Los Angeles: Home Is Where the Problem Lives : Homelessness: A personal account of sharing space with an univited woman. This letter was sent by a citizen to her local representative.
Dear Councilman: For six weeks, a woman without a home has chosen to occupy either the alley at my property line, against my building, or the parking strip at my property.
The avenues open for assistance seem to be minimum for someone with a compassionate heart who does not want to ignore the problem of the homeless, in general, and who wants to feel there is an answer for the relocation of an uninvited, unwanted occupant at one’s residence, in particular. So I do not expect assistance to obtain removal of this person. Is there a fresh look at the problem that your office can instigate?
Tract Assn. 7260 has been aware of the problem posed by this particular woman for several months because of her previous selection of sites to occupy. Several members of the Association have called representatives of various social service agencies who have dutifully come to my property to talk to this woman. She cannot be forced to go to the shelters.
She has told several people that she will leave but she remains.
Advice given to me by individuals inside the government and outside is to harass her: have a gardener turn the water hose on her, have friends drive their cars dangerously close to her to let her know she may be involved in an accident, for example.
To me, these are not the techniques to solve the problem. To harass someone, whether that individual seems to deserve harassment or not, is no way to resolve the issue. This homeless woman will move to someone else’s property. To be inhumane by harassment against another person is also to become inhumane to oneself.
I admit I feel harassment because I am not comfortable taking trash to my rubbish containers adjacent to the alley she occupies. And I cannot ask another person working at my home to do something I do not feel safe doing. I admit I do not like to have this person sleeping on my parking strip when visitors arrive at my house.
My husband was an architect and my house is on architectural tours. Last Saturday, about 40 people came to my home as part of a tour sponsored by UCLA Extension, for a site-study and a look at my husband’s work. I could not explain to them why I was chosen to be the unwilling host to this homeless person but, as someone said, it is educational to know the true facts of life.
Earlier in the week, I had three guests--one from Zurich, Switzerland, and two from Bombay, India. These men were industrialists and well-traveled but even they were surprised to find the conditions they saw at my house. Every day students from out-of-country or out-of-state are here for architectural visits. Someone from UCLA comes almost daily to work with me in processing the papers of my husband’s architectural archive.
These are humane individuals; they do not recommend that I harass this homeless person.
They are moved to ask the same question as I: Is there not an opportunity now for a fresh look at the problem? The city can do nothing, we are told, but surely someone must develop a program to improve a situation that blights all neighborhoods.
I do not expect or ask special treatment. I think everyone is due consideration. You do not know me. You do not know of me; I have no special advocates. This is the way it should be. This is a citywide problem tearing away the civility of our city. I just happen to live near Century City, in your district.
I do not want any homeless person at my house, either on my property abutting the alley or in the alley itself. I do not want this person to occupy the parking strip at my house. These areas are part of the place where I live, where I have planted grass, where I have planted trees. It is not sanitary for persons without a home to relieve themselves wherever they are. It is bad for everyone. And it is getting worse.
To advise harassment serves no purpose. If harassment is “successful,” the person moves a few doors down the alley or to a neighbor’s parking strip. Nothing has been accomplished. The problem is the same and will get worse as time goes by.
There is always that first homeless person to sleep on a particular street, often to be joined by others.
The homeless population becomes more and more visible to more and more citizens as individuals move into districts such as yours.
To prevent the ultimate breakdown of an entire system, we need to preserve the few amenities we already have in place.
I want to remain a person with compassion in my heart for all human beings. I believe most people in our city feel this way.
Homeless people do not belong in confinement against their will, but surely a civilized society can discover ways to deal with each individual as a human being--those without a home and those with a home.
There must be an alternative to accepting an uninvited person to share one’s landscape.
Postcript: The councilman’s office called Jones to express appreciation, concern and understanding--but also to admit that City Hall still has no ready solution for her problem.
