After decades of liberal governance concerning the California homeless, Los Angeles’ homeless problem is reaching new heights. Friday, the Los Angeles Times reported that a new outbreak of tuberculosis is striking the Skid Row population of downtown Los Angeles. Since 2007, 80 people have been diagnosed with TB in Los Angeles County, 30 of them from Skid Row, where open waste and drug paraphernalia are commonplace. Now the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is getting involved, tracking down some 4,500 people who may have come into contact with those afflicted with tuberculosis.
Los Angeles’ homeless policy, nonetheless, continues to be ultra-left. In September 2012, a panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that it was unconstitutional to seize and destroy property owned by the homeless, even if the property is not in direct possession of the homeless. That means that if a homeless person has a shopping cart filled with disease-ridden blankets, LA authorities are barred from removing it. There are approximately 7,000 people living on Skid Row.
Ben Shapiro is Editor-At-Large of Breitbart News and author of the book “Bullies: How the Left’s Culture of Fear and Intimidation Silences America” (Threshold Editions, January 8, 2013).