Since a critical U.S. Supreme Court ruling last summer, public officials have been rushing to drastically expand criminalization of homelessness. It's a cynical move, spending a fortune on making homelessness less visible while actually making the crisis much worse, and much harder to solve.

In this episode, Mike talks with Alex Visotsky of the National Alliance to End Homelessness about the growing push to criminalize homelessness in California, and with John Raphling, author of a blistering Human Rights Watch report on how bad criminalization was in Los Angeles, even prior to the court decision.

Important links and further reading:

National Alliance to End Homelessness: https://endhomelessness.org/
Human Rights Watch: https://www.hrw.org/

NAEH - The Supreme Court Rules on Homelessness: https://endhomelessness.org/blog/the-supreme-court-rules-on-homelessness-what-it-all-means/

"You Have to Move" - HRW report - https://www.hrw.org/report/2024/08/14/you-have-move/cruel-and-ineffective-criminalization-unhoused-people-los-angeles

Mike Bonin - Tough Talk, Bad Policy: https://mikebonin.substack.com/p/tough-talk-bad-policy

Planetizen: California Cities Intensify Criminalization of Unhoused Residents: https://www.planetizen.com/news/2024/09/131753-california-cities-intensify-criminalization-unhoused-residents

Alex Visotsky - @alexvisotzky on Twitter

What's Next, Los Angeles? is produced and hosted by Mike Bonin, in partnership with LA Forward.