Los Angeles is finding tactics to address the homelessness problem before the 2028 Olympics. A state of emergency declared in December 2022 has increased efforts to address the issues, but concerns remain about the city’s ability to reduce the crisis before the Games.
The 2028 summer Olympics in L.A. will take place from July 14, 2028 through July 30, 2028 and the Paralympic Games will take place from August 15, 2028 through August 27, 2028. The opening ceremony of the Olympics will be held at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and the ending ceremony at SoFi Stadium.
Charlotte Marchioli, a freshman theater major, said having the Olympics in L.A. is such a worldwide event but describes the issue of the homelessness problem around the city as a concern from lack of resource support.
“Adding homes, building homes, is definitely part of the solution, but I do think that there’s other aspects of homelessness that need to be addressed,” Marchioli said. “There needs to be reform when it comes to drugs, more funding, and mental health.”
According to the L.A. County data from the homeless Initiative found that 4.1% of homelessness has increased since 2020.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass launched the Inside Safe program in her first year as a mayor which helps people who are experiencing homelessness in temporary housing in the city. Since Mayor Bass took office in 2023, roughly 2,100 people were moved to temporary housing like motels, with only about 400 people moved into permanent housing.
The Inside Safe program faces criticism over the lack of process in how homeless people go through the system for receiving housing support. When the program expires, most homeless people return back to the streets, according to The New York Times.
Troy Vaughn, president and CEO of the Los Angeles Mission said that the reduction of the homelessness in L.A. has reduced in the city and that small improvements are happening.
“We did see a reduction in homeless individuals that are unhoused in our communities, and particularly in Skid Row, and decreased in Skid Row about 13%,” Vaughn said. “So we’re starting to see the needle move, although slightly we’re starting to see it.”
In 2022 the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors passed the Skid Row Action Plan that was created to address homelessness. California received $280 million of the Encampment Resolution Fund grants from the California Interagency Council on Homelessness, to help house more than 2,500 people. The Plan will boost health care, drug treatments and social services.
Andres Rivera, working in a cancer research lab at USC said that the homelessness crisis is a complicated issue since it varies from all angles, economically, and mental health.
“[Housing] the biggest thing but it’s how attainable it is for the people [since] there’s a lot of bureaucracy and red tape around these opportunities,” Rivera said. “Housing and free housing—it’s almost sometimes impossible for homeless people to get a hold of those resources.”
Rosemary Datz, a first-year masters student in social work, said that the homelessness crisis is a rampant issue and that not enough measures are being taken to address the problem that should be addressed in a more interdisciplinary approach. The systemic issues that come with them are treated as individual problems and not as actual crisis.
“Take a look at the lack of resources across the board, not just housing,” Datz said. “We need to look more at employment and cost of living, as well as access to healthcare and community resources.”
Laurenz Schneeberger, majoring in math and economics compares the homelessness problems to Europe as it’s far much different than the United States.
“Especially coming from Europe, since I’m from Austria, it seems super different and very exacerbated and quite difficult,” Schneeberger said. “You hear a lot about the fentanyl crisis, and the drug problems you have here [in the U.S.]it’s much more visible than I’d say it is in Europe.”
In Austria, roughly 20,000 people are experiencing homelessness, but an initiative project called Housing First has over 2,000 people who are now in permanent housing, and this project has covered upfront costs, deposits, and moving expenses. The project has shown fundamental success in working with partnerships to end homelessness by 2030, according to innovation in politics.
Vaughn said that change comes when people help each other and by looking at the approach to see it as a not one-person approach but as a multi-tiered approach.
“All of us have to participate in the process of transformation, especially the transformation that we seek and so the more that people can get involved,” Vaughn said. “I think the better chances we have to eradicate homelessness in not just Los Angeles city, but L.A. county, and I would venture to say the state.”
Datz said USC should do more in addressing the issue and do everything to provide resources for the homeless people.
“We are part of the community, and we have a responsibility to our community, being a part of South-Central L.A.,” Datz said. “Being [in] a place that has such power and privilege, I think it’s our duty to give back to our community and use our resources to help.”
Some students share mixed feelings about whether the city will make little to no progress in the effort of doing something to make a difference on the homelessness crisis by 2028.
Rivera said that he wants to remain hopeful for the outcome since most people want actual change in this and no one wants to see homeless people suffer anymore.
“I want to hope that our politicians are going to start doing their jobs right and get it done,” Rivera said. “So, I want to say I really want them to do it by 2028.”
Marchioli said not much change is going to happen from now to 2028.
“I don’t think that that much systematic change could happen in the next four years,” Marchioli said.
Datz said the efforts to reduce the homelessness issue will just keep expanding.
“Because we’re not making the systemic changes,” Datz said. “We’re just trying to sweep it under the rug, and the more we do that, the more the problems are gonna grow.”
Schneeberger said that he wants to be hopeful that the reduction of the homelessness crisis will be less just in time for the summer Olympics in 2028.
“It’s four years [away]. You can make a lot of progress in four years,” Schneeberger said.
Vaughn said that he remains optimistic that L.A. will be ready for the summer olympics in 2028 because there are multiple levels of plan such creating public transportation reliable and safe and creating more housing.
“I’m sure we will be [ready]because all of the world will be watching,” Vaughn said. “And so just like they were watching the recent [2024 summer] Olympics in Paris.”
During the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, the French authorities had been using “social cleansing” as a tactic to clear off migrants and homeless encampments for months in the city before the Olympics. They would have buses that would drive homeless people out of the city, away from Olympic venues. Since the government didn’t want tourists to see the homelessness problem around the city, according to AP News.
The question is, will the city of Los Angeles take this similar approach in 2028 like Paris did if they can’t handle the homelessness crisis issue.
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