It’s Raining Pain in Southern California

Question, what does the city with the highest concentration of homelessness, the city with the most economic segregation and the city whose school district holds the highest drop out and lowest literacy rates have in common? Simply this, they are all the same city, Los Angeles.

The reasons for these statistics are numerous and implications just as vast. But one of the most significant issues in LA today is affordable housing. Los Angeles is a desirable place to live. Hold up, there’s no need to be coy about this, it seems like everybody and their momma wants to live in LA these days. And in this microcosm of the “land of opportunity” hopeful feelings become almost tangible, and with minimal use of the imagination, one can almost see the fantastical dreams swirling within the minds of many. But in Los Angeles, there also exists an omnipresent duality of hopelessness, especially pertaining to affordable living.

This overwhelming feeling of hopelessness has been looming over low income residences and their occupiers like a dark rain cloud. And when the children leave their homes in the morning headed for school, the cloud follows them, ever reminding them of their financial burden and inherited social inferiority.

Am I being too dramatic about this? If I am I’m just trying to keep up with the times, for times are serious. There is a direct correlation between a child’s living situation and their educational opportunity and performance. Low income neighborhoods are more susceptible to over crowded schools. And according to social justice organization representatives like Larry Gross, developers, contractors and even the LAUSD itself targets low income neighborhoods for new development, knocking down low profit producing housing complexes for high profit turning condos.

It is said that the human body can go weeks without food and days without water. So to function properly it is fitting to say that food and water are essential to the development and well being to all people. A child’s home is like their food; it fortifies their being and nourishes their self worth. And an adequate education can be as refreshing as a cool drink of water, alleviating the aggravating thirst of ignorance and quenching the parchment of economic stagnation.

If I was a meteorologist my weather forecast would be this “tomorrow we should expect to see a high influx of gentrification with low pressure from the city to keep rents affordable. If your rich don’t worry about rain but for the rest of you, keep the umbrellas ready because here comes a big one! Anticipate record breaking highs in rent increases for the rest of…your life, and don’t expect any social climate change until your ready to do something about it!”