Los Angeles Times Joins LPOC in Saying YES on Prop 1
LOS ANGELES, CA - Proposition 1 on the March 5 ballot won’t help the vast majority of the approximately 180,000 Californians living on the street, nor even most of the estimated one-third with serious psychiatric illnesses, substance use problems or both. It’s important to say that upfront, because the “Treatment not Tents” campaign urging a “yes” vote could leave voters with the impression that the measure offers a far more sweeping solution to homelessness and inadequate behavioral health treatment than it does.
But better to get too few new resources than none at all. When compared with the cost of doing nothing, Proposition 1 is an important step forward in meeting California’s responsibility to the most vulnerable homeless people and those housed Californians with behavioral health problems most at risk of ending up on the street…