Comment: For the mayoral candidates and all of LA, here’s a discussion on homelessness we need to have

Ron, a West LA resident, thinks he knows why former reality TV star and political newcomer Spencer Pratt has garnered so much support in his mayoral run.

People are frustrated, scared and angry about homelessness “and the crime associated with it,” Ron said in an email. He added that he voted for Mayor Karen Bass, but “almost everything that Pratt said about the homeless resonated with me. … The homeless are messing around here, with no consequences.”

“Many of us support him not because we think he is perfect,” said Kathy, “but because we are deeply dissatisfied with the direction of Los Angeles and we feel that traditional politicians have never delivered the results we were promised.”

Bob, a “left-leaning Palisades resident,” said the issue is not Pratt’s lack of credentials, but the failure of those in power. “There was a columnist … who wrote in depth about the situation in MacArthur Park,” Bob wrote to me. “What’s his name and what happened to him? Did he change his tune?”

All of these are valid points, and if Pratt holds on to one of the top two spots and makes it to the November 3 general election, or loses to late-charged Councilwoman Nithya Raman, we’ll be hearing a lot more about homelessness in the coming months.

So whether we’re looking at the Bass-Raman contest or the Bass-Pratt contest, here are some random songs, and I’ll start by answering Bob’s question about whether I’ve changed my music.

Not at all.

The situation in MacArthur Park — targeted Thursday in an attack that included multiple arrests — has long been a disgrace, and so have many other places I’ve written about over the past half century. Last month, I visited a Hollywood neighborhood where a frustrated resident hired his assistant to write about the chronic problems related to homelessness, illegal dumping and criminal activity.

Citizens have good reason to question why they haven’t gotten better results after responding to politicians’ pleas for more money over the years.

It is not surprising that Bass has high unpopularity ratings and why, despite leading in the primary vote count, he will far exceed the 50% required to avoid a second round of elections. I still can’t believe that when I first asked him about the sad state of MacArthur Park, he told me that he knew very well, because he used to pass by the area on his way to work.

So why didn’t he lead the charge to solve the problems and return the park to the community?

It shouldn’t take months, let alone years, to regain control of public spaces, and Pratt’s criticism is, no doubt, justified. And my biggest issue is not his pretense that God wants him to be mayor while calling his opponents demonic organizations and harassing the homeless he intends to drive to Seattle. It is that his “corrections” show a lack of understanding.

Let me agree. On the other hand, I’ve been writing about the intersection of homelessness, mental illness and addiction for several decades, and I still have a lot to learn.

And on a personal note, I lost my son to drugs. He had a job and was homeless, but like many people with depression and other demons, he resisted help, even at the thought that he needed help.

There are far more drug users like him, who live outside the community, than there are on the streets. We only recognize those who do not have the means to pay the rent or mortgage as housing prices rise. So when Pratt says we don’t have a homelessness problem, but a drug problem, he’s missing an important part of understanding why LA has tens of thousands of homeless people.

Pratt said on his website that his “treatment first” approach would direct resources to mental health care and drug treatment, which sounds good except those responsibilities are under county, not city control.

He and others have attacked harm reduction practices, such as distributing needles and other supplies. And I must admit that it seems unreasonable to allow continued drug use. But the idea is to prevent deaths, engage customers and start relationships that can lead to revolutionary care.

The state reports that by 2024, fentanyl-related deaths will decrease by 37% and meth-related deaths by 20%. Risk reduction “can be very valuable,” addiction expert Rick Rawson told me when I worked in MacArthur Park, but we need more than that.

“When you have someone who is so disabled that they can’t even stand up,” said Rawson, “to say you’re just going to do injury reduction for them and hope they don’t die, I think that falls short of the responsibility we have for each other and for people who are seriously ill.”

I will add here that I strongly believe that we should intervene more in people who are seriously ill, or who pose a threat to themselves or others. I recently profiled two San Diegans who are advocating for the use of existing legislation to allow for intensive screening and long-term treatment programs for people with chronic drug and mental health problems.

It’s important to note that drug and alcohol rehab is rarely a quick or sure-fire solution. Regarding mental illness, it took me one year, and the help of trained professionals, to convince my friend Nathaniel to seek help after spending decades on the streets after being diagnosed with schizophrenia.

What I have found over the years is that most of those who live in tents and cars and on roads and parks are injured in many ways.

I don’t like to judge people when I’m away after meeting a man on Skid Row who said he collapsed after his young daughter drowned. I have met women who are victims of domestic abuse or sexual abuse. People addicted to deadly drugs like meth or fentanyl don’t think as clearly as we would like them to, and they repeatedly destroy their own interests.

Seeing people eating public places, openly selling or using drugs, screaming and terrorizing those around them is disturbing and sometimes scary. But to say they choose to stay on the street, as Pratt did, is to miss the point, justify our own complicity, ignore historic policy failures, and choose contempt over compassion.

Homelessness can cause mental illness, and mental illness can cause addiction, and vice versa. A single condition can be difficult to deal with, but co-morbidities make things even more difficult.

I recently checked in with a guy I wrote about who was addicted and homeless in Koreatown, and he said his recovery took more than half a year. He was treated in a residential facility for a few months, then in intensive care. There are no shortcuts, he said.

I’m not here to defend Bass, or Raman and the rest of the City Council, who share responsibility for the current state of the city. Limited progress has been made in the last 3½ years, with a slightly lower number of homeless people.

But there is still a long way to go to move people indoors and restore a sense of order and public safety. Many of the needs include effective enforcement of existing laws, rapid development of affordable temporary and permanent housing, better coordination of outreach and follow-up services and more people willing to do all this work.

Let’s hope that in the coming months we will have an honest discussion about what works, what doesn’t, and how you can do it better.

steve.lopez@latimes.com