Medieval Diseases Are Present In Los Angeles

Homelessness has skyrocketed in the state of California. Los Angeles in particular has witnessed a massive increase. Between 2018-2019 the county’s homeless population grew by 16%. The city of Los Angeles experienced a similar phenomenon as its population grew at a slightly slower rate. The thousands of new people calling the streets their home has far surpassed the city’s sanitary capabilities. The sheer amount of people now eating and defecating in the California heat has allowed previously rare diseases to proliferate. It has reached the point where there is a real threat of a bubonic plague outbreak occurring in Los Angeles.

All politicians agree that the best way to combat the threat is by solving the homelessness problem. Some politicians have blamed Los Angeles county’s notoriously high real estate prices as the source of the crisis. While others claim that the homeless population is a direct consequence of California’s failed policies on managing the mentally ill and drug-addicted. There have been many reports such as the one commissioned by the National Coalition for the Homeless that supports the latter group’s claim. The National Coalition for the Homeless study found that 64% of the homeless population is dependent on some inebriating substance. The same report concludes that “[s]ubstance abuse often leads to homelessness.”