Virtually Forgotten: Blogging About the Homeless — Jun 25th 2007

By Dakota Smith

An image from Skid Row in Los Angeles

Japanese homeless youths sleeping in 24-hour Internet cafes. The latest in high-tech cardboard street "tents." A review of Yosemite International Airport's plan to donate toiletries--seized from travelers during security checks--to local shelters.

These are just a handful of the stories recently posted on LA's Homeless Blog. Founded in 2004 by Joel Roberts, the L.A.-based site was launched to "create a virtual dialogue on homelessness," he says.

"I wanted to talk about how communities deal with the issues," says Roberts, the CEO of PATH Partners, a local non-profit organization providing shelters and services. "Not only in Los Angeles, but everywhere."

His blog could easily just cover Los Angeles, which has the largest homeless population--45,000 people--in the country. But if local topics, such as the latest developments in Skid Row, a 50-block section of downtown Los Angeles where an estimated 8,000 homeless people gather every day, frequently appear on Roberts' blog, he also looks at the larger social, political and economic issues related to homelessness.

Roberts, 45, says the majority of his blogs' readers work on homelessness-related issues. He also receives email from readers like Michelle, a mother of two children living in a hotel in Santa Clarita, California.

"It is wonderful work that you do--and us homeless thank you so much," she writes. "If this city would open its eyes you would see all of the hotels /motels in this area are packed with families that have fallen on hard times... please tell me where I can go with my 2 daughters to live on an income of $720.00 a month?"

Other cities, notably Cleveland, are following in Roberts' footsteps, launching Cleveland Homeless, a blog run by the city's Coalition for the Homeless.

LA's Homeless Blog receives about 500-1,000 daily visits, and next month, Roberts plans to add more guest bloggers, a move inspired by the Huffington Post. With "more voices" on the site, he hopes to cover more issues, such as homelessness in rural communities.

"Communities don't have to re-invent the wheel if they see what's worked elsewhere," says Roberts. Unfortunately, he's seen many cities take the same approach--they simply add shelters and increase police presence. But achieving real results requires spending money, says Roberts, pointing to New York City and San Francisco as examples of cities that have successfully made advances in helping their homeless.

New York City spent around $1 billion in 2006 on emergency shelters and services, according to Patrick Markee, senior policy analyst at the NYC-based Coalition for the Homeless. By comparison, Los Angeles City and County spent a combined total of $300,000 in 2006, according to figures provided by the Los Angeles-based Coalition to End Hunger and Homelessness.

Another significant difference between New York and Los Angeles: available shelters. An NYC ordinance dating back to the 1980s requires that the city provide a bed for every single homeless person. It's estimated that 35,000 New Yorkers sleep in shelters every night. By comparison, Los Angeles County has only an estimated 17,000 shelter beds to serve the 90,000 homeless living in its entire county.

"The legal right to shelter is one reason why you don't see people sleeping, and especially families sleeping, on the streets in New York, as you do in other cities like Los Angeles," says Markee.

Affordable housing is another key component, according to Roberts. His frustration over this issue is evident in his blog post in March of this year, which he wrote in connection with another Santa Monica public forum on homelessness:

What does Roberts enjoy about running the blog? "I like that so many people are interested in the issue," he says. Less enjoyable is the perennial nature of the subject. "Homelessness just continues. People keep putting Band Aids on the problem."

"Homelessness is Los Angeles' great moral failure," writes L.A. City Council President Eric Garcetti in an email to NewsQuake. Garcetti put his efforts behind last year's proposition to authorize $1 billion for affordable housing in Los Angeles (the proposition failed). As a fan of LA's Homeless Blog, Garcetti cites Roberts' willingness to keep tabs on politicians and residents--and to call them out if their commitment falters. "[His] blog has not let up for a day," writes Garcetti. "He keeps the constructive discussion alive."

Tags: homelessness

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