| Photo by Isaac Benhesed on Unsplash
Part VII of “Searching for SuperAgers Among Filipinos and North Americans” Series
Recent findings and analyses point to very high costs associated with dealing with homelessness. The U.S. federal government, along with state, county, city, and town agencies, all spend to mitigate homelessness and other social ills that go with it. But all the efforts only increase the number of homeless citizens year after year.
Mainstream media reported that between 2018 and 2022, California spent $100,000 per homeless person, totaling $17 billion, during which time the homeless population increased significantly. Foundations and churches added millions more greenbacks to the taxpayers-funded expenditures. But the funds raised by churches of all denominations and community organizations could only achieve palliative relief. To use medical parlance, often the aid to the homeless consisted mainly of treating the symptoms rather than addressing the disease. It is like treating cancer with aspirin (or other legal painkillers) — to lessen the pain.
Public records note California spent approximately $24 billion on homelessness from 2019 to 2024. It is equivalent to about $160,000 per person based on the 2019 figures. And yet homelessness never decreased during said period. It is like pouring sand into a bottomless pit.
Not only government bureaucrats but also taxpayers understand the complexities involved in mitigating homelessness and its continued growth. The public expenditures can include expenses related to healthcare, emergency services at ERs, the criminal justice system, and other essential services such as food and necessities. Some studies have focused on the high costs associated with specific subsets of the homeless population, such as those experiencing chronic homelessness, drug addiction, or those with high rates of emergency-service needs, like those of unhoused military veterans suffering from PTSD.
The public and private entities — from government agencies to private groups like churches and social-action missions — acknowledge that addressing homelessness requires significant investment. But it seems that there is no agreement resulting from ongoing discussion and concern about the effectiveness and efficiency of current spending. There is no centralized body that can coordinate the raising of human and financial resources on a scale that can be used systematically in ending homelessness and other social ills that go with it.
Perhaps Southern California (SoCal) is the ideal site to become the pilot project to end homelessness. After all, rebuilding the burned areas of Los Angeles County early this year has barely started. Therefore, Project 2028 can be the figurative stone that has two or multiple birds or targets. Besides, the target area hosts the Olympics in 2028.
“The public and private entities — from government agencies to private groups like churches and social-action missions — acknowledge that addressing homelessness requires significant investment. But it seems that there is no agreement resulting from ongoing discussion and concern about the effectiveness and efficiency of current spending.”
Many studies, including those publicized in “The Straphanger” column, suggest that providing permanent supportive housing can be more cost-effective than relying on emergency shelters or other temporary solutions. Yes, medium-to-long-term concrete (pun intended) projects to permanently end homelessness — and not Band-Aid solutions or political gimmickry — can end the crisis before the Summer Olympic games are held in Los Angeles County by July 2028. Formation of Public and Private Partnerships (PPP) to build tenement housing for all the homeless and also the fire victims, can lead to savings by the hundreds of millions of greenbacks for the PPP members that can be used to help other basic needs of society — from education to universal healthcare to law and order.
It is high time for leaders in government and the private sector, including the world’s biggest religions, to come together. Perhaps a “Summit to End Homelessness” — plus the organization of homeless groups into cooperatives — can be held before December 2025, or even earlier. Construction of the tenement housing units can start in January 2026. They can be built and inaugurated several months before the opening ceremony of the 2028 Summer Olympics on July 14, 2028. Or perhaps from January 2026 to April 2028, or in 28 months. Maybe this is what “Project 2028” will achieve if we can persuade the first American pontiff and leaders of other religions or denominations to use the prestige, power (from the moral viewpoint), and the influence of their respective offices to lead the charge. Why involve Pope Leo XIV and ask His Holiness to drive a desired bandwagon?
In Los Angeles County, approximately 31% of the population identifies as Catholic. This figure is based on data from the Public Religion Research Institute’s American Values Atlas for 2014. The said percentage reflects the broader Los Angeles metropolitan area, not just the city limits of Los Angeles. Perhaps, after a lapse of 11 years (2014-to-2025), there should be more than 31% percent of the population that is Catholic.
This journalist thinks that there are more than three million Catholics in L.A. County and more in Southern California (SoCal). Americans of Filipino descent alone number more than a million in SoCal — from Santa Barbara County to San Diego and to San Bernardino County, which ends at the Nevada-Arizona border. An overwhelming majority of them are Catholic or members of Christian denominations that work with the Vatican, which is now headed by an American holy man for the first time in more than two millennia.
Then there are probably 10 Mexican, Hispanic, and other Latino Catholics in SoCal for every Filipino-American follower of the Vatican. Ergo, Pope Leo XIV may have more followers than any celebrity in Hollywood, any politician in Sacramento, or any city or county of the Golden State. If there is any single person who can motivate people to do something good, FINALLY, in ending homelessness in SoCal or the entire Golden State, it is Pope Leo XIV, who leads the flock of doers of goodness.
One community leader who believes in Pope Leo XIV is not even a Catholic. This papal supporter, Fredrick Sykes, is a retired L.A. County Sheriff deputy, a former councilmember, then the first Black-American mayor of West Covina, and now a commissioner for Human Relations of the L.A. County Board of Supervisors. He has joined, in his capacity, our budding coalition to help end homelessness not only in West Covina but also in Southern California.
Due to space limitations, this columnist will discuss more in Part VIII the inputs of Fred Sykes. But this wordsmith got Mr. Sykes’ attention most by forecasting that eventually the present pope may end up as the “living patron saint” of police officers, sheriff’s deputies, military police, FBI agents (and other federal agencies like the DEA), port police, forest rangers, First Responders, and other folks maintaining law and order. Why? Because the present pontiff’s chosen name is “LEO”, which is an acronym for “Law Enforcement Officer”.
Know what else? The exact number of LEOs in SoCal runs by the tens, if not hundreds, of thousands. Actual numbers are classified. But among the most significant forces — as Googled — are the LAPD (with 8,802 deputies), LASD (with nearly 18,000 employees, including 9,972 deputies), and the Orange County SD (with 4,000 employees and deputies). Tune in next Wednesday for more verbal fireworks that will finally come with the Olympic inaugural ceremony on July 14, 2028. We must remember the adage that “if there is a will, there is a way.” Vamos a ver.
