The second Gilded Age has arrived. Just like the first Gilded Age in the 19th century, the gap is rising between the rich and the poor. This economic inequality is becoming increasingly apparent to residents of Los Angeles as a rise in homelessness is bringing encampments onto the beaches and into the neighborhoods of the wealthy.
Affluent residents were shocked to hear a portable stove at a homeless encampment in their Bel Air neighborhood was the blame for the December wildfire responsible for destroying 18 homes last year. The homeless encampment where the fire started was only a mile from a new $500 million hilltop mansion.
The homeless have slithered their way up into the canyons and made camps for themselves next to mansions twice the size of the White House. This comes along with the lack of proper shelters and the rising cost of housing in the city.
With eight in 10 homes for sale not being affordable on a public teacher’s salary, California's housing is deemed too expensive.
The proposed plans for new homeless shelters and rehabilitation programs seem optimistic in a world where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
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