[sedachv]

I live 4 blocks from Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles, and I feel exactly the same way. US-style homeless shelters just seem to concentrate the homeless in a geographic area, without providing them with anything they need (what most of them seem to need is access to mental health services and medications). I've heard multiple formerly incarcerated people say that staying in homeless shelters is worse than prison.

The end result seems to be a sort of outdoor insane asylum, with a bunch of privileged hipsters like me and my friends wandering from our high-end loft conversions to the latest trendy bars and restaurants.

I also feel that in many ways the property development companies are drawn to these dilapidated downtown areas with large homeless populations because it's "edgy" and the developments themselves are high-margin.