1 of 1 Homeless people in Los Angeles, a city where almost a quarter of murder victims were homeless in 2022 Photo: GETTY IMAGES Homeless people in Los Angeles, a city where almost a quarter of murder victims were homeless in 2022 Photo : GETTY IMAGES
American officials released a report in December showing that the number of homeless people has increased by about 12% since 2022.
The new data comes from the recent arrest of a man accused of being a serial killer of homeless people in Los Angeles.
In another case last week, a California man appeared in court on involuntary manslaughter charges after he allegedly filmed himself shooting a sleeping homeless man.
The annual PointinTime survey, conducted on a single night in January this year, found 653,104 homeless people in the country.
According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, this is the highest number of people in this situation since counting began in 2007.
Homeless people, authorities and activists told BBC News that this latest spate of deadly attacks highlights the risks of a growing vulnerable population.
“The recent murders of homeless people, many of whom were sleeping, are a cruel reminder that this is a matter of life and death that must be urgently addressed,” said Jeff Olivet, director of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness. Homeless.
Respondents say a policy environment that stigmatizes homelessness, inadequate housing and gang violence helps create a dangerous world for homeless people.
Attacks occur regularly and often without warning.
“I was attacked when I was homeless on the streets,” said Keith Jones, who currently lives at Union Rescue Mission, a shelter in the Skid Row neighborhood of Los Angeles.
“I woke up hurt, not knowing who attacked me.”
What were the recent attacks like?
In the days after Thanksgiving, a man accused of being a serial killer drove a car through the streets of Los Angeles and shot homeless people he encountered, according to police.
He is also accused of killing another man during a house breakin.
The suspect, 33yearold Jerrid Joseph Powell, was arrested and charged with murder.
Powell has not yet pleaded guilty or innocent, but the violence he is accused of is not an isolated incident, respondents say.
“This violence happens every day out of our sight,” said Margot Kushel, director of the Benioff Initiative on Homelessness and Housing at the University of California, San Francisco.
There was also a shooting at a homeless camp in Las Vegas on December 1, leaving one person dead and three injured.
The death of Jordan Neely in New York in May sparked massive protests.
The homeless man died after a former Marine, Daniel Penny, strangled him after Neely began screaming on the subway.
Penny pleaded not guilty to the manslaughter charge.
According to local police department data, nearly a quarter of homicide victims in Los Angeles were homeless in 2022.
Homeless people make up 1.2% of the city's population.
Kushel warns that it is difficult to accurately track all homicides and homeless deaths because it is difficult to determine a person's housing status from death certificates.
For this and other reasons, she believes the numbers are much higher than those recorded.
There is no data on homeless deaths in the report, released in midDecember, but American authorities say people in this situation live less, on average, than those who have adequate housing.
Homeless people are also at greater risk in violent, nonlethal situations, according to a 2023 survey by the Benioff Initiative on Homelessness and Housing.
Around 38% of the homeless people surveyed said they had already suffered physical or sexual violence.
Nearly half did not know their attackers, and some of that violence came from people who were not homeless, the survey found.
The homeless people interviewed attributed this to “the stigma of homelessness.”
The dangers for homeless people are increasing as the population grows, experts say.
“Homeless people are being housed in densely populated areas like Skid Row and encampments throughout Los Angeles,” said Reverend Andy Bales, president of the Christian homeless charity Union Rescue Mission.
“The more people stuck on the streets and crammed together, the more tension, the more violence.”
Billions of dollars, few solutions
Federal housing officials cited the end of subsidies during the pandemic, the rise in rental prices and the supply of real estate below demand as factors in the increase in the homeless population.
States like California have already committed millions of dollars to housing programs and plan to invest more.
“The state’s homelessness crisis has been decades in the making,” Gov. Gavon Newsom said in October.
Jones, who is trying to find permanent housing in Los Angeles, says there are many mental health, rehabilitation and shelter services available, but homeless people are often unaware of them.
He hopes greater awareness and dialogue can help keep people safe.
“I encourage everyone: If you see a homeless person being abused or attacked, there are many numbers you can call,” he said. “Can someone help.”