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Homelessness in Los Angeles: A racial issue

NNPA NEWSWIRE — “A lot of people come here from other states, and they’re sleeping in their car, and they have to figure out how to make ends meet to survive,” said “E-3,” a veteran and former homeless individual. “Rents are just too high. Unless you’re getting some type of government assistance, you are basically left to struggle, you are basically on your own.”

Published

6 years ago

May 23, 2019

Oakland Post

By Isabell Rivera, Our Weekly Contributor

Los Angeles, the city of palm trees, sunshine, and median temperatures of 65 degrees Fahrenheit, has experienced somewhat chillier temperatures and heavy rains this winter. Regardless, L.A. is still a place many people want to move to.

The false hope to become a Hollywood star leaves many on the streets and representing broken dreams. While this scenario is familiar to “Hollywood,” the sad aspect of the homeless epidemic in L.A. is that the majority of homeless people are of African-American descent. Many are veterans, and teenagers who got kicked out because they’re LGBTQ, or left because they came from broken homes.

Lack of job opportunities “You can see in that [transgender] population, there’s a big bump in homelessness. Because a lack of job opportunity, because there’s just a stigma around their community. You do see an increase in that,” said Anthony R. Conley, community involvement coordinator with The Covenant House. “You may see a higher percentage of African-Americans, you don’t see as much as Whites, but we do have it.”

According to a survey done by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), 14 percent of the people who are homeless in L.A. became homeless outside of California first.

“A lot of people come here from other states, and they’re sleeping in their car, and they have to figure out how to make ends meet to survive,” said “E-3,” a veteran and former homeless individual. “Rents are just too high. Unless you’re getting some type of government assistance, you are basically left to struggle, you are basically on your own.”

The LAHSA report shows how structural racism, discrimination, and unconscious bias in housing, employment, criminal justice, and child welfare policies have led to overrepresentation of Black people who experience homelessness.

Black people make up to nine percent of the population of L.A., but more than one-third of its population is homeless. To end homelessness, it will require a collective commitment to address racial disparities.

‘Donations’ and ‘Fundraising’ In Hollywood

On the exit of the 101 freeway and Van Ness, sits “E-3” with his red bucket to collect “donations” or how he calls it “fundraising.” As an African-American, and former homeless individual, he has quite some stories to share.

“I got out of the military in ‘86, worked a series of jobs, then in 2000 my grandmother got sick, and we had to sell the duplex and I found myself with no place to live, so I was residing in my car,” E-3 said. “And next thing I know I was gravitating to the Hollywood area, and meeting other homeless people. I was lucky, cuz [sic] I managed to find shelter in abandoned buildings, and for about three or four years I was residing in the back of a Carl’s Junior off of Sunset and Western.

I went back to school, while I was homeless.”

The 58-year-old has been homeless for 15 years, he said. And recently got approved for a two-bedroom apartment in Inglewood, that he waited on for eight years.

“I was able to secure a place to live – where I reside now, but there’s still the issue of not getting a back-pay from the government,” E-3 said. “One of the biggest problems of homlessness is the agencies turn their backs on their clients, and they don’t work together at all. Everybody goes out and does their own thing.” He said, it’s hard to get out of the “homeless mentality,” as he calls it. It’s all about survival. How to make a dime, where to get the next meal.

“When you’re on the streets,” he said, “your belongings aren’t yours anymore.”

He’s been attacked a few times, while he was roaming the streets. These incidents were reported to the LAPD, without any success in finding the attackers. Many times he got arrested or harassed by the cops. He said racial profiling is still a thing, and the homeless get treated like the outcast.

“When I was homeless in Hollywood, the LAPD would ride up and tell me I couldn’t be there, and put me in handcuffs, and ask me if I was on parole or probation. That was like a regular, recurring incident of 15 years of homelessness,” E-3 said. “I’ve got labeled a chronic complainer. […] and from that day, they don’t take any of your concerns or allegations seriously.”

The South L.A. native doesn’t represent the stereotypical homeless person. E-3 is well-spoken, clean, and intellectual. He’s not a drug addict or an alcoholic. He said the homelessness epidemic will remain, and that city officials don’t want to change it. If that was the case, he said, they would have done so by providing mobile showers, soup kitchens, and mobile health care.

An ‘ingrained pattern’ “There’s not proper adequately classification of the individual’s wants and needs. […] So a lot of people basically have been given up and chosen to live on the streets,” E-3 shared. “It’s basically an ingrained pattern, it’s very, very difficult to erase. When I got my house, I was just basically looking for a corner to crawl up in and go to sleep. The idea of having running water, electricity, a front door and a back door, that was completely foreign to me. I had to adapt to the situation and the circumstances.”

He also feels, homeless veterans don’t get much help in a city like L.A. “I talked to some people and they told me about going to the V.A. [Department of Veterans Affairs] to get into the HUD-VASH program,” E-3 said. “I was very, very skeptical because the treatment that I received was not very fair compared to another guy that was homeless in Hollywood where the worker was more sympathetic, kind, and helpful to him, and I was just basically given a cold shoulder, but the information I was given, I took and I ran with it.

“I was encouraged by an outreach worker to go there [West L.A. Department of Veterans Affairs] and everything will be taken care of, then I found out it was just a catastrophe. A lot of stuff was out of order and it took an unnecessarily long time to get a housing voucher, and assistance, and aid.”

A data collected in 2018 shows that homeless veterans have decreased (18 percent fewer homeless vets – 3,910, down from 4,800 in 2017), however, homeless veterans still exist and need proper assistance.

As the Los Angeles Times recently reported, the city of Los Angeles promised more housing for homeless people, but many neighborhoods are behind. Jobs and housing are hard to get a grip on, it’s like the city offers them, just to do their job, and even if people – such as E-3 – are qualified for them, the employers wouldn’t hire him because he doesn’t fit the profile, as a Black homeless man, E-3 said.

Still in Hollywood, where most of the younger homeless population hangs out, is the Covenant House. A non-profit shelter that caters to the homeless- and trafficked youth.

“That’s what makes the Covenant House – It’s not necessarily like [sic] the building,” Conley said, “but the people who like support it [sic] and do the program and dedicate their lives and help the situation.

“At our current facility here, we have a ‘Safe Haven’ program that serves 64 youths. On the other side, it’s called ‘Rights of Passage’ which is like a two-year program, serves 24 youths. We have 88 beds, but it can still fluctuate every night. Between 88 to 100 youth sleeping here at the Covenant House each night.”

Work of Covenant House

For 30 years, and five days a week, the Covenant House sends their outreach teams to teenagers who are roaming the streets to provide them with hygiene kits, food, and water, as well as to get them to come inside, at least for one night. Most teens don’t hesitate, a roof over the head and security sound better than to camp out on the cold concrete and go to sleep with one eye open.

“That’s like the bread and butter of what we do too,” Conley said. “Because without the awareness of what we do here, some of the youth wouldn’t end up here. They’re on survival mode. They just want to be independent. But when they see that Covenant House van roll up, they know that they’re people looking out for them.”

To cope with disappointments and emotional distress, many of the teens at the Covenant House turned to drugs while they were on the streets.

“We have ways we can help them to detox, we have wellness counselors, so all this is here,” Conley said. “[…] and that’s important because you just can’t turn someone away because he’s a user. Like they need help, so how can we help them. We want those people off the streets.”

Although the Covenant House provides a loving environment with a sense of stability and emotional support, which could be considered a rehabilitation housing that preps the homeless youth, between the ages of 18 – 24, to become a part of society as an adult and better their lives, it also strongly relies on donations and volunteer work, in order to keep up the good work and the standards of the facility. For more information, and how to help go to https://covenanthousecalifornia.org/

“We offer career services, internship opportunities, job placements, we have a whole career center that offers that,” Conley said. “And after that, we’ll help them get housing outside of the Covenant House. […] We help them save money.”

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Federal Raids Target Migrant Kids, Split Families

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — The Trump administration has reportedly removed at least 500 migrant children from their homes across the United States and placed them into government custody, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.

Published

2 days ago

June 13, 2025

Stacy M. Brown

By Stacy M. Brown
Black Press USA Senior National Correspondent

The Trump administration has reportedly removed at least 500 migrant children from their homes across the United States and placed them into government custody, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. The children, many of whom were living with family members or other vetted sponsors, were taken during so-called “welfare checks” carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal agencies. According to CNN, the operations are part of a larger campaign launched shortly after President Donald Trump returned to office, with federal authorities setting up a “war room” inside the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to review data on children who entered the country alone and were later released to sponsors. Officials have used the room to coordinate efforts between agencies, including ICE and the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), which oversees the custody of unaccompanied migrant children.

Trump officials claim the effort is aimed at protecting children placed in unsafe conditions or with unqualified sponsors, pointing to cases where children were released to individuals with criminal backgrounds or those involved in smuggling. Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said the welfare checks have led to the arrests of some sponsors and the transfer of children into ORR custody. Federal data shows more than 2,500 children are currently in ORR custody. CNN reported that the average stay has grown significantly, from 67 days in December 2024 to 170 days by April 2025. Former Health and Human Services officials say new vetting rules—including income requirements, government-issued ID, and DNA tests—have made it far more difficult for parents and guardians, particularly those who are undocumented, to reclaim their children.

In some cases, reunifications that had already been scheduled were canceled. A recent lawsuit details how two brothers, ages 7 and 14, remain in government care because their mother cannot meet new documentation requirements under the revised policies. Mark Greenberg, a former senior HHS official, stated that the approach puts children in a difficult situation. “To the extent, the goal is to determine whether children are in danger or in need of help, this isn’t a good way to do that because it creates fear that anything they say could be used against their parent or family member,” he said. Immigration enforcement agents reportedly have visited children’s homes and asked about their journey to the U.S., school attendance, and upcoming immigration court appearances. Legal advocates say these visits, which sometimes include the FBI, are not standard child welfare procedures and can create fear and confusion among minors.

An FBI spokesperson confirmed the agency’s role, saying, “Protecting children is a critical mission for the FBI, and we will continue to work with our federal, state, and local partners to secure their safety and well-being.” Multiple outlets noted that the Trump administration has not provided clear evidence that large numbers of children are missing. Instead, it has referenced a Department of Homeland Security inspector general report from 2023 that noted more than 291,000 unaccompanied minors had not received notices to appear in immigration court. Former officials note that these figures do not necessarily indicate that the children are missing; some lacked updated addresses or were affected by administrative backlogs.

Within HHS, officials were instructed to expedite policy changes. Former ORR Ombudsman Mary Giovagnoli stated that a senior ICE official, Melissa Harper, was temporarily appointed to lead ORR. Her short tenure was followed by Angie Salazar, another former ICE official who now frequently communicates with White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller. Trump’s team argues the Biden administration allowed thousands of unaccompanied children to enter the country without sufficient oversight. Jen Smyers, a former ORR deputy director, stated that all sponsors underwent thorough vetting, including Department of Justice background checks and reviews of the sex offender registry. “No amount of vetting is a predictor of the future,” she said. The Miami Herald recently reported that a 17-year-old foster child in Florida was removed from his home in shackles and transferred to ICE custody. The boy and his mother had crossed the border without documentation, but he had been living in a state-supervised foster placement. The case raised concerns about the state’s cooperation with federal enforcement and the message it sends to immigrant families. Concerns about federal custody of vulnerable children are not confined to immigration.

In North Carolina, a 7-month-old baby died after being left in a hot minivan by her foster mother, who now faces charges of negligent child abuse and involuntary manslaughter. In Hawaii, dozens of children have been forced to sleep in government offices and hotels due to a shortage of foster placements. In North Dakota, a foster couple has been charged in the death of a 3-year-old after surveillance footage showed the child being repeatedly assaulted. “These cases show what happens when systems meant to protect children fail them,” said Laura Nally, director of the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights Children’s Program. “There’s a growing concern that these welfare checks are being used to carry out mass detentions of sponsors and unnecessarily return children to government custody.”

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Protests of a Costly and Historic Parade

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — President Trump is planning an elaborate and costly celebration for the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army that coincides with his birthday.

Published

2 days ago

June 13, 2025

Oakland Post

By April Ryan

It will rain on President Trump‘s parade on Saturday if most weather forecasts correctly predict the chance of storms. President Trump is planning an elaborate and costly celebration for the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army that coincides with his birthday. When asked if he plans to attend the massive D.C. celebration, New York Democratic Congressman Greg Meeks exclaimed,” Heck no!” He elaborated, saying, “It is clear to me that what Donald J. Trump is trying to do is to emulate Vladimir Putin.” Trump and Putin, the Russian president, are friends. Meeks feels “that’s where he initially got the idea from when he saw the tanks going down the street and how people bow down to Vladimir Putin, how…that authoritarian runs his country where no one questions what he does.”

Meanwhile, around the nation 1600 protests are scheduled to coincide with what is happening in Washington, D.C. Democratic Congressman Al Greene confirms he will attend several “No King Day” protest rallies and marches in his home state of Texas. The congressman questions the president’s comments about using “force” for anyone trying to stop the parade. Reverand William Barber plans to be in Philadelphia on Saturday. “We are having a rally bringing people together,” the civil rights leader confirmed. The leader of Repairers of the Breach added, “Those rallies are gonna be massive and multiracial of every race, color, creed, religion, geographic area, so this is not a moment. We must have a constant movement.”

Weeks ago, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser warned the parade, and all its military might, and pageantry would cost “many millions of dollars” just to repair District streets after the heavy artillery tanks rolled down the historic roads in the nation’s capital. Tall gates and other barricades around the White House are part of the parade’s security measures. The Secret Service has warned of a high-security presence in the area for the parade. You can expect to see military tanks, dozens of other military vehicles, and thousands of service members marching along a route stretching nearly four miles from the Pentagon to the White House.

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Critics Question 2024 Results as Musk Tactics Surface

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Now, a Wisconsin nonprofit has filed a legal complaint accusing Musk, his America PAC, and a Musk-affiliated group called United States of America Inc. of violating state election laws by bribing voters.

Published

2 days ago

June 12, 2025

Stacy M. Brown

By Stacy M. Brown
Black Press USA Senior National Correspondent

Donald Trump’s return to the White House in 2024 has reignited questions about election integrity, particularly after his remarks thanking Elon Musk for what he called a “landslide” win in Pennsylvania. “He knows those computers better than anybody… all those vote-counting computers,” Trump said. “So, thank you to Elon.” The comment set off alarm, including Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett. “So, Trump is rambling on about he and Elon rigging the election?! Am I missing something or is he confessing to yet another damn crime?!” she posted on social media.

Now, a Wisconsin nonprofit has filed a legal complaint accusing Musk, his America PAC, and a Musk-affiliated group called United States of America Inc. of violating state election laws by bribing voters. The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign and two voters allege Musk handed out $1 million checks and that his PAC paid $100 to registered voters who signed petitions and gave their contact information. Wisconsin law prohibits offering anything of value over $1 to encourage someone to vote. The complaint also cites violations of the state’s lottery ban. The plaintiffs are asking a court to declare the actions illegal, prevent future violations, and award damages if applicable.

The lawsuit follows a failed attempt by Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul to block Musk’s actions earlier this year. Kaul argued that Musk’s conduct amounted to illegal inducement, but courts declined to intervene before the April state Supreme Court election. Jeff Mandell, president and general counsel for Law Forward, which represents the plaintiffs, said this new case is being filed under more typical legal timelines. “We’re trying to create … accountability in a more regular timeline, in a way that gives the courts the opportunity to look at this more carefully,” Mandell said.

Musk, who served briefly as a Trump adviser and led a short-lived federal agency focused on cost-cutting, has denied wrongdoing. He initially promoted the giveaways as rewards for early voters but later revised eligibility criteria following legal scrutiny. The controversy has added fuel to growing concerns over anomalies in places like Rockland County, New York, where Vice President Kamala Harris reportedly received virtually no votes despite Democratic victories in other races. “We know exactly what happened and how it unfolded, and we’re asking the court to say this is not acceptable,” Mandel has said.