Opinion: Why is it so hard to end homelessness? A two-year odyssey to house a friend shows why

Good morning. I’m Kerry Cavanaugh, assistant editorial page editor, filling in for Paul Thornton. It is Saturday, May 13. Let’s look back at the week in Opinion.

If you haven’t had a chance to watch The Times’ excellent Hear Me Out video series based on letters sent by readers, check out the latest video, in which Los Angeles resident Nicholas Melillo describes in infuriating detail how he tried for more than two years to get a homeless friend into housing.

Melillo, a Hollywood director and producer, figured that with his experience and knowledge of L.A., it would be fairly simple to help his friend find a home. But Melillo soon found himself ensnared in red tape, repeatedly filling out lengthy applications for different agencies, being directed to phone numbers and web pages that didn’t work, driving all over town getting bank account information, doctors’ verifications and medical tests. “I almost gave up,” Melillo said.

Mayor Karen Bass shares the frustration. “It just made me fume,” Bass said of Melillo’s experience. “He illustrated the dysfunction very well.”

Bass spoke with The Times’ editorial board this week about her proposed spending plan for homelessness, and it’s clear that money isn’t the biggest hurdle right now in getting people into stable housing. It’s exactly the kind of bureaucracy and red tape that tripped up Melillo.

For example, there are hundreds of units of permanent supportive housing sitting vacant. But the mayor’s office has been able to move only 70 people into those units out of roughly 1,200 unhoused people currently staying in hotels after leaving the streets. Why? Federal rules leave people stuck in tiny homes and temporary shelter while the paperwork gets done.

“Why do we have to spend weeks and weeks and weeks trying to get IDs and having someone prove they’re poor?” Bass asked. “Why don’t you assume the guy is poor and needs housing? Put him in the housing and then do all that.”

The good news is that Melillo ultimately got his friend into a single-room occupancy hotel downtown, and Bass is lobbying the federal government to ease the rules on housing placements. It shouldn’t be this hard. Let’s hope local, state and federal leaders can start making it easy.

Biden’s really bad approval ratings don’t matter. Kurt Bardella, now a Democratic strategist and previously an advisor to congressional Republicans, asks why the Washington media establishment keeps breathlessly reporting on political polling when the data are no longer credible or meaningful in forecasting elections. “The 2024 presidential election is sure to be overrun with misinformation. There couldn’t be a more important time for the press to play a central role in deciphering what is real and what is not, to filter what is important and what is just noise. Getting it right has never been more important because with every election cycle the press gets wrong, its credibility declines with the American people.” L.A. Times

People are leaving L.A. for a reason. You don’t have to be anti-woke to see that. Well, that headline sure struck a nerve. Among the most-read pieces in the Opinion section this week were two Letters to the Editor, one from a writer sharing why she chose to leave Southern California and one from a writer who chose to stay. (Hint, housing and cost of living are deciding factors — both of which are political problems that can be solved.) L.A. Times

How many more racehorses must die before the sport changes or goes away? Seven horses died in the lead up to the Kentucky Derby. Such kind of carnage has become the seemingly unavoidable byproduct of horse racing, even with stricter monitoring of the animals’ health, the Times’ editorial board wrote. “We should not accept a sport that, even when its officials and participants say they are trying to do better, routinely allows horses to die.” L.A. Times

Got free speech? Marielle Williamson, a vegan student at Eagle Rock Junior/Senior High School, wanted to hand out samples of oat milk and pea protein milk at lunch while discussing the benefits of nondairy milk. But she learned that federal rules prohibit schools from “directly or indirectly restricting the sale or marketing of dairy milk on school premises.” Williamson was told she would have to also provide information about the benefits of dairy milk. She refused and sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture and school officials for violating her free speech rights. Good for her, the editorial board wrote, for challenging rules that unfairly protect the dairy industry from competition. L.A. Times

An AI chatbot may be your next therapist. But there’s not enough research yet to know if a chatbot will actually help your mental health, warns Elisabeth Rosenthal, a physician and author. “It will be tempting for insurers to offer up apps and chatbots to meet the mental health parity requirement. After all, that would be a cheap and simple solution, compared with the difficulty of offering a panel of actual therapists, especially since many take no insurance because they consider insurers’ payments too low.” L.A. Times