Central City East : Downtown Los Angeles

Pras Gets it right- at least that is the way the LA Times is writing it up

LAT

Pras believes it is a misconception that drugs and mental illness are the primary causes of homelessness.

"People think, 'Oh, they're bums,' or 'They're lazy,' or 'They're mentally ill.' A lot of people become mentally ill. When I slept on skid row, you never fully sleep because your senses are always alert. You don't have the luxury of saying, 'OK, I'm in a home, in a bed, there's a door, there's a lock, there's an alarm.' Mentally, you feel secure. But when you're in a tent, anything can happen. There's always noises, people running, cars, sirens. So, before you can be fully able to sleep, you have to take some type of drug.Whether you drink or take drugs."

Interesting that in the sentence before the end of the paragraph, Pras Says that it isn't drugs being the primary causes of homelessness, yet we read him say that in order to sleep one has to use drugs. Which means to me , in my humble opinion , that once someone begins to use the drugs , the downward spiral begins.

When people become homeless there are things out on those streets that can lead to a lifelong struggle of homelessness , once someone becomes associated with them. These are drugs and disease. That is one reason I fought vehemently for the automated public toilets. Drug addiction and disease can can lead people to become life long tenants of skid row streets even if they didn't have these issues before they arrived.

So to summarize my thoughts on his statements. Homelessness is one of the primary causes of homelessness .