Declaring Homelessness An Emergency emergency management network podcast

Homelessness has killed more people than natural disasters in California. Ten times more people will die on L.A.’s street in 2019 (~1,000) than died in the deadly 2018 forest fires (103). Over three years, more people will die on the streets of L.A. than in San Francisco’s 1906 earthquake

I read a story about how an economic recession turned into a complete collapse of society. As interesting as the story was, I am not sure that a total failure would be the case; however, it looks like a page out of the book in many parts of California. The story follows a young man who had an excellent job in I.T., had a condo outside of Washington, D.C., and was living the American dream. As the economy worsened, he lost his job, house, and car. The story’s hero was quickly living on the streets and had to learn how to live without a home. In the story, society fell apart, and social services, law enforcement, and other government services were discontinued because no one was left to pay taxes. 

Why am I sharing this story? Today we are looking at real unemployment numbers for men. They are struggling in the workplace. One in three American men with only a high school diploma — 10 million men — is now out of the labor force. The most significant drop in employment is among young men aged 25 to 34.

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