Letters to the Editor: Get used to more DIY houses in L.A. built by homeless people

To the editor: Your article on the DIY house built by homeless immigrants in Highland Park vividly brought to mind the various favelas I saw in Rio de Janeiro many years ago.

Many of them were intricately constructed of several different materials, some with a great deal of skill and artistry. And I could not help wondering at the time how there was such a disparity in that city between the extremely wealthy and so many poor people living in these shacks.

I keep wondering the same thing now. If we do not get people housed and out of the encampments, we are going to look like a third-world city. Poverty is not beautiful.

Mary Lambert, Los Angeles

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To the editor: I suggest the people who built this structure be hired as planners and consultants by the current powers that be who are constructing the homeless and low-income housing for the state.

Just think what they could do with a few million of the billions that don’t seem to be helping a lot.

June Eicker, Gardena

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To the editor: One article you recently published reported that Gov. Gavin Newsom is proposing to cut programs for housing assistance, foster kids aging out of care and incarcerated people eligible to have their sentences reduced.

In another article, Newsom said that he wanted to see more progress on homelessness. He blamed cities for the increasing number of unhoused people in California.

There must be intelligent people in Sacramento. Is there no one who can connect the dots?

Connie O’Neill, Santa Monica