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This is a highly visible public issue in Los Angeles, so much so that voters recently approved a $1.2 billion proposition for housing the homeless. Now, that m

This is a highly visible public issue in Los Angeles, so much so that voters recently approved a $1.2 billion proposition for housing the homeless. Now, that measure is under threat because of a recent ballet proposal that wants to stop all housing development under the pretense of stopping gentrification. Side note: Along with this, I've noticed that the demographics of the homeless has been changing. More and more of the homeless don't look like what one would expect (alcoholic/drug addict, older/rough look due to addiction, etc.) Just anecdotally, in my area, there has been a recent uptick in crime as well and the crimes are becoming more brazen. I'm extrapolating, but it seems like the opportunity cost of crime has gone down. Perhaps more people feel the system failed them and have lost faith and/or simply do not care for a society that doesn't care about them. In any event, it's an unsettling trend that is being glossed over when statistics say that we are at full employment. I saw these trends in 2006-7 before the financial crisis.

tjalfi 10y ago
Proposition 47 reduced many felony theft offenses to misdemeanors. It would be surprising if this didn't lead to an increase in crime in California.
- FullMtlAlcoholc 10y ago
  > It would be surprising if this didn't lead to an increase in crime in California. This doesn't explain it IMO. My neighborhood is undergoing a huge spike in rents and average income. At the same time there has also been a spike in homelessness, with the vast majority being young (20's-30's), white, and devoid of any tattoos. I'm not sure how it's classified, but most of the crimes are non-violent theft of mail and bikes or simple trespassing (sleeping on the roof, hiding in the garage during rainfall, etc.). It's more of a desperate type of survival than it is people living a life of crime. Sign of the times, but I am not optimistic towards the future..especially when the jobs being promised are primarily low skill labor that can already be done by people in 3rd world nations and will undoubtedly be ripe for elimination by automation.

tjalfi 10y ago

Proposition 47 reduced many felony theft offenses to misdemeanors. It would be surprising if this didn't lead to an increase in crime in California.

FullMtlAlcoholc 10y ago
> It would be surprising if this didn't lead to an increase in crime in California. This doesn't explain it IMO. My neighborhood is undergoing a huge spike in rents and average income. At the same time there has also been a spike in homelessness, with the vast majority being young (20's-30's), white, and devoid of any tattoos. I'm not sure how it's classified, but most of the crimes are non-violent theft of mail and bikes or simple trespassing (sleeping on the roof, hiding in the garage during rainfall, etc.). It's more of a desperate type of survival than it is people living a life of crime. Sign of the times, but I am not optimistic towards the future..especially when the jobs being promised are primarily low skill labor that can already be done by people in 3rd world nations and will undoubtedly be ripe for elimination by automation.