Now 7½ months pregnant, she had developed a serious respiratory infection three of her homeless friends moved into her tent to help her recover. ![]() She had shot up meth for two years before stopping several months before she became pregnant, and was still on probation in one case when she got the news.ĭespite L.A.’s stifling September heat, she was wrapped in a heavy pink sweatshirt, sniffling and blowing her nose. As an adult, she racked up three felony convictions for possession of meth for sale and receiving stolen property. ![]() She ran away at age 11, started using drugs, and was in and out of juvenile hall and foster care placements. Mckenzie is clear that she has made bad decisions. “The homeless system is not designed to address and unpack all of the other systemic failures that have led somebody to where they are today,” said Heidi Marston, who resigned in May as executive director of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. It’s an ominous harbinger for Los Angeles, where multigenerational homelessness is not uncommon - and the system is not equipped to meet the needs of people with such profound struggles. Young adults who age out of foster care after such heightened trauma are at serious risk of repeating the cycle of homelessness and losing their kids to foster care. ![]() Los Angeles Times wins Pulitzer Prizes for covering homelessness and City Council leakįor coverage of two of the most troubling and intractable problems facing Southern California - homelessness and racial division - the Los Angeles Times won two Pulitzer Prizes.
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