Skid Row has long been the epicenter of LA’s struggle to help unhoused people and is now emblematic of the crisis in many West Coast cities. There, rows of tents and tarps line the streets, trash spill into traffic, and residents openly use drugs. Overdoses and tent fires can also happen.
Journalist Sam Quinones looks at what created today’s Skid Row: a series of court decisions, the evaporation of mental health services, and a growing scourge of cheap and highly-addictive drugs.