The human costs are on par with some of the worst disasters in history — local officials have proved they’re not up to the task — L.A. County Sheriff Villanueva has the right idea — time to declare a state of emergency

It is long past time that local and state leaders declare a state of emergency in Los Angeles County. The homeless crisis and crime wave have overwhelmed local resources. The proof is everywhere: If local resources were not overwhelmed Angelnoes wouldn’t witness human suffering on a historic scale on a daily basis. If they weren’t overwhelmed homeless people wouldn’t be dying on the streets every day. If they weren’t failing residents wouldn’t be terrorized by vagrant criminals, fires, assaults, rapes, and murders every day.

Local resources are overwhelmed and increasingly ineffectual

The proof is everywhere: If local resources were not overwhelmed Angelnoes wouldn’t witness human suffering on a historic scale every single day. If they weren’t overwhelmed homeless people wouldn’t be dying on the streets every day. If they weren’t failing residents wouldn’t be terrorized by homeless criminals, fires, assaults, rapes, and murders every day. If they weren’t overwhelmed the Los Angeles Police Department would not be standing down from enhanced patrols and services around homeless facilities.

The truth is that Mayor Eric Garcetti has been failing to solve the crisis since his earliest days in politics. He announced an ambitious ten year plan to end homelessness – in 2006, as president of the City Council. And on Mr. Bonin’s watch entire neighborhoods in Council District 11 have descended into mere anarchy. Meanwhile the homeless industrial complex they have created and funded lavishly with other people’s money thrives and prospers.

All of which is why there is something depraved about their recent efforts to spend even more money on corrupt nonprofits, the sorts that have been caught dumping disabled homeless people in parking lots. What possible confidence can people have in Mr. Bonin’s latest scheme to spend $5 million to house and serve 200 people from the Venice Boardwalk – the same man who not two months ago spent nearly $10 million to house 44 people in a converted motel? What math programs are they using at city hall?

And it’s positively grotesque to hear Mr. Bonin lash out at other local officials for “interfering” with his efforts. Interfering with what? More death, more rapes, more mayhem?

The people of L.A. – including the homeless themselves – deserve much better

One of the first things on the scene after a natural disaster or humanitarian crisis virtually anywhere on earth is an American C-17 Globemaster cargo plane loaded with supplies. Within a week of the devastating 2004 tsunami in southeast Asia U.S. military and volunteer personnel were providing shelter, clean water, food, medicine, sanitation, and search and rescue operations from Indonesia to Madagascar. They were the first wave of what would become Operation Unified Assistance, the largest humanitarian relief effort since the Berlin Airlift. The coordinated effort involved dozens of nations and private relief organizations.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

The U.S. ultimately sent the USS Lincoln aircraft carrier, the USS Bonhomme Richard and USS Essex amphibious support ships, and the USNS Mercy hospital ship to the region, along with a dozen other vessels, dozens of support vessels, 160 helicopters, 100 fixed wing aircraft, 500 vehicles, and 25,000 personnel. The story is well worth reading. Examples of similar efforts include Operation Tomodachi after the Fukushima nuclear disaster and Operation Unified Assistance after the 2018 Haiti earthquake.

Angelenos ought to be asking themselves, why isn’t the USS Abraham Lincoln anchored in Santa Monica Bay as we speak? Why aren’t relief camps springing up across the Southland, supported by helicopter relief flights and a military-grade supply chain of food, shelter, medicine, and hope? Why aren’t we treating our own city’s crisis with the degree of urgency we treated a crisis on the other side of the world? Where’s the International Red Cross? Where are our international partners with an interest in the crisis, like Mexico and our Central and South American partners?

Better yet, Angelenos should be asking their elected and appointed officials why they’re content to let people suffer and die.

Greed is the only thing standing in the way of solutions

Of course, Angelenos know the answer to that question. If politicians like Mr. Garcetti and Mr. Bonin, along with fellow t like Mark Ridley-Thomas, Monica Rodriguez, and Mitch O’Farrell, were to solve the homeless crisis tens of thousands of bureaucrats, non-profit executives, lawyers, consultants, academics, researchers, and others would have to find real jobs. Real estate speculators would have to start building housing and communities people actually want to live in rather than hoovering tens of millions in free tax money for $900,000 units of “permanent supportive housing.”

Consider: Under Mayor Eric Garcetti’s “bridge home” plan the City of Los Angeles is spending an average of $55,000 per cot in temporary dormitory style housing, and again as much annually for services and maintenance. Even accepting the official count of 36,900 homeless in the city, it would cost more than $2 billion to provide rudimentary shelter. Those are not real numbers. These are not serious people.

In contrast, an Army mobile hospital and shelter (like in the TV show M*A*S*H) can be set up in a matter of hours for a few hundred thousand dollars. These facilities provide a full range of emergency and supportive services, including shelter, sanitary and medical facilities, triage, accommodation, security, kitchens, pharmacies, storage, and communal gathering places. They can even handle financial transactions and set up communication centers to assist homeless people with things like job searches, reconnecting with family, and obtaining additional outside services when they are warranted. Suffice it to say the sort of rampant lawlessness at illegal encampments is not tolerated. A few hysterical activists aside rational people know that sometimes the love has to be tough: An individual strung out on fentanyl in the middle of a psychotic break isn’t exercising free will, period. And drug dealers must be dealt with, not enabled.

In a fraction of the time that city and state governments spend dithering over what color to paint a new bridge shelter the National Guard and other military elements could have emergency shelters up and running citywide, helping people, saving lives, and restoring neighborhoods.

There may be hope

One local official, Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva, has started treating the crisis with the urgency and resolve it requires. Starting last week he began deploying teams to the Venice Beach boardwalk, one of the worst epicenters of homeless violence and mayhem. Deputies are offering shelter and services to the hundreds of people living on the beach in their own squalor.

As reported in the Venice Current and elsewhere, the Sheriff also is demanding that the county Board of Supervisors declare a state of emergency. That critical step would allow national resources, starting with FEMA, to begin providing services. Admittedly FEMA isn’t ideal, for a lot of reasons, but it would be a start. It would nationalize the crisis, largely removing Mr. Garcetti and Mr. Bonin – not to mention the noxious menagerie of nonprofits the enable – from the equation. That alone would be progress. With Donald Trump out of the White House and California native Kamala Harris serving as Vice President there should be no political bump for our Democratic local officials.

Sheriff Villanueva is the only official in the City and County of Los Angeles to start treating the crisis with the urgency it deserves, and as such he deserves the city’s support. Declaring a state of emergency is the humanitarian thing to do, and most Angelenos recognize that the solution has to be as much stick as carrot. Despite the protestations and bloviation of people like Mr. Bonin the fact is that most homeless people who actually live on the streets or in illegal encampments are hardcore. The overwhelming majority have mental health issues, substance abuse issues, or both. They will not be saved by $900,000 condos. The only thing those condos will accomplish is the further enrichment of the politicians, nonprofits, and other parasites for whom human suffering is succor

It is long past time for a new path forward. It’s time for a state of emergency. It’s time to bring in the military.

Support independent journalism! The All Aspect Report depends on contributions from readers like you so that we can continue bringing you the best investigations, analysis, and opinions.