| When the Los Angeles Mayor's Safer City Initiative (SCI) was launched in September 2006, it was hailed as the perfect prescription for success. It contained, among others, two much-needed ingredients---law enforcement and housing initiatives---to tackle the problems of one of the largest, most neglected and complex composition of homeless people in the nation, the residents of Los Angeles's Skid Row. City officials believe SCI was needed to create a safer environment but others argue that Skid Row did not need stricter law enforcement, although it requires a police presence. Advocates for the homeless are urging that the city comply with its promise of providing adequate housing as a part of the initiative. This becomes particularly pressing as the nation's economic collapse deepens, and more people head towards Skid Row in search of food and shelter. |
