@lawandordersvusos: @Karen Bass @Chris ski sings @Dr. Phil @Steve Hilton @ParisHilton @LAPD 1/ THE REAL VANDALISM QUESTION: How much does homelessness-related vandalism cost? Honest answer: cities do not track vandalism by whether the person is homeless. 2/ But cities do track what they spend reacting to homelessness: police contact, encampment clearances, sanitation, fires, and repairs. 3/ In LA, police interactions with people experiencing homelessness were estimated at $53.6M to $87.3M in one year. 4/ And that did not even include the cost of regular patrol officers’ time. 5/ LA’s Bureau of Sanitation reported spending at least $547,000 in one year on homeless encampment cleanups. 6/ In other major cities, responding to encampments cost between $3.4M and $8.6M annually. 7/ San Jose reported about $1,900 per encampment-related call—about $4.75M for 2,500 calls in one year. 8/ Homelessness-related fires in San Jose cost about $195,000 in one year. Vandalism, repairs, and lost public projects added more than $1M. 9/ So the honest number is not “homeless vandalism costs $X.” The honest number is: cities spend millions reacting to unmet survival needs. 10/ And when people get housing, costs drop. In LA County, high-need people’s public costs fell from $38,146 to $15,358 per year after housing. 11/ That is a savings of about $22,788 per person per year. 12/ Bathrooms, water, shade, safe rest areas, and jobs are not “handouts.” They are cheaper than cleanup crews, police calls, fires, and court. 13/ Treat people like humans and many will treat the space with more respect. Deny them every basic need and then punish them for surviving—of course things get worse. 14/ The choice is simple: Pay for dignity and prevention, or pay for damage control after the fact. 15/ Give people a bathroom, water, rest, work, and a path inside. That is how you reduce the chaos—not by criminalizing survival.

Felicia Ann Hook Hagler

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Region: US

Thursday 15 October 2026 01:09:36 GMT