Category Archives: Alternative housing

Ground Zero: How Will an Insolvent California House Its Homeless? . by Alice B. Clagett

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Written and published on 21 May 2019

  • WHAT IS CALIFORNIA REALISTICALLY ABLE TO PROVIDE ITS HOMELESS RIGHT NOW?
    • Favelas as Housing?
    • Cardboard Packing Crate, or Old Tire Housing
    • Free Zone with Offer of Landfill Building Materials
  • CONCLUSION

Dear Ones,

It is possible that the slow roll of the HIV – AIDS pandemic will provide relief from the California housing crisis over time, by slowing or halting population growth over the next 10 or 20 years. But in the meantime, we have a homeless problem that is impossible to solve, using the current measuring stick for adequate housing, because the solutions put forth are too costly, considering the state of the California budget.

Have we not done next to nothing for some years now, because we have not the money on hand to live up to our expectations in housing the homeless? And in the meantime, they are suffering and dying on our streets, right beneath our gaze.

Clearly, we must give up our grand expectations, and find what we are able to do, and do that … even if it be the humblest gesture … right now. Let us start from what we are able to do, rather than what we think we ought to do … And provide some form of housing, no matter how humble, for our unhoused population.

WHAT IS CALIFORNIA REALISTICALLY ABLE TO PROVIDE ITS HOMELESS RIGHT NOW?

Considering the harsh reality of the existence of an uncountable number of Californians housed in the dirt, and working in the earth: What can we do right now, starting from ground zero, to improve that situation? We might look at what other countries too poor to help their indigent in a grand way yet may offer as Stage One housing.

Favelas as Housing? For instance, at the very least, can we provide for our homeless land set aside for a favela-type existence, as is available in the poor sectors of Brazilian cities?

Image: “The favelas of Niteroi, Brazil – March 2011″ … https://i.pinimg.com/736x/78/b4/02/78b402c949b17c32daacd2918c6ff2db–favelas-brazil.jpg ..

Cardboard Packing Crate, or Old Tire Housing. If cardboard, packing crate, or old-tire housing works for the unhomed in Tijuana, maybe we could provide that type of housing here …

Image: “Tijuana Houses: Slums and City” … https://i.pinimg.com/originals/aa/2a/b2/aa2ab250bc938f04d2da53d11c090dac.jpg ..

Free Zone with Offer of Landfill Building Materials. Are we able to rummage through our landfills, and find building materials that they can use? Is this a possibility?

Might we establish a free zone, where they can build and squat? And might we haul in building materials from our dumps so that they can use them?

CONCLUSION

This I see as an urgently necessary in the solution of the homeless dilemma: To find the homeless a safe place to be, no matter how humble. We must start where we are, and do what we can, even if it be no more than that which the underdeveloped nations are able to provide their homeless and indigent populations.

In love, light and joy,
I Am of the Stars

Video: “Everyone In–Supportive Housing Across L.A.,” by Everyone In LA, 8 March 2018 …  https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=22&v=QnZWabk8mO0 ..

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California homelessness, homelessness, community health, underdeveloped nations, social issues, alternative housing, favelas, recycled building materials, real estate,

Call to Action: Carrington Effect on Transportation . by Alice B. Clagett *

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Filmed on 9 September 2018; published on 19 September 2018; updated on 24 March 2022

Carrington Effect on Transportation

Image: “Transports Icon,” by David, Olivier Guin, Jule Steffen & Matthias Schmidt, 29 January 2017, in Wikimedia Commons … https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Transports_icon.png … CC BY 3.0 Unported

Image: “Transports Icon,” by David, Olivier Guin, Jule Steffen & Matthias Schmidt, 29 January 2017, in Wikimedia Commons … https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Transports_icon.png … CC BY 3.0 Unported

. . . . .

  • VIDEO BY ALICE
  • SUMMARY OF THE VIDEO
    • Carrington Effect and Transportation Worldwide
    • Effect on People Who Are Homebound and on Oxygen
    • Advantage of Owning an Older Car with Less Susceptible Electrical and Electronic Parts … and a Bicycle or Foot-Powered Scooter
    • Public Water Supply May Fail
    • Thoughts on Storing and Cooking Food
    • What If Parents Are Stranded at Their Workplace, and Children at Their Schools, as a Result of a Midday Strike of the Carrington Effect?
      • Highrises May Be Rendered Uninhabitable
    • Shall We Establish Community Granaries?
    • On Planning to Repurpose Our Military Might to the Home Front in the Event of a Natural Disaster Such as a Carrington Event
  • MORE INFORMATION
    • Effects of Solar Flares on Vehicles
    • Effects of Solar Flares on GPS and Phones
    • Effects of Solar Flares on Off-Grid Solar Power Systems
    • On Solar Flares and Carrington Events – SuspiciousObservers and NASA
    • Alice’s Blogs on Solar Flares and Carrington Events
  • ASTROGEOPHYSICAL AND SOLAR FLARE DATA

Dear Ones, Here is a video on mitigating transportation issues with regard to a Carrington Effect. A Summary follows the video. There is a reading list at the end of the blog.

VIDEO BY ALICE

SUMMARY OF THE VIDEO

Hello, Dear Ones, It’s Alice. I Am of the Stars.

I have a topic to discuss that I have been putting off … Please excuse me. It has to do with the likelihood of a Carrington effect, and the short-term consequences resulting from that, due to the fact that, here in the United States, we are very technologically oriented and electronics oriented.

As you may know, in 2012 Pete Riley of Predictive Science, San Diego, CA, calculated the probability of a Carrington event in the next 10 years at approximately 12%; here is the paper …

Link: “On the probability of occurrence of extreme space weather events,” by Pete Riley, in “Space Weather,” received 16 September 2011; revised 18 November 2011; accepted 22 December 2011; published 23 February 2012;  Vol. 10, S02012, doi:10.1029/2011SW000734 … https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2011SW000734 … 2012 … http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2011SW000734/pdf .. 

Carrington Effect and Transportation Worldwide

I would like to put forth the notion that a Carrington Effect, in addition to the damage that it might do to the power grids … making gasoline unavailable here in the United States, and elsewhere in the world, for weeks, months, or possibly, years … might also instantaneously halt transportation here in the United States, and elsewhere in the world, because of the electronics in the engines and in the systems of cars now.

My question is: Would a Carrington effect most likely destroy sensitive electrical and electronic mechanisms in cars … such as ignition coils, generators, mechanical distributors, and starting motors … making it no longer possible for transportation to take place?

So this is a Call to Action regarding mitigation of that possibility. What can we do, to prepare ourselves for lack of transportation for, say, a week or two weeks, or maybe an extended length of time?

Effect on People Who Are Homebound and on Oxygen

For instance, with lack of transportation, one of the things that might happen is that people who are homebound and on oxygen are no longer able to obtain oxygen. They need to talk over this possibility with their healthcare providers, and try to keep on hand additional, emergency containers of oxygen.

I know this is possible because, for instance, in snowbound areas, as I recall, Medicare will provide those kinds of large containers, full of oxygen, in case the electricity goes down. I would like to suggest that all people who are on oxygen have those containers on hand, because of the likelihood of the Carrington Effect affecting transportation, and making it difficult or impossible for replacement oxygen canisters to be delivered to homes for some length of time.

Advantage of Owning an Older Car with Less Susceptible Electrical and Electronic Parts … and a Bicycle or Foot-Powered Scooter

If you are able, or have the money, or if you are thinking of trading to a new car, may I suggest the type of car that has no electronics in it … that very basic car? I think that is a good plan for the future.

Possibly even more helpful would be to have on hand a bicycle with a carrying basket on the front or back, or a foot-powered scooter on the handlebars of which shopping bags can be suspended.

Public Water Supply May Fail 

In addition, in terms of water supply, my understanding is that there is a powerhouse that pushes the water from the storage area to the various homes somehow. I do not know how this takes place, but if it is true, and if the power goes out because of the Carrington Effect, then we will have no water. For instance, in towns where water is gravity-fed from a water tower, it must be that electricity is needed to pump the water up into the tower. Without electricity, such a water supply system would fail, would it not? So, everyone has to look into alternatives of water supply, in the event of a Carrington Effect.

Thoughts on Storing and Cooking Food 

Of course, there is an issue of storing food, and of cooking the food. I suggest keeping on hand small cans of food that are already hydrated … that do not need extra water … and that have protein content in them. This is because, if the Carrington Effect takes place, there will be no refrigerators to keep the food in large containers refrigerated, and it will spoil. So, individual, or family-sized containers of canned food are the best bet … Say, beans in cans. Maybe instant rice, or oats that are ‘quick oats’ would be possibilities, if a fire source can be provided. All this I have written up in this blog …

Link: “Pioneer Skills: Planning for Tough Times Ahead,” by Alice B. Clagett, published on 19 September 2017; revised … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-7H3 ..

… so you can look it up there as well. If we were suddenly reduced to pioneer circumstances, then you would want to have on hand, in your house, at least the least expensive ways of sustaining life until the power grids and transportation are restored.

What If Parents Are Stranded at Their Workplace, and Children at Their Schools, as a Result of a Midday Strike of the Carrington Effect? 

Also as a result of possible transportation take-down, if the strike of the Carrington Effect were to take place, say, midday, there would be an issue of how families might be reunited, so that they would be better capable of surviving, during the interval before power is restored.

How will parents get home, if their job takes them far from their home? How will children get home from school? Is there a plan in place, to help with that?

Suppose they cannot get home? Then, is there a plan for survival at the place where the parents work?

Do people who work far from home keep a comfortable, sturdy pair of walking shoes at work, in case they must walk home?

Is there a plan for survival at the school where the children are?

If part of the family arrives home … say, the children … and the parents cannot, then do the children know what to do, so as to protect themselves and sustain themselves, until the family is reunited?

Highrises May Be Rendered Uninhabitable. I note also, in this regard, that people who live or work in highrises, or in buildings with windows that will not open, might find these buildings unusable, after a Carrington Effect, for lack of ventilation and inoperability of HVAC. (Or, occupants might keep on hand tools for cutting holes in the windows, for ventilation.)

Shall We Establish Community Granaries? 

Here is something else: Could each community provide something along the lines of the Babylonian Granaries (grain storage facilities)? In Jewish times as well, the person in charge of a group of people would have a grain store, just in case of times of difficulty such as a Carrington Effect would cause.

Image: “A Wheat Receipt Issued by Two Officials of the Granary at Babylon (Old Cairo) – Egyptian National Library Inv. No. 126, 87 AH / 706 CE” … https://www.islamic-awareness.org/history/islam/papyri/enlp10 ..

Would there be a place … say, a deserted supermarket … where supplies could be kept and doled out, in the way that rations were doled out during World War II?

This is something that each community could decide upon, and provide for on its own … Powdered milk for mothers with children, for instance. And maybe grain stores … cornmeal, flour, and the other things that I have suggested, such as rice and beans, could be on hand and could be given out, in the way that these supplies are given out in developing countries during catastrophic natural disasters.

On Planning to Repurpose Our Military Might to the Home Front in the Event of a Natural Disaster Such as a Carrington Event

We need to look to the home front right now, I feel.  It would be good to draw back our troops, in an organized way, as conflicts begin to cease, worldwide … considering, also the difficulty of getting our men and armaments home in the event of global power grid difficulties … and instead, develop a plan, on the home front, for caring for our communities during a crisis … maybe, extended times of crisis, the Carrington Effect being only one such.

That is my thought for today. I wish you all the very best.

In love, light and joy,
I Am of the Stars

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MORE INFORMATION

Effects of Solar Flares on Vehicles

Link: “Would Your Car Survive an EMP Attack?: Real-world testing with EMP simulators has led to mixed results,” by Jeremy Laukkonen, updated on 4 August 2021, in Lifewire … https://www.lifewire.com/would-your-car-survive-an-emp-attack-3903248 ..  

Link: “EMP Effects on Vehicles,” by Jerry Emanuelson, B.S.E.E., of Futurescience, LLC …  http://www.futurescience.com/emp/vehicles.html ..

Link: “Today: Best Car to Protect Against Solar Flares?” by Tom and Ray of Car Talk, 17 September 2013 … https://www.cartalk.com/content/today-best-car-protect-against-solar-flares ..

Effects of Solar Flares on GPS and Phones

Link: “A big solar storm could wreak havoc on GPS and everything else on your phone,” by Hilary Brueck, 24 June 2018 … https://www.businessinsider.com/solar-storms-could-damage-electronics-2018-6 ..

Effects of Solar Flares on Off-Grid Solar Power Systems

The advice here is to build a Faraday cage to protect charge controllers and inverters … Link: “Can Solar Flares or EMP Damage Solar Power Systems?” at Sol-Ark Limitless Power … https://www.sol-ark.com/can-solar-flares-or-emp-damage-solar-power-systems/ ..

On Solar Flares and Carrington Events – SuspiciousObservers and NASA

Link: “The #1 Risk to Earth,” by SuspiciousObservers, 20 April 2016 … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVgUZv9ccyQ ..

Link: “Impacts of Strong Solar Flares,” by NASA, 13 May 2013 …  https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/news/flare-impacts.html ..

Alice’s Blogs on Solar Flares and Carrington Events

Link: “11-Year Solar Cycles, X-Flares, and Changeups in the Earth Hologram,” by Alice B. Clagett, written and published on 6 October 2016; revised on 24 May 2017 and 26 August 2017 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-6dV ..

Link: “Airline Navigation Backup Systems Question,” by Alice B. Clagett, written and published on 29 September 2017 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-7IZ ..

Link: “Solar Events and Their Effects on Earth and on Humans; Geophysical Alerts,” by Alice B. Clagett, written and published 17 March 2015; revised … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-7ea ..

ASTROGEOPHYSICAL AND SOLAR FLARE DATA

GOES X-Ray Flux Archive
Website: https://www.polarlicht-vorhersage.de/goes-archive ..

SpaceWeather.com
updated several times a day — solar wind, solar flares, planetary K-index, auroras:
website: https://www.spaceweather.com/ … free space weather alerts, free aurora alerts. Subscribe to night sky voice alerts: https://www.nightskyalerts.com/ ..

Space Weather News
Sun watch, solar news, spacecraft hazards charts (indicating whether satellites and power grids are likely to be affected by solar activity), aurora forecast, earthquake watch, long-term solar sunspot and radioflux progression, etc: https://spaceweathernews.com/ ..

Space Weather Prediction Center Preliminary Reports and Forecasts
Link: “NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center Alerts and Historical Data,” by Alice B. Clagett, written and published on 7 September 2017; revised 7 September 2017 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-7BT ..

Suspicious Observers
Updates on solar flares, earthquakes, weather. SO develops predictive theories.
daily youtube updates:
Blog:  https://suspicious0bservers.org/ ..
Youtube:  https://www.youtube.com/user/Suspicious0bservers?feature=watch ..

Space Weather Live
Real-time aurora activity and solar activity
website: https://www.spaceweatherlive.com/ ..
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SpaceWeatherLive/ ..

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solar events, Carrington Effect, transportation, homebound, automobiles, public water supply, alternative transportation, survival, housing, alternative housing, cities of Earth, highrises, reuniting families, gasoline shortage, food shortage, water shortage, community granary, community granaries, community health. Call to Action, Neighborhood watch, military, military deployment, war, Army-Navy, foreign wars, military logistics, my favorites,

How Will Rocketing Water Prices and Property Taxes Affect Home Ownership in Los Angeles? . by Alice B. Clagett

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Written and published on 30 April 2018

  • ARE CALIFORNIA HOUSING COSTS UNREALISTICALLY HIGH?
  • EFFECT OF LOS ANGELES WATER PRICES ON HOUSING AFFORDABILITY
  • SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA EMPLOYMENT OUTLOOK
  • WATER SUPPLY MAINTENANCE IN LOS ANGELES
  • ROAD MAINTENANCE IN LOS ANGELES
  • LAW ENFORCEMENT IN LOS ANGELES AND IN THE SANTA MONICA MOUNTAINS NATIONAL RECREATION AREA
  • PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN LOS ANGELES
  • SUMMARY REGARDING CITY OF LOS ANGELES PUBLIC SERVICES FUNDING
  • CALIFORNIA HOUSING: A TIME OF TRANSFORMATION
    • Might Primitive Housing Techniques Be Useful?
    • On Revising the Los Angeles County Housing Code
    • On Building Additional High Density Housing in Los Angeles
    • The Los Angeles Plan for Housing the Homeless Now Underway
    • The $2 Billion Bond to Help House California’s Homeless Held Up by Lawsuit
    • The HUD Plan to Provide $2 Billion Nationwide for the Homeless
    • The Plan to House the Homeless in Guest Houses in Los Angeles County
      • Employment Opportunity for the Skilled Homeless: Building That Guest Home in Los Angeles County?
    • An Additional Idea; High Density Housing in Los Angeles County, with Busing to Jobs
      • Repurpose Unprofitable Motels and Hotels as Housing for Homeless?
    • FOOTNOTES
      • Homelessness in the San Fernando Valley
      • Early Prison Release in California
      • Fear of the New: The Movie ‘Annihilation’

Dear Ones,

ARE CALIFORNIA HOUSING COSTS UNREALISTICALLY HIGH?

Apparently, California housing costs are the highest in America …

Link: “California’s High Housing Costs: Causes and Consequences,” from the Legislative Analyst’s Office, 17 March 2015 … http://www.lao.ca.gov/reports/2015/finance/housing-costs/housing-costs.aspx ..

This is odd, because people are less in need of housing in California than elsewhere in the nation, because of the mild climate here. Why are housing prices so high?

Could it be that the housing codes here unrealistic, considering the influx of homeless and migrant workers, (1) and the release of felons onto the community due to inadequate funds to keep them in prison? (2)

EFFECT OF LOS ANGELES WATER PRICES ON HOUSING AFFORDABILITY

Stopgap measures have been initiated to fund desperately needed Los Angeles programs, including skyrocketing water prices, and increases in property taxes for homeowners …

Link: “LA DWP, Other Utilities to Raise Water Rates Because of Drought,” by Mike Reicher, published 20 October 2015, updated … https://www.dailynews.com/2015/10/20/la-dwp-other-utilities-to-raise-water-rates-because-of-drought/ ..

Thus the price of owning a home … which is out of range for the many Californians … has become about twice as high in the last decade … There is the price of the mortgage, about equaled by the increased price of utilities and property taxes.

We cannot afford lawns any more. Many people are taking bucket showers rather than ‘real’ showers. In the streets, under the river overpasses and freeway bridges, on vacant lots and in the parks, the homeless cluster, disconsolate, often drunk on rotgut liquor, posting guards in turn to prevent violence upon their small groups, beyond any hope of shelter.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA EMPLOYMENT OUTLOOK

I would like to take a look at the longer-term effect of the stopgap measures that have been effected, so as to keep the Los Angeles city government running …

Apparently, higher housing prices will attract less jobs to California. This means that people will be less able to afford the homes they have. Those who rent will find home ownership out of reach. And those without homes will be unable to rent …

Link: “Sky-high rents and home prices are making it hard for Southern California businesses to attract workers,” by Andrew Khouri, 22 February 2018 … http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-housing-costs-economy-20180222-story.html ..

WATER SUPPLY MAINTENANCE IN LOS ANGELES

Let’s look at water supply to Los Angeles …

Los Angeles is a desert town. Of itself, it is without means to provide water for its population. The water we have is imported from other places, and this may contribute to its cost.

In addition, there is the infrastructure that distributes water throughout Los Angeles. This, like the roads, is aging. Rather than providing a maintenance schedule, we are providing repairs when water mains break. My thought is, our city must not have the revenue for a preventive maintenance schedule for our water distribution system …

Link: “L.A.’s aging water pipes; a $1-billion dilemma,” by Ben Poston and Matt Steven, 16 February 2015 … http://graphics.latimes.com/la-aging-water-infrastructure/ ..

ROAD MAINTENANCE IN LOS ANGELES

How about road maintenance in Los Angeles? Here again, revenues are insufficient for a good road maintenance schedule …

Link: “Poorly maintained roads cost Southern California drivers $2,800 a year,” by Brenda Gazzar, Daily News, published on 17 August 2017; updated, in Los Angeles Daily News …  https://www.dailynews.com/2016/08/17/poorly-maintained-roads-cost-southern-california-drivers-2800-a-year/ ..

LAW ENFORCEMENT IN LOS ANGELES AND IN THE SANTA MONICA MOUNTAINS NATIONAL RECREATION AREA

How about law enforcement? In the cities, I feel, police response is quite good. However, there is the area of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area (SMMNRA), which is currently essentially a lawless zone. According to Wikipedia, the SMMNRA comprises 156,671 acres (63,403 ha) …

Map: SMMNRA … http://rimofthevalleycoalition.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Screen-Shot-2016-02-17-at-6.17.05-AM-1-800×445.jpg ..

I have checked, and there is one ranger assigned to this area. That is, effectively, the police patrol for the entire area.

Thus, lawlessness in the mountains is on the rise, especially in areas with natural water flow, and which are contiguous to populated areas. It reminds me a little of stories of the old days in Los Angeles, when cattle rustlers and horse thieves used to establish hidden outlaw strongholds in the mountains now termed the SMMNRA.

PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN LOS ANGELES

How about schools in Los Angeles? Our schools are becoming more and more a target for gun-wielding and drug dealing, making an education a risky business in Los Angeles.

SUMMARY REGARDING CITY OF LOS ANGELES PUBLIC SERVICES FUNDING

These four areas: utilities, roads, law enforcement, and education, are lacking revenues for maintenance. I feel these are the domain of government in our country … Where these are lacking, government is lacking. Here in Los Angeles, government is doing a slow tumble. It is unable to perform its basic functions.

I feel, though, that this is not the fault of government. Were revenues available here in Los Angeles, I feel certain government would be eager to do its job. But those revenues are unavailable. Why is this?

CALIFORNIA HOUSING: A TIME OF TRANSFORMATION

We here in Los Angeles are in a time of great import … a time of transformation to the New. This is not just the case here in Los Angeles. All of California, all American, and indeed, all the countries of Earth are in a time of transformation.

Transformation can feel like Apocalypse, or it can feel like a New Beginning. (3) We, the people of Los Angeles, will determine the outcome. Will we pull together and come up with innovative solutions to the housing crisis? Or will we go with the status quo … the slow tumble … the seemingly inevitable downward spiral?

I say, let us look, with a sense of adventure, a sense of the dawn of a new era for humankind, to innovative solutions. For instance …

Might Primitive Housing Techniques Be Useful?

How did the First Nations live, here in Southern California, in days not too long ago? They lived in reed, pole, palm frond, or bark huts, and they survived quite well this way …

Image: Diverse California Indian Dwellings …  http://www.rogueturtle.com/articles/images/nashelter1.jpg ..

How do people get by in Rio de Janeiro, where about a fourth of the population live below the poverty line, and the average per capita income is about $17,700 a year? Many live in very substandard housing, termed favelas ..

Image: Rio de Janeiro favela … https://media.istockphoto.com/photos/inside-a-favela-in-rio-de-janeiro-picture-id504416164 ..

How about in Tijuana, the country of origin of many of our current unhomed population? From what sort of environment are they fleeing, in order to seek a better life for themselves and their families?

Tijuana also has its slum housing, where people use building materials salvaged from landfills to build squatter homes on land with no utility service. Water trucks come round with bottles of water to sell for household use. Sanitation depends on a family’s ingenuity; pit toilets are the norm …

Image: House of cardboard in Tijuana … https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/family-inside-their-house-made-with-carboard-at-the-edge-of-news-photo/149207211#family-inside-their-house-made-with-carboard-at-the-edge-of-a-ravine-picture-id149207211 ..

On Revising the Los Angeles County Housing Code

I feel we here in Los Angeles can do better than this for our people. But we must face facts.

The density of population in Los Angeles is too great for sustainable living. The population of Earth must be spread out more evenly, and ways must be found to live off the land, and become self-sustaining, and to house ourselves, in and of ourselves, humbly but efficiently, using local materials. For those that have the skills and strength of character to move out of the cities, and live a sustainable life: Why not consider taking this step?

On Building Additional High Density Housing in Los Angeles

For those that choose to remain here in Los Angeles, we must come to terms with the fact that the housing code in Los Angeles makes it impossible to attract jobs to the area. Where jobs are insufficient, the standard of living will decline. The Catch 22 is this: Where the standard of living has declined, jobs will not be attracted.

So then, what is the solution? There is a clue near the end of this article …

Link: “California’s High Housing Costs: Causes and Consequences,” from the Legislative Analyst’s Office … http://www.lao.ca.gov/reports/2015/finance/housing-costs/housing-costs.aspx ..

The article suggests building more high density housing in California’s beach towns. I agree that this would help solve the problem. But in order to effect this solution, we must change the housing codes.

The Los Angeles Plan for Housing the Homeless Now Underway

Los Angeles has a plan for housing the homeless …

Link: “A plan to house L.A.’s homeless residents could transform parking lots across the city,” by Doug Smith, 9 February 2018 … http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-parking-lots-housing-20180209-story.html ..

This plan is a laudable step in the right direction. Yet it is running into snags because of local fractiousness. People do not want the homeless as their neighbors.

The $2 Billion Bond to Help House California’s Homeless Held Up by Lawsuit

I see also that a $2 billion bond to help house California’s homeless, approved by California voters two years ago, is tied up in lawsuits regarding mental health care bills as yet unpaid …

Link: “2 billion to help house California’s homeless isn’t being spent — and no one knows when it will be,” by Liam Dillon, 1 March 2018 … http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-homeless-housing-bond-stalled-20180301-story.html ..

The HUD Plan to Provide $2 Billion Nationwide for the Homeless

On the other hand, Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has announced a plan to provide $2 billion for the homeless, so this may to some degree ameliorate the homeless situation in California …

Link: “Ben Carson Announces $2 Billion for Homeless Programs Despite Trump’s Proposed Cuts to Housing Programs,” by Grace Guarnieri, 11 January 2018 … http://www.newsweek.com/ben-carson-billion-homeless-trump-housing-778976 ..

The Plan to House the Homeless in Guest Houses in Los Angeles County 

Los Angeles County is running a pilot program offering housing assistance for homeless housed in guest houses in property owners’ back yards …

Link: “L.A. County wants to help build guest houses in backyards — for homeless people,” by Gale Holland, 11 April 2018 … http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-homeless-tiny-house-20180411-story.html ..

If successful, this might help reduce the population density in the City of Los Angeles, and help relieve concomitant issues to do with the homeless population in the City.

Employment Opportunity for the Skilled Homeless: Building That Guest Home in Los Angeles County? I would like to suggest, as well, the building of ‘Tiny Homes’ to benefit from this program, if it turns out to be approved. Perhaps this would boost employment in Los Angeles Country? Perhaps the homeless who have handyman skills might help with building additional guest homes there? Could it be that the State of California might offer financial incentives for such projects?

An Additional Idea; High Density Housing in Los Angeles County, with Busing to Jobs

If local resistance proves impossible to overcome, let us consider building high density housing in rural areas, in Los Angeles County, and providing buses to the nearest employment opportunities.

Repurpose Unprofitable Motels and Hotels as Housing for Homeless? For instance, old motels or hotels, that are proving economically not feasible, might be low-entry-cost ways for the Los Angeles County to house the homeless.

Well, that is all for now.

In love, light and joy,
I Am of the Stars

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FOOTNOTES

(1) Homelessness in the San Fernando Valley

Link: “A Call to Action: Homelessness in the San Fernando Valley,” by Alice B. Clagett, written and published on 24 March 2018 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-8vN ..

Link: “A Homeless Plan for the San Fernando Valley,” by Alice B. Clagett, filmed on 4 December 2017; revised … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-82m ..

Link: “Homelessness in the San Fernando Valley,” by Alice B. Clagett, published elsewhere on 8 October 2017; revised … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-7QM ..

(2) Early Prison Release in California

Link: “A Virtual ‘Get-Out-of-Jail-Free Card’: A New California Law to Reduce Prison Crowding Keeps One Addict Out of Jail, But Not Out of Trouble,” in the Washington Post, 10 October 2015 … https://www.washingtonpost.com/ …

Link: “2014 California Proposition 47,” in Wikipedia …  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Proposition_47_(2014) ..

(3) Fear of the New: The Movie ‘Annihilation’ … For instance, there is a new movie out, “Annihilation,” which treats the prospect of change and transformation to the New as a doomsday issue …

Link: “Annihilation,” in IMDb … https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2798920/ ..

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Notes on Forestalling Social Unrest in California . by Alice B. Clagett *

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Written on 12 April 2018; published on 6 December 2019

  • THOUGHTS ON PROVIDING STAGE ONE WORK FOR THE CALIFORNIA HOMELESS AT LESS THAN MINIMUM WAGE, IN EXCHANGE FOR SOCIAL SERVICES
    • Prison Work Programs for Less Than a Dollar an Hour
      • Prison Release Work Camps.
    • A Stage One Consideration in Employing California’s Homeless at Less Than the Minimum Wage
  • THOUGHTS ON SLOWING THE SPREAD OF HIV AND AIDS IN PRISONS
    • On Isolating HIV-Positive Prison Populations in Cell Blocks, Together with HIV-Positive Prison Guards
    • Conjugal Visits
  • HUMAN TRAFFICKING OF IMMIGRANTS TO THE UNITED STATES, COMPARED TO THAT IN CHINA
    • How China Deals with an Influx of Minimally Employable People from North Korea
    • How the United States Deals with an Influx of Minimally Employable People from Mexico
  • CONCLUSION

Dear Ones,

I wrote up these notes in April 2018, with a hope that I would soon finish them off. More than a year later, I have to figure I may never get round to that. I apologize to my reader that they are presented here in outline form …

THOUGHTS ON PROVIDING STAGE ONE WORK FOR THE CALIFORNIA HOMELESS AT LESS THAN MINIMUM WAGE, IN EXCHANGE FOR SOCIAL SERVICES

I have a thought that Stage One work might be provided the California homeless at less than minimum wage, in exchange for social services such as State One housing, necessary medical treatment, food, and temporary housing.

I note we have precedents in paying less than the minimum wage, here in America: Commission sales work, work on small farms, and newspaper delivery, for instance …

Link: “When Must Employers Pay the Minimum Wage?, updated by Sachi Barreiro, Attorney, at NOLO … https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/employers-pay-minimum-wage-law-29600.html ..

Prison Work Programs for Less Than a Dollar an Hour

Then there is the special instance of prison labor, where inmates have the voluntary option to work, for less than $1 an hour …

Link: “How Much Do Incarcerated People Earn in Each State?” by Wendy Sawyer, 10 April 2017, in Prison Policy Initiative … https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2017/04/10/wages/ ..

Thus we have a precedent, in the exceptional circumstance of incarceration, for offering work at a great deal less than the minimum wage. Could we build upon this precedent by offering work training to our felons or released felons or homeless, at far less than minimum wage?

If the precedent might be stretched in this way, then we might have the setting for an economic bounce-back, here in California, as greater numbers of the currently unemployed are able to find employment.

Prison Release Work Camps. I am thinking that something like this might be good if, for lack of funds, we have to release the prison population. For those who are ‘unregenerate’ … to use an old-time term … work camps might be set up or ‘rough and tumble’ work might be provided as an alternative to imprisonment, at greatly less than the minimum wage. This topic I discussed in a little more detail here …

Link: “Ought the United States, like North Korea, Have Forced Labor?” by Alice B. Clagett, published on 21 May 2019 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-cQw ..

A Stage One Consideration in Employing California’s Homeless at Less Than the Minimum Wage

Here is a Stage One consideration: Let’s try to figure out some way to get around the minimum wage, for people who are unhomed, and who are receiving extra social services, in the event the United States government is not able to participate, here in California, in ameliorating the situation, and easing the social unrest.

For instance, could we offer something more akin to prison labor … voluntary labor, and a very small wage, in exchange for housing and food and medical care? Could we offer that, in camps especially set up for that?

What would be the long-term situation with regard to those that California cannot now find work for at minimum wage, and who must find work? If employment at less than minimum wage in exchange for social services were to be offered as a temporary, short-term Phase One, then what would be Phases Two and Three?

THOUGHTS ON SLOWING THE SPREAD OF HIV AND AIDS IN PRISONS

On Isolating HIV-Positive Prison Populations in Cell Blocks, Together with HIV-Positive Prison Guards

In United States prisons, HIV tests might be used to separate the HIV-positive prison populations … and the HIV-positive prison guards … physically, from those prisoners and guards who are HIV-negative. These tests need to be performed every 6 months, as I understand it, and also one month after possible exposure to the virus. HIV tests might be made routine in prison medical facilities, not only for the safety of prisoners and guards, but also for the sake of the infectable law-abiding populations upon whom prisoners might prey, either as prostitutes or as sexual predators, after their release.

Conjugal Visits

I think that, to prevent the spread of HIV and AIDS amongst United States prison populations, we ought to consider allowing conjugal or significant other visits in our federal prisons, and in those state prisons that currently do not do so.

Conjugal visits might lead to less intercourse amongst inmates, and less intercourse between inmates and prison guards, so that HIV might spread more slowly amongst the prison population. I feel that conjugal visits might also lead to less violence amongst prisoners.

Such a policy also might help prisoners who have been in long-time-paired relationships to preserve those relationships while imprisoned. It might help families stay together through the financial hardship of imprisonment of a parent, and that might positively affect community life.

HUMAN TRAFFICKING OF IMMIGRANTS TO THE UNITED STATES, COMPARED TO THAT IN CHINA

I have been perusing the “CIA World Factbook” online …

Link: “World Factbook,” by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) … https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/ ..

… and have found it full of information pertinent to forestalling social unrest in California. For instance, from my reading, it seems to me that the human trafficking of immigrants to China from North Korea in our lifetime is, in some ways, analogous to the human trafficking of immigrants to the United States from Mexico.

How China Deals with an Influx of Minimally Employable People from North Korea

Apparently, there are masses of people in North Korea, whom the government forces into forced labor in China …

“… North Korea does not fully comply with minimum standards for the elimination of [human] trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so; the government continued to participate in human trafficking through its use of domestic forced labor camps and the provision of forced labor to foreign governments through bilateral contracts; officials did not demonstrate any efforts to address human trafficking through prosecution, protection, or prevention measures; no known investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of trafficking offenders or officials complicit in trafficking-related offenses were conducted; the government also made no efforts to identify or protect trafficking victims and did not permit NGOs to assist victims (2015) …” –from Link: “CIA World Factbook, North Korea,” in the section: Transnational Issues … Subheading: Trafficking in persons … https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/geos/kn.html … public domain

Korean people also may flee to China of their own free will so as to escape starvation …

“… risking arrest, imprisonment, and deportation, tens of thousands of North Koreans cross into China to escape famine, economic privation, and political oppression … –from Link: “CIA World Factbook, North Korea,” in the section: Transnational Issues … subheading: Disputes – International … https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/geos/kn.html … public domain

Those types of labor available to trafficked peoples sometimes may be beneath the level of misery that is acceptable here in the United States …

Link: “Trafficking in Persons Report June 2017,” by United States of America Department of State … https://www.hsdl.org/?view&did=801874 … This is a pdf download.

It might be prostitution. It might be illegal activities such as theft. It might be begging. They might be held by gangs that are ‘beneath the law’ and forced to be members of those gangs. This, to me, is unacceptable.

How the United States Deals with an Influx of Minimally Employable People from Mexico

The situation with immigrants from North Korean to China is analogous, in some regards, to the situation with immigrants from Mexico to the United States. Immigrants from Mexico are not forced by the United States government into inhumane kinds of labor, but they may find themselves in those kinds of situations … living In dug-out caves in the Earth, for instance. And doing seasonal, migrant labor. Or young women or children may find themselves forced into lives of prostitution by pimps.

One thing we might look at, going forward, is how job training might be offered new immigrants, here in the United States, so as to broaden the scope of job opportunities for which they are eligible. This type of job training is doubly beneficial: It helps raise the living standard of immigrants; and it helps lessen the spiritual burden of human trafficking in the United States and uplift our nation through good works in our community.

The philanthropy we offer those caught in the throes of human trafficking is a kindness we offer our children as well, for they will look forward to a better educated community through whose informed choices may be sculpted a brighter tomorrow for all America.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, I feel that Los Angeles in particular, due to such stressors as homelessness and released felons, faces the spectre of social unrest at present. What to do? I feel we must look at what other countries do when faced with these stressors. We must not turn away from innovative solutions simply because we feel they are beneath us, as Americans.

I feel it is because we feel this: that the lesser good we are able to provide the homeless and released felons is beneath us, and unworthy of them, that we have found ourselves for ten years to be in stalemate as a city.

We are unable to provide the level of benefits and care that has been, with hopeful optimism, voted into California law. Massive problems lie before us, and have done so for 10 years now. California is a Sanctuary State for those fleeing from downright extermination in the crueler states of our great Union.

Though we are that to many, we have not the funds to help those seeking sanctuary in the manner afforded the homeless, the helpless, those seeking shelter, food, and work in days of old.

Here in Los Angeles we must make bold to provide what we may to those who have nothing at all. Though it be against the laws of our nation, and against those of our State, we must do what we can. We must offer what we may. We must open our hearts, still our doubts, and come up with sensible, novel solutions to the new problems that lie before us.

In love, light and joy,
I Am of the Stars

Video: “Everyone In–Supportive Housing Across L.A.,” by Everyone In LA, 8 March 2018 …  https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=22&v=QnZWabk8mO0 ..

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Call to Action: Homelessness in the San Fernando Valley . by Alice B. Clagett *

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Written and published on 24 March 2018

Dear Ones,

The number of homeless per 10,000 people is about 17 people, as an average across America. Yet the number of homeless per 10,000 is about 35 people in California. In 2017, about half the people without shelter, nationwide, were in California. About 90% of the total homeless population of California are without shelter. (1)

It makes sense that California should have many more unsheltered homeless people, because the weather here is mild enough to allow people to stay alive while unsheltered. Which may be why there are twice as many homeless people per 10,000 people here than in the national average.

Homeless people in the San Fernando Valley, here in the western Los Angeles area, are camping wherever they can. Some set up camp in the Santa Monica Mountains. Children wander into the mountains after school to play. They may run across inappropriate sexual solicitations from homeless women. Or worse yet, rough handling and shakedowns by homeless men. Our parks are no longer our own, because of the influx of waves of homeless people.

I had a talk with our local law enforcement recently. They explained that their jurisdiction ends where the mountain park areas begin. They said to contact the rangers who patrol the mountains. I did call several numbers, and eventually found out there is only one ranger patrolling the Santa Monica Mountains. He said he knows about the problems with lawlessness, but is unable to respond to these, for lack of manpower.

Basically, as I understand it, there are portions of the Santa Monica Mountains that have homeless encampments, and in effect, no law enforcement is available there. That makes those areas unsafe to walk in. This is true for men, women and children.

Then, when the homeless set up their camps near people’s houses, I find, from reading Nextdoor.com, that these incursions are threatening to homeowners, and rightfully so. Their presence there represents a threat to the safety of the housed people in those communities.

I have seen, recently, residents in my general area going around, around sunset, and taking photos of homeless people with zoom cameras. And then shortly thereafter, a man in a pickup truck, who looked to me like a rough sort, cruising slowly in their direction. I had a feeling he might have had in mind roughing them up and forcing them away from the homes in the area.

I know people feel threatened by the government’s dalliance in regard to providing housing, or at least locating tenting areas for, the 6,000 or more homeless in the San Fernando Valley. Yet I do not feel that rough stuff will solve the problem. Especially, and hands down, vigilante violence, I feel, will not help.

When we express violence … even righteous violence … towards another person, the feeling of violence, and the thought of violence, do not lodge themselves in the person whom we assault. Rather, that feeling and that thought pierce our own hearts. And we bring our own hearts … as wounded by our act of violence as is the heart of the person on whom we inflicted violence … back home to our families, where is enters the hearts of our sleeping spouse and our sleeping children … the newborn and the toddler, as well as the grade school child. That feeling of violence is no respecter of youth or innocence.

As we lay our injured heart down to rest, in the home we love, that violence seeps out, in our dreamtime world, and fills our home with darkness.

As we wake up to a workday morning, and take the long commute to work, the injury in our heart, that we have all unknowing and unthinking writ there, streams out, through the morning sunlight, into the hearts and minds of those we pass, with nary a second glance, on the freeway.

When we enter the workplace, and greet our co-workers, they register in their own hearts the violence we have inflicted and the darkness that thereby slumbers in our own.

And so I say, violence is not the way!

Moreover, when we forcefully dislocate homeless people from one area of the San Fernando Valley, then they relocate to another area of the Valley. As there are, by my calculation, facilities for only about 300 homeless in the valley, the likelihood is they will set up camp in a nearby inappropriate area once more.

Instead, I suggest we consider these steps to alleviate the problem …

As to the homeless encampments in the Santa Monica Mountains, we can get maps of the unsafe areas. Maybe we could speak with law enforcement about this? And get these maps into the hands of the schools and the churches. We ought also get them on the news. That way, until we can implement a strategic relocation, there will be no mishaps with unsuspecting hikers and mountains explorers.

Then, as to the issue of incursions of the homeless into residential areas: As a first step, I feel we must set aside some areas … parks, empty lots, or parking lots … for relocation from private home areas and from the Santa Monica Mountains encampments, to these new locations.

We will need sanitary facilities, to prevent more epidemic outbreaks. I feel we will need guards to ensure the safety of this vulnerable population. And, I feel, we will need to create minimum wage, unskilled job opportunities near the encampments. And we need doctors to help with medical needs.

This relocation effort ought, I feel, to be coordinated with the Santa Monica Mountain ranger, and with local law enforcement. It is very important, to prevent violence, not to proceed with vigilante efforts, even though I know that homeowners and property owners feel a sense of rising helplessness about the situation, due to government dalliance.

The first thought is not always the best thought, especially when emotions run high. Teamwork is the very best way to go, I feel. But on the other hand, the average homed person can no longer sit idly on the sidelines, waiting for an unresponsive government to act. We must take the initiative, and help our law enforcement representatives organize a proper response.

First, I feel, a relocation effort, as noted above. Compared to providing up-to-code housing, the outlay will be quite reasonable. A number of lives of the homeless may be saved by this effort. And the general feeling of the homed, of being at their wits’ end over this problem, will be allayed.

As a second step, I suggest we in the homed community reach out to our churches and businesses and ask whether they have facilities they can offer for the homeless to live in.

We have very many churches and businesses here in the San Fernando Valley. If one in two such groups would agree to house just one homeless person, the situation could be much abated. Further, the burden of homelessness would be spread round, throughout the city, and not just concentrated in one area.

Then, on to the disproportionate number of homeless in California. Might we get additional financial aid from the Federal government to help with this?

Intuitively speaking, I feel that homeless are fleeing other states, and coming to California, not just because the climate here is more suitable for outdoor living. It may also be that other states are treating the homeless with more violence than may be encountered here in California. At least, my prayer is that that their experience here will be relatively pacific.

If it be true that, for reasons both light and dark, California is asked to bear the lion’s share of the homeless problem, then in this time of somewhat greater social unrest, when a rising swell of the homeless seeks shelter and work … however humble … across America, and if California has the heart to welcome these people, where other states in our great Union will not or cannot … then to settle this unrest, and to buoy the feelings of all our peoples, surely it would be in the best interest of our nation to provide assistance, where our state, alone, cannot?

The American people stand by a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. That is, I feel, not just the people who are able to buy their own homes, and own their own cars. Nor is it the people who buy or rent their homes. Rather, it is all the people of this great Nation … owning, renting, or yearning for a place to lay their heads.

In 1883, a poetess named Emma Lazarus had the highest hopes in this regard. Her words, strong enough to ring on, down through the centuries, strong enough to greet the eyes of every traveler crossing the weary seas in hopes of a better life here in America, strong enough to light the path for all Americans even in these modern times, are:

“‘Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!'” (2)

I agree wholeheartedly with Emma Lazarus. I feel we can embody her vision for America, even in these times of change. Especially now, in these times of change.

Let us act, together, as a community.

Let us conceive our actions in faith, in hope, and in charity. In a manner befitting the greatest vision our hearts and minds can conceive to meet the challenge of these times.

Let us rise nobly to this effort to uplift and assist these, whom none yet love and protect … and in whose shoes each of us might … but for God’s Grace … find ourselves.

In love, light and joy,
I Am of the Stars

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FOOTNOTES

(1) Link: “California Homeless Population Rising Higher Than Other States: California experienced a nearly 14 percent increase in homelessness from 2016 to 2017,” Published 21 December 2017 … http://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/california/california-homeless-population-rising-higher-than-other-states/501590366 ..

(2) From Link: “The New Colossus,” a sonnet by Emma Lazarus, 1883 … https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_New_Colossus .. public domain … This sonnet was mounted on a plaque inside the Statue of Liberty.

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