Hello and thank you for being a DL contributor. We are changing the login scheme for contributors for simpler login and to better support using multiple devices. Please click here to update your account with a username and password.

Hello. Some features on this site require registration. Please click here to register for free.

Hello and thank you for registering. Please complete the process by verifying your email address. If you can't find the email you can resend it here.

Hello. Some features on this site require a subscription. Please click here to get full access and no ads for $1.99 or less per month.

San Diego Skid Row

You don’t hear about it too often but holy fuck

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 74May 29, 2023 11:27 PM

It’s really a travesty and has gotten increasingly worst since Covid. Lawd.

by Anonymousreply 1May 22, 2023 11:25 PM

And the nice residential towers are so close to it too.

by Anonymousreply 2May 22, 2023 11:26 PM

Dire.

by Anonymousreply 3May 22, 2023 11:26 PM

This is Commercial and 16th St btw

by Anonymousreply 4May 22, 2023 11:30 PM

There's something to be said for cities with bad weather, like Reykjavik.

San Diego's is too nice.

by Anonymousreply 5May 22, 2023 11:33 PM

The Homeless or UnHoused should just camp out at the beach...

by Anonymousreply 6May 22, 2023 11:36 PM

I know that people always blame the mayors of these various towns, but I honestly have no clue what a viable solution is. People throw out various "there's a big mall that's closed down, let's set up shop in there!" Or "it's all about mental illness" - ok, so then what to do about it...? How to help the ones that are already homeless? How to slow down the increasing rate prior to them becoming homeless?

I have zero clue. I really feel bad for them.

by Anonymousreply 7May 22, 2023 11:39 PM

They are 'experiencing homelessness.'

by Anonymousreply 8May 23, 2023 12:36 AM

All the press SF gets - but to me the volume and extremity of the homeless in downtown San Diego is horrifying. Matches downtown LA. The insane housing prices, good weather, and CA hippie/live-and-let-live culture has made it the epicenter of homelessness in the US. A result of national and international changes (concentrated wealth, hypercapitalism) that CA is paying the price for.

I love CA but the ever present and increasingly desperate and dangerous homeless situation has soured me on CA. I just don’t enjoy it as much when you’re constantly confronted with the harsh desperation of the homeless in every major CA city. I can no longer imagine living there.

by Anonymousreply 9May 23, 2023 1:50 AM

LA is a dump now. I live there and hate, currently visiting family in Jersey and seriously considering a move here.

by Anonymousreply 10May 23, 2023 1:56 AM

The street people of LA IG is nightmare fuel

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 11May 23, 2023 2:03 AM

Its like watching a horror movie about the world ending .This is the beginning.

by Anonymousreply 12May 23, 2023 2:24 AM

So, couple of things...

- The homelessness problem in downtown San Diego has DEFINITELY gotten worse in the past decade. I used to live there.

- As others have said, SD's mild, Mediterranean climate is always going to be a magnet for the homeless / unhoused / vulnerable populations

- KUSI is a conservative local TV station. Just be aware that they're not some... neutral source. (That's not to minimize the issue... it's a genuine issue, but always good to be aware of who is reporting something and what their motivation is.)

- SD's mayor is an openly gay Democrat. As is the City Councilman who reps downtown. And, while they're both Dems, neither is a super progressive that right wing media would have you believe. In fact, some of their solutions for tackling the homeless crisis would be criticized by progressives (ex: banning encampments when there are shelter rooms open, banning sleeping in cars etc.)

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 13May 23, 2023 2:40 AM

This is all over the Valley and Los Angeles now. Rents here are unaffordable. I was just notified that my rent is going up $140. I'm in a one bedroom apartment and live alone. Guess I should buy a tent soon.

by Anonymousreply 14May 23, 2023 2:50 AM

I remember someone described the homeless camps in CA as Calcutta without the amputees and lepers.

by Anonymousreply 15May 23, 2023 7:46 AM

Poverty porn

by Anonymousreply 16May 23, 2023 7:50 AM

California needs to stop being stupid.

Communism DOES NOT work.

We learned this last century in Europe, Asia, and Latin America.

I don't know why the liberals insist on bringing a failed ideology to the U.S., but God knows they've been trying for decades.

by Anonymousreply 17May 23, 2023 7:54 AM

Oh, political poverty porn

by Anonymousreply 18May 23, 2023 8:21 AM

I mean there were camps for the Okies during the Dust Bowl…. Can’t they do something similar out in the desert?

by Anonymousreply 19May 23, 2023 11:14 AM

North county is still nice but it’s been slipping too, more and more tents around the working class parts. I guess I’m technically homeless too so lol

by Anonymousreply 20May 23, 2023 11:33 AM

Economists are predicting a recession this year that will be similar to '08. How many more homeless will be added to the streets then?

by Anonymousreply 21May 23, 2023 3:42 PM

Will Harry & Meghan let the poors put up tents 🏕️ on their sprawling estate?

by Anonymousreply 22May 23, 2023 9:53 PM

Agree with the poster above, Hypercapitalism and profit, no restrictions on speculative land sales/developments or AirBnB properties = making everything unaffordable.

Also, there's a bit of a "fuck it" lawlessness to some of the homeless' mentalities - some do NOT want to be housed, they don't want our rules, they don't want our government, traditional life has not worked for them for a myriad of reasons (sexual abuse, drug addiction, booze, mental issues, family shunning, no place in society for their personality types) and they don't give a damn to try to conform to what "WE" the society around them, want to see or not see. Some homeless people truly do want to return to a normal housed life but MANY do not for these reasons. I don't know there is a solution for them other than to provide safe camping spaces with working restrooms and clean shooting galleries and sharps containers, maybe on BLM lands or old military land that is now unused.

by Anonymousreply 23May 23, 2023 10:03 PM

Au contraire on the communism. In the Soviet Union everyone had an apartment. If California went communist all the apartment buildings would be seized from private landlords and distributed fairly to the people, eradicating the homeless problem. It’s a solution California liberals might think seriously about implementing it.

by Anonymousreply 24May 23, 2023 10:35 PM

Buck up snowflakes! Deal with it!

by Anonymousreply 25May 23, 2023 10:48 PM

[quote] Economists are predicting a recession this year that will be similar to '08.

Link.

by Anonymousreply 26May 23, 2023 10:54 PM

[quote] Hypercapitalism and profit

[quote] Au contraire on the communism. In the Soviet Union everyone had an apartment. If California went communist all the apartment buildings would be seized from private landlords and distributed fairly to the people, eradicating the homeless problem. It’s a solution California liberals might think seriously about implementing it.

Today’s crackpot Progressives.

by Anonymousreply 27May 23, 2023 10:56 PM

[quote] no restrictions on speculative land sales/developments or AirBnB properties = making everything unaffordable.

Airbnb? What?

by Anonymousreply 28May 23, 2023 10:57 PM

[quote] maybe on BLM lands or old military land that is now unused.

Black Lives Matters lands?

by Anonymousreply 29May 23, 2023 10:57 PM

[quote]Communism DOES NOT work.

[quote]I don't know why the liberals insist on bringing a failed ideology to the U.S., but God knows they've been trying for decades.

Bless your heart, r17.

by Anonymousreply 30May 23, 2023 11:02 PM

The catch-22 problem with local, liberal social programs in a country like the US is that it creates incentives for people who need these services to move from other states. If California started housing all homeless people, they would be replaced by others from other states, possibly with the help from governments in those states with transportation costs.

by Anonymousreply 31May 23, 2023 11:05 PM

Denver is the same.

by Anonymousreply 32May 23, 2023 11:06 PM

[quote]The insane housing prices, good weather, and CA hippie/live-and-let-live culture has made it the epicenter of homelessness in the US. A result of national and international changes (concentrated wealth, hypercapitalism) that CA is paying the price for.

R9. I have lived in San Diego for many, many years (transplanted from New England). San Diego has never had a CA hippie/live-and-let-live culture, not even in the past 20-30 years since it has gone from a red part of the state to blue. I don't have the solution for homelessness, but you are wrong on that point. It is very expensive to live here and we do have mild weather most of the year (although we do have cold winters, not like New England, but still), but live-and-let-live is not a characteristic of San Diego. There is still a Repug and military influence although diminished. Yes, downtown SD homelessness is getting worse.

by Anonymousreply 33May 23, 2023 11:07 PM

R31 Replace 'states' with 'countries'.

by Anonymousreply 34May 23, 2023 11:08 PM

As someone who grew up in the Rust Belt I never saw that level of outdoor living - likely also that some people were able to live in temp housing or shelters.

40 years of post-Reagan shutting all the asylums down + a housing crisis + COVID has led to what can only be described as a humanitarian crisis.

I live in a CA town that's also facing a homelessness crisis. The city is working to build a center they've been talking about for 3 years, and they have an emergency shelter, and all together there's room for about 100 spots....and they have three THOUSAND homeless people here.

The asshole semi-Nazi county sheriff is also sending criminals and mentally ill people in the county to Palm Springs to "own the libs" just as TX is shipping people across country.

Police don't interfere because most police forces see it as out of their purview, and many police forces are so furious that anyone dared question their authority to do whatever they wanted whenever they wanted that they now stand stonefaced and unresponsive to anyone who actually needs help.

We used to take care of homeless and/or mentally ill people better, and we used to do it in a way where somehow, businesses were still able to function and make money, but paid at least a modicum of taxes for the common good. Now every mega corporation on Earth is exempt from taxes, those support services are long gone, and it will only get worse.

But....'Murica! USA! USA!

by Anonymousreply 35May 23, 2023 11:17 PM

Well R24, lets all live in Brutalist housing and always be told what we can say, who to vote for and put a cap on our lives. Lets just vote for a Dictator who wants to be an Emperor. Are you fucking crazy? R14, I really hope not.

by Anonymousreply 36May 23, 2023 11:17 PM

I like the couple of their songs they were okay.

by Anonymousreply 37May 23, 2023 11:18 PM

R36 Way too many conservatives want that very thing to happen.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 38May 23, 2023 11:21 PM

R34, point taken but I don’t agree that the problems are the same. The two groups, homeless and illegal immigrants, have very different motivations and personalities. From a purely economic view, they are extremely different.

One is largely older, with untreated mental and/or substance abuse issues, who don’t have any family willing or able to help. The other is largely younger, looking to work, most with a network of family and friends waiting to help get them started.

Unless a citizen has legal convictions which preclude them leaving a jurisdiction, they have the legal right to move anywhere they wish and immediately become eligible for social assistance programs.

Illegal immigrants are not eligible for most local social programs, and no federal ones. They also, unless working under the table for a small business, are paying taxes and funding Social Security which they will never benefit from.

To compare someone who is homeless and their problems with an illegal immigrant and the problems they cause is an apples to oranges comparison.

by Anonymousreply 39May 23, 2023 11:28 PM

I've finally decided that we cannot treat homeless people like people who are capable of making rational decisions. They can not. The constant lack of sleep, stress of food insecurity, stress of being in unsafe places - any of that would erode your mental capacity within a few days, let alone weeks on end.

Lack of sleep and constant stress WILL making you mentally ill. That's a proven fact. And to get some sleep or just to escape, then drugs enter the picture - and then you're off into neverland.

They have to be rehoused and put into 180 day rehabs against their will. No other options. And for those who 'choose' to live on the streets - that's not a rational choice. That's a statement of bravado and acting like you choose this situation as opposed to having no viable other option. It's not true - even if they convince themselves it is.

No more of this shit. Bring back vagrancy laws. Make it illegal to sleep on the street. Make it more inconvenient - or force them to be put into a rehab for 180 days so they can sober up, get some sleep and some decent food to make rational life choices.

And one last item - the other thing keeping people on the street can be their peers. People create their own 'families' out of necessity - but in this situation, it KEEPS people in this situation.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

by Anonymousreply 40May 24, 2023 12:08 AM

r14 I'm so sick of the rent excuse for this. These people are likely junkies or mentally insane. Those that can't afford rent will do what loads of people did when they moved to California, get their ass on a bus and leave. Head home to family, find other opportunities. Loads of folks did that during the pandemic. If rents too high in an area for you to find a home, then that areas isn't for you. Point, blank period.

So, i just don't think a normal person that's priced out of rent is going to find a tent and live among the unwashed masses. They may be unhoused for a day or two, but those people looking for rent will head somewhere else. The folks living among these Skid Row camps are probably on drugs or mental issues, because you'd need to be to handle the smell, drama, and risk of assault.

by Anonymousreply 41May 24, 2023 12:20 AM

r35 cut the bullshit. Tell us at what point were the homeless treated better? If I'm not mistaken, America had kids literally starving to death until the food stamps act passed under LBJ or Nixon. So in a world where America didn't' give a damn about kids, tell me when we were treating the homeless better. Sure, we also had mental health facilities, but they were terribly run, but got these people out of sight, so out of mind. Sure, there were some drug treatment facilities, but mainly for the wealthy. The ones for the poor were like mental hospitals, rough.

You also need to factor in the increased US population and decrease in jobs for the town dummy, barely making it through high school. Sorry, can't use your connections to score a great middle class blue collar job, with benefits, on your high school diploma.

There was no point when we treated the homeless better. Situations were just different, and not always in a better way. I do think the mental facilities should come back. Clearly, these folks give no shits about how they live, so might as well toss them into a facility. Then we can have calm and clean streets again.

by Anonymousreply 42May 24, 2023 12:30 AM

Send them all to Florida.

by Anonymousreply 43May 24, 2023 12:33 AM

^ Awesome idea. DeSantis will then send them to DC. Problem solved. They are off the street 'cause they gonna live in buses.

by Anonymousreply 44May 24, 2023 12:54 AM

Homeless junkies are skid marks in the underwear of Civilization.

by Anonymousreply 45May 24, 2023 1:01 AM

So what should be done? Some say San Diego needs to provide more low income living space, which means much higher density unless you want the poor at the periphery only. Higher density would help, but the structures are usually cheaply built, and residents are fighting high risers tooth and claw because they alter the characters of the neighborhoods too much.

You don't want the homeless on the street, but you don't provide shelter either. And if you do, it's always in the wrong neighborhood. Others' neighborhoods are always so much more suitable. You need to provide social services but of course nobody wants to pay for it. The county needs to provide better mental health services, paid by...?

What else can be done? The mayor needs to know.

by Anonymousreply 46May 24, 2023 1:05 AM

Well,Florida is a shit hole for a myriad of reasons but one good thing I can say about it is they dont allow these tent cities to just pop up or homeless people to take over parks or public places. Its a heart breaking problem,and we as a country should be ashamed of ourselves,but there is just no easy answer. They cant take an old mall and turn it into shelters thanks to govt regulations,god forbid the homeless dont have a private room and bathroom. Then theres insurance,permits,fee's etc,etc and anyone who would be willing to contribute get discouraged. I live in a city of over a million people and they have 2 homeless shelters,both rather small. Not nearly big enough for whats needed. I have great empathy for the homeless,having been there myself,but I at least had a car to sleep in. I couldnt imagine what its like for most.

by Anonymousreply 47May 24, 2023 1:32 AM

R29 BLM lands = Bureau of Land Management. Public lands. They permit dispersed camping in one spot for 28 days on non fee sites. So yes there are places to go but you have to bring all your own shit for survival. No permits needed.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 48May 24, 2023 3:00 AM

Another thing is that many won’t go to shelters because of the rules about no fighting, no drugs or alcohol and choose to stay homeless. What can you do at that point? It’s a terrible impasse that doesn’t have a solution.

by Anonymousreply 49May 24, 2023 5:13 AM

This appears to be SD

This homeless person has improvised a fairly respectable one-bedroom

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 50May 24, 2023 12:54 PM

What the fuck are you talking about r17?! Christ who are these imbecile trolls coming to this board. California is not "communist". Are you 12?

by Anonymousreply 51May 24, 2023 1:03 PM

The San Diego Union-Tribune

Today's front page headline:

in County joins city of San Diego plan to buy hotels to house homeless people. ‘Silly to leave money on the table.’

Detractors say purchases don’t ‘address the root causes of homelessness and will not effectively solve the ongoing crisis in our community’

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 52May 24, 2023 5:58 PM

Lost in this discussion is the lack of affordable housing. There have always been alcoholics, people with mental illnesses, people who could not hold a job. Starting around 1900, downtown areas of medium and large cities had a stock of older, rundown hotels that converted to what were called SRO hotels. (Single Room Occupancy). In many cases, these were one room affairs, with shared bathrooms down the hall. Sometimes there were rules, such as tenants must leave the building between noon and 5 pm. They were rat traps and fire traps BUT they were very affordable (starting at $1/day back when, and as low as $12/day even as recently as 2000. They were dry, a person could lock a door and keep his belongings safe, and they were shelter from the rain, the cold, and the elements. Between 1955 and 2013, almost one million SRO units were eliminated in the US due to regulation, conversion or demolition.. Various well-meaning and not so well-meaning rules (meant to upgrade parts of downtowns and turn buildings into boutique hotels, etc). gradually led to their demise and abandonment, and nothing was ever built to replace them. One million units. Does anyone see a connection between the VISIBLE homeless we now see everywhere, and the previously much less visible people without money and battling problems of addiction and/or mental illness? It's very obvious they are the SAME people (or current people with the same issues). I'm not saying that the worst part of SRO hotels should return, but in my opinion, we need something to replace them, and at that scale. But Americans are cheap and suspicious of anyone who doesn't seem to be able to hold a job. Lots of families kick out the alcoholic or the mentally ill relatives that belong to them, and essentially force them onto the streets.. So good luck finding the communal will to create this amount of cheap housing. Would it be worth all of us paying a $500/year help-house-the-homeless tax? I would argue that in the long run it might save us money. Less money to support hospitals, less money to clean up campsites, less money to try to track down people to get them their psychiatric meds, etc.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 53May 24, 2023 8:57 PM

R53 yes, that's part of it.

A good 50 to 70 percent of homelessness IS mental illness or people who are otherwise unable to care for themselves to the degree that maintaining rent payments, etc. would require.

But yes, the lack of affordable housing is definitely a LAYER of the issue.

And SRO type housing has all but been eradicated, despite it being a useful thing for many people who would otherwise BE homeless.

In Chicago SROs were taken down at the same time as many projects and maybe 20 percent of it has been rebuilt in some way (and that might be generous).

by Anonymousreply 54May 24, 2023 9:03 PM

Isn't the same thing occurring is Las Vegas? And I don't think you can blame politics/ policies for that. It's ultimately (1) no one knows how to fix it, (2) the warm climates, and (3) drugs- heroin and the Sakler family creating a pipeline to heroin.

by Anonymousreply 55May 24, 2023 9:30 PM

Las Vegas, and it's only worse since the pandemic

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 56May 24, 2023 9:32 PM

@ R7

I work with the homeless. It's a very difficult problem. The intersection of mental illness, substance abuse and homelessness is huge. And there is perhaps 30% - 40% of the homeless population in my city that does not WANT a stable housing arrangement. We can only take them off the streets involuntarily, that has its own problems.

by Anonymousreply 57May 24, 2023 9:57 PM

An interest solution from Finland

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 58May 24, 2023 10:46 PM

Too cold most days even in summer for them.

by Anonymousreply 59May 24, 2023 10:48 PM

[quote] There was no point when we treated the homeless better.

"Better" is a strong word. There's always been people who slipped through the cracks, yes. There have always been mentally ill people on the streets, poor people on the streets, drunks and addicts on the streets.

But we did, as a general rule, have policies and money that went toward a general "common good." Cities, states and federal governments worked together, and local businesses helped because they paid taxes into the local/county/state tax base.

The last 50 years have changed most American cities and towns dramatically. These jurisdictions have had to cut budgets and pay for minimal services and infrastructure. Even beyond asylums - mental health clinics and mental health urgent care facilities have closed down. In Chicago this was part of Rahm Emanuel's huge budget cuts that also closed 50 schools.

My larger point is that so many of the local problems we have and the things that so many people complain about and say "oh, America is so terrible, it used to be so nice" is economic. With the collapse of industry and so many local companies shutting down, we now are left with corporations that will use local resources, pay local workers cheaply, and never, ever pay a fucking cent in taxes. And so many of those resources and support nets are bled dry as a result.

People sleeping in tents on the street is the very real result of that.

by Anonymousreply 60May 24, 2023 11:00 PM

I realize that San Diego gets no sympathy for its climate; however, it's been cold, raining, cloudy, overcast since November and just plain unsuitable to be living outdoors. Yes, our climate is generally mild, but not for the past six months. Sure, there has been a few mild days here and there, but Southern California has been stuck in a continual low pressure, and we had a very cold winter, and spring hasn't been much better. San Diego may be milder than most of the country--but not this year.

by Anonymousreply 61May 24, 2023 11:42 PM

R61 - oh give me a break. It hasn't been that bad. "VERY COLD" - is nice and warm to the rest of the country. It's been a little bit colder than usual, but not that much.

by Anonymousreply 62May 29, 2023 3:00 AM

California is not getting any Spring weather

by Anonymousreply 63May 29, 2023 8:30 AM

Fun! Fun! Fun!

[quote]SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — U.S. News and World Report has confirmed what many San Diegans already know. America’s Finest City is the most fun place to live in the U.S.

[quote]According to the ranking released in late October, San Diego takes the top spot on the list thanks to its restaurants, parks, and natural beauty [Nov 13, 2021]

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 64May 29, 2023 9:11 AM

Years ago a cop told me to keep moving at a mall. I was leaning against a wall and he said that was against the law there. So they must have had serious anti vagrancy laws at one time.

Homelessness is a serious problem. But societies do have the right to regulate the behavior of the few for the good of the many. They need to bring back vagrancy laws and some mental hospitals for a start. Otherwise I see this just taking over more cities.

by Anonymousreply 65May 29, 2023 10:27 AM

A San Diego mall…

by Anonymousreply 66May 29, 2023 10:28 AM

I still can’t believe they haven’t thought of a better nickname than “America’s Finest City.”

by Anonymousreply 67May 29, 2023 11:26 AM

Once you've muddied-up your life with arrests, evictions, firings and addictions- there's no way back. You have no references.

by Anonymousreply 68May 29, 2023 12:22 PM

Sandy Eggo

by Anonymousreply 69May 29, 2023 1:44 PM

R62. You are wrong. R61 is correct.

by Anonymousreply 70May 29, 2023 5:51 PM

The first step to addressing homelessness is to slap people whose first priority is to assign blame for it dead in the mouth ("It's their own fault" <---Republicans "Society has failed them" <---Democrats). Everyone needs a place to sleep and receive mail before they get a job, and they need a job to escape homelessness. If mental illness or substance abuse is preventing the normal pursuit of this, treat it. If we have a few billion Federal dollars for some bullshit fighter plane we can most certainly scrape up the costs that are currently only partially met by state agencies, churches, philanthropies.

by Anonymousreply 71May 29, 2023 6:09 PM

R13 Also San Diego has a weak mayor government. The mayor might get a lot of press because it’s a big city but city council is more powerful than the mayor.

by Anonymousreply 72May 29, 2023 6:48 PM

As tent cities and homelessness pervade the land - yes not just in CA - you still hear people blaming this or that mayor, or policy, or political party. What a crock. Global problem, suckage of billionaires.

by Anonymousreply 73May 29, 2023 7:17 PM

R70 - stop agreeing with yourself. I live in SD too - it hasn't been that much colder. What a stupid argument to make anyway about a city that arguably has the best weather in the US.

by Anonymousreply 74May 29, 2023 11:27 PM
Loading
Need more help? Click Here.

Yes indeed, we too use "cookies." Take a look at our privacy/terms or if you just want to see the damn site without all this bureaucratic nonsense, click ACCEPT. Otherwise, you'll just have to find some other site for your pointless bitchery needs.

×

Become a contributor - post when you want with no ads!