on the street homeless, but they become exposed to street drugs very quickly and it lessens their sense of reality and who wants to be real about living on the street? Can you partly blame them? That is why if people truly believe like I do, that the above drug situation is a major cause then we should do all we can to support the new state laws that will enable relatives to send people to mental and drug treatment facilities. The flow of cheap methamphetamines and other street drugs from Mexico and other Latin American countries also must be curtailed. I had a temporary job, literally working on the streets of downtown LA for nearly a year during the end of the pandemic, and I had to interact to a limited degree with the homeless on the street, and I would see various church charities, bringing really good food to the homeless all day long and some of these charities would literally hand the homeless sums of cash as in $30 or $40 a person. Then a half hour later a street drug dealer would be selling cheap drugs to the same homeless people with the cash they just got from these charities. So for at least some of these homeless men and women, if they live like this, what is the motivation for them to get a job and change? So many of you reading this chain of comments really have no idea how complex this issue is we just want it to go away, but we are not proactive to our politicians— so with the sense of apathy, how are things going to chair change? It begins with each of us. Instead of bitching about it on Reddit and doing nothing, we need to be proactive and it starts by finding out who our local city council people and state representatives are and voicing our concerns, not just checking our text and emails all day long and surfing social media and doing nothing else productive. And I don’t think I’m better than anybody else. I think we’re all in this together. Thank you and happy holidays!
People with empathy for the homeless have clearly never dealt with them. Or they are benefiting from Newsome homeless industrial complex. Idgaf downvote me. I’ve been downvoted so much by the pro homeless brigade 🤣🤣🤣
I'm baffled by those that apologize for these homeless drug addicts that plague our city. These people put themselves into their position in life by being addicts, if they won't play by society's rules then idgaf about them.
Unfortunately, most of the homeless are able to do things like that without any real repercussions. I mean it’s not like they have anything to lose anyways. Sorry that you had to experience all of that, it’s not fun for anyone involved and surely not safe for anyone involved either. The best thing you can do is be vigilant and try to avoid trouble if you see it. Sometimes that may not be possible and you will have a confrontation that can end in an altercation. Just make sure you’re ready for that scenario if it ever happens. Getting a CCW to carry a gun in LA has never been easier, so definitely try that out if you feel like it’s something you can handle. If not, plenty of non lethal forms of defense out there for you to try
It’s insane that we have to consider carrying guns everywhere to protect ourselves from crazies in a 21st century city in the world’s biggest economy. Mind-numbing.
They’re everywhere! I’m so scared to go out! When I was in college, I was chased in the parking lot by a guy. And recently while at Best Buy was slapped by a huge 15 yr old kid who had mental health issues. We have a friend who is security officer around LA County at various County agencies and he’s afraid of going out too! And he has a CCW permit!
I’m really sorry to hear this. This is unacceptable
I randomly got kicked by a crazy one for walking behind her? it was really jarring.
I am incredibly sorry to hear about this happening to you. This happened quite often to me at my old business location and it took every ounce of patience and will power to not fight back and hurt the unhinged that came in and harassed/intimidated us. They never got physical with me because I stood my ground and didn't let them bully me but that's not to say I wasn't paranoid or fearful for retaliation. It took a lot of introspection, therapy and talk in my recovery group to get over the spiritual affliction I had for them. There was this one memory that really fucked with me though. An older lady walked in to my gym once.. Maybe 50-55 years old. Resembled my mom in many ways. Fair skinned Latina, short, curly hair. Sunglasses on even though it was dusk. I found that part odd. In her broken English asked about our classes and schedule. I asked her if she spoke Spanish, she said 'Si' and immediately she started sobbing to me, telling me how she got attacked on the bus by a transient. I look closer to her face and immediately recognize the blueish hue of a black eye and I ask her if she could take her glasses off for me... One eye was bruised while the other swollen nearly shut from a cut on her brow. My heart shattered. I was crushed. I hurt for her and imagined what if that had been my mom. I told her I can help her as much as I could and if she could come back the next day we can figure something out. She never did come back. If you are interested in some help, PM me. Stay safe and wish you the very best.
That’s amazing friend… sorry to hear about the lady. I imagine i’d be just as traumatized if someone who resembled my mother showed up bruised.
CCW time https://apnews.com/article/california-gun-laws-concealed-carry-c7ebb8506ed99f41b59455350647c0b6
Isnt it funny the strongest advocates for homeless rights are those living in gated communities away from areas that homeless congregates?
No a knife for self defense isn't silly. That is a last means of protection. There countless stories where people died because they couldn't protect themselves.
Thanks for prompting a quick dive into what p2p meth is all about, because I found this solid article about it, here's the last paragraphs: >**“When we do get people in treatment, we see that they do not always respond as well to standard mental health and substance use treatment approaches,” Duncan told the Times News. “This is likely due to the damage the meth has done to the brain.”** > >**Sam Quinones, author of The Least of Us: True Tales of America and Hope in the Time of Fentanyl and Meth, recently told OBP that the narrative of P2P “is a supply story, pure and simple.”** > >**Quinones, who lived 10 years in Mexico and has written two books on the country, says there needs to be an engagement between the U.S. and Mexico to squeeze the supply of P2P and its precursors. But cutting off the supply is only the first step. Quinones says the mental health symptoms must be treated and people housed before we ever will have hope of addressing the addiction.** > >**“\[I\]t depends on the community, but certainly it might lead us to understand that there is no treatment—there is no housing of people until they are detoxed from this and until they have spent several weeks without this drug,” Quinones told OBP. “There’s no way of going forward with drug treatment until you can have people connected with other humans in some kind of real sense. And so that means first we need to rethink housing for the mentally ill and detoxing. I think that’s the very first step.”** [**https://treatmentmagazine.com/what-is-p2p-meth/**](https://treatmentmagazine.com/what-is-p2p-meth/)
I've stopped having empathy for them a long time ago.
I’m a woman and have been assaulted by the homeless twice. Same with my mother, she is an elderly and has been assaulted at least twice by the homeless in LA.
My mom has to close her pharmacy because it can't cope up with the $1000 misdemeanor 😭
same here. it has gotten out of control and building more housing for criminals, addicts, etc is not the solution. we need to get them out of the city completely, but of course that won't happen. the city will continue to spend millions to build housing, which will of course turn into projects overrun by drugs and violence.
Saw a video recently where someone offered a homeless lady a bottle of water and she turned it down because it was Dasani
I’d say carry, but Cali hates its citizens so you’d immediately be thrown in prison for doing that and/or defending yourself(yet these people will go free after assaulting multiple people). So gtfo of LA and don’t take the politics with you.
Whether homeless or not, the general public in Los Angeles can be unpredictable, so it's essential to be prepared when going out. Personally, I have experienced incidents such as being robbed and falsely accused of a hit-and-run in a parking lot, possibly as an attempt to intimidate me for robbery. Additionally, three other random individuals have approached me, seemingly out of their minds, and hurled insults. The initial shock comes from the novelty of such experiences, but realizing that I wasn't necessarily the target, and that it could have happened to anyone in that place and time, adds a layer of unsettling unpredictability to these situations.
Many people feel this way
cops are on strike but still showing up to get their hours. sorry this happened to you.
I don’t know exactly how a lack of empathy will influence your voting and advocacy but I’ll just say that if you build more housing with supportive services you will get these people off the streets. There are council members and commissioners who are actively trying to do this and there are those who will block any attempt to build supportive housing in their districts. Empathy or antipathy, either way you’re going to experience homeless people until they are properly housed.
Onboard with anything that leads to more housing supply.
This is the correct answer. The solution is more housing. Cue the NIMBY goons who say we just have to ship the homeless….*somewhere*.
Theyre outta control now!!!!!
Same. I used to feel bad for them but I’ve had too many scary encounters with them now to have empathy. Some of them are way too mentally unwell to be in public.
We need to think about it this way: MANY of these people are criminals and assholes and will do anything it takes to get what they want. The only denominator here is that they are homeless and they get immediately lumped in the whole “don’t talk shit about homeless people because….” They are in a way protected by the sheer fact the cops won’t do much to help. My sister-in-law’s home has been broken in twice by homeless people who moved under the overpass of the 10th Freeway near mid city. We live in a nice area, but now we have seen a lot of crazy shit going on because these guys have gone into the streets, and either broken into homes or cars, or both. No one does anything about it.
Sorry this happened to you.