Skid Row Streets Are Meaner Today, With a New Breed of Homeless : Housing: Some homeless people want to remain on the streets, but without safety and vital services, they become victims of the lawless.

A businesman in Central City East recently told a group of his peers about the homeless who used to stay in his parking lot overnight. They asked permission to stay because they were afraid of the Skid Row Slasher and felt more secure if they could be together.

“For years they would come every night,” he said. “Up to 30, or 40, or 50 of them. They built fires and cooked their food, and they stayed in our lot. And that’s fine. We are a food manufacturer, and we gave them food to the extent that we could. This was something that we could do, and it was great.

“More recently,” he said, “a different type of person is becoming prevalent. People break into our yard--not just because we are food people--but looking for anything. They are belligerent. They are doing drugs on my property. They are threatening. My retail trade has been seriously affected.”

The street scene is not just changing for people in business, but it is also changing for people in need. Mike worked as a cook and a truck driver in Oklahoma. Work was scarce, and he came to Los Angeles a year ago. Finally, he found some day work and was able to move between the public, no-charge missions and the privacy of single-room occupancy hotels that serve the very poor in the city.

Recently, he faced up to the fact that he needed help. Although he had never sought assistance before, he applied to the county for general relief. When he got his first check, he headed for a check-cashing place downtown. Mike thinks someone followed him out of that office and, when he was back on the street, he was jumped, beaten and robbed. Paramedics took him to the hospital where his broken jaw was wired shut; he was discharged with no place to go and no way to eat.

The city has a lot of programs to feed the hungry, but not many of them can make an accommodation for Mike’s problem. He’s going to have his jaw wired for another five weeks. Happily, he found his way to the Weingart Center, which includes a cafe that could provide a liquid diet, and a host of other programs that will help Mike find a job, save his money and be home for him until he can take care of himself.

Mike’s story is not just a tale of one man’s misadventure in the big city. The problem is not just the recession and the lack of jobs. A lot of help is available for those lucky enough to connect. The problem for all of us is that the streets are getting meaner, and there are more people on them--new people, like Mike--who don’t know the strategies of defense in an offensive world.

People who use the streets as a means of passage because they don’t have cars are the people most victimized and least able to defend themselves. It’s time to come to terms with the situation on the streets that threatens the security of us all and the very notion of civilization.

Since the 1970s, we have learned that the homeless are not one big group with one easy answer. Young minority men, families, single women--this is our new homeless population. While the homeless include people who are desperate to get a piece of the American dream, and people who have lost their dreams, our perspective of the homeless often gets distorted and bundled up with images of people who live by other rules and have given up on society--the “street people.”

It used to be that we could divide the homeless into the houseless--derailed people who just needed a job or a first month’s payment on an apartment; the hopeful--disabled people who still have hopes and need a great deal of help to get medication or counseling, or a supportive environment; and the helpless--people who are dysfunctional because of untreated mental illness or addiction to drugs and alcohol, but not always.

What is most confusing about the last third is trying to sort out those who could be helped from those who will not be helped. Some are unreceptive to help but need a safe haven. Some are unreceptive to laws and social order and threaten the safe haven of others.

The streets are also meaner because of a state policy that requires a person to be returned to the place he or she was arrested when the price to society has been paid. In Los Angeles County, there are only four programs to help people to readjust, and only one is in the central city area. If those 30 program beds are filled, people trying to re-enter the community frequently find themselves homeless, on the streets with little money and few options other than desperation.

The time has come to face the need for a policy addressed to “street people” whose lawlessness preys on the weakness of others and interferes with a sense of a liveable community. Those who cannot live in available shelters or housing because of economic or personal reasons need a place where they can come together and live in safety with support, free of the fear of violence.

After we have provided that basic level of security and have exhausted all available options, we need to develop a public policy that addresses lawlessness on the streets.

The first thing that we need to do is accept in our minds that all homeless people are not alike and most are in danger of being the victims of a few. Next, we need to find ways that people can get services without risking being terrorized in the process: for example, meal coupons, instead of money, that can be given out on the street.

We also need options that increase the connection between those of us who feel helpless and those who really are--options, for example, that allow us to contribute time or goods to service organizations that help the homeless.

Thirdly, some way or how, we must find the money to provide treatment centers for drug abusers near the streets where they are. Currently, there are no such services downtown.

Finally, we need to create “smart” parks that will guarantee equal law enforcement to every corner of this community, not just those who live in the high-end zip-code areas. These parks would have facilities for hygiene, basic security, and a way to connect to the variety of services that are available to help people get back on their feet.

The streets are meaner for everyone: for the businessman and his or her employees and customers; for the poor who can get back on their feet with help; and for us as a society. It is also worse because, after years of trying, it is not getting better.

We need to stop playing musical chairs with the homeless, moving them around from place to place every time the music plays while we eliminate one more safe space. The music has stopped, and we are running out of sidewalks.