Homelessness in Los Angeles is largely a drug crisis that requires mandatory treatment and relocation of homeless individuals to dedicated facilities outside of residential areas.

“It's a drug problem. 90% of these people are drug addicts. We need to get these people mandatory treatment. Then we can get them beds and also they don't have to have a bed in on the west side or next to people's houses or in San Pedro and right next to schools.”

Homeless individuals should be required to either find work, enter an institution, or go to prison.

“So, the chronically homeless, okay, you've got three choices. Three choices. You either become, if you're not mentally ill, uh a functioning member of society who contributes, pays taxes, submits a drug test, uh or you're institutionalized, as we used to do if you're mentally incapable of taking car”

Homelessness should be treated primarily as a problem of mental illness and addiction requiring mandated treatment rather than just a housing shortage.

“the fundamental problem here is not homeless no it's addiction it's addiction because and it's mental illness shellenberger's done the work it's like he said 99 of the people he talks to it's either mental illness or addiction”

Leaving homeless people to sleep on the streets during extreme weather conditions instead of involuntarily committing them is a harmful policy that leads to fatalities.

“This hands-off policy that basically is empathetic toward the homeless to the point where you're killing the homeless. You you say that they should be able to live out on the streets. That it is a form of cruelty and intolerance to involuntarily commit people”

When housing and shelter are offered to homeless individuals, it should be mandatory for them to accept the help.

“when there is housing and shelter available and they're offered the housing and shelter no is not an answer no is not an acceptable answer you have to take the housing period”

The current state of homelessness is a direct result of shutting down psychiatric facilities without establishing a functional community-based care system.

“we decided to uh shut them down and push everybody on the street and that's why we have that's a huge reason we have this massive homelessness problem now”

Homelessness should be addressed through the provision of shelter, housing, and services rather than relying on arrests or relocation strategies.

“we should be able to take on this issue in a proactive way as a city and to be able to address it the right way, the way that I think a lot of Angelenos want it to be addressed, you know, with housing, with shelter, with services, not necessarily through arrests”

Government-run detention camps for unhoused people are cruel, ineffective, and divert funds from proven solutions like housing.

“This diverts funding from proven solutions to homelessness like housing and support to instead build a literal detention facility for people who just can't pay the rent. It's shameful and it must not happen.”

The homelessness crisis is exacerbated by the loss of state-run mental health facilities and is becoming worse due to rising housing costs.

“I mean, ever since the government shut down, you know, uh, mental hospitals and and state-run facilities, it's just been >> just letting them out. Yeah. Letting them out in the streets. >> And it seems like there's so much abuse and so much so many terrible traumatic events that are happening to the”

Criminalizing homelessness is a counterproductive practice that traps vulnerable individuals in a cycle of poverty and legal trouble.

“being homeless is traumatic and so you end up having these poor coping mechanisms which just drives you closer to homelessness. So It's a it's a it's a cycle.”