When John Adams tells you he's homeless, you may not believe him at first. It's not just because of the Pepperdine Law t-shirt he earned with a degree, or the neatly arranged portfolio stacked at his side — but because of his impervious positivity.
"I mean, I have a tremendous amount of hope," he said, sourcing it to his faith. "People would say I'm a religious man. They would also say, 'What kind of God would let you be homeless?'"
A former actor-turned-lawyer-turned-teacher, he found himself in dire financial straits.
"I had an issue with my heart and my medicine, which was no longer covered by insurance, was $800 out of pocket," he told Scripps News.
Then, a minor car accident spurred required maintenance. His job through a temp agency fell through. Soon, he was out of money with nowhere to go. He's been living out of his car for more than a month.
He's now in the more than 75,000-strong homeless population in Los Angeles County, a place that has the second-highest homelessness rate in the country, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
All five of the major cities and counties with the highest rates nationally are in California.
RELATED STORY | California governor clears homeless encampments despite advocates' dismay
That's why Governor Gavin Newsom is taking a more aggressive tone lately. He issued an executive order in July directing city and county authorities to clear encampments on public-owned land. It was based on a Supreme Court decision that ruled local governments have that authority.
"We're done with the excuses," Newsom said at a recent event in Los Angeles where he was photographed picking up garbage from a former encampment. "The last big excuse was, 'Well, the courts are saying we can't do anything.' Well, that's no longer the case."
Jennifer Hark Dietz, the CEO of a homelessness services organization called PATH, sees the governor's order as complicating her mission.
"Our sector is very complex and I think this has made it even more difficult to do the work that we do," she said.
The idea of PATH is to be side-by-side with someone experiencing homelessness from the time they're taken into what the organization calls interim housing, to placement in an affordable housing unit.
It's the kind of sustainable solution leaders like Newsom frequently tout.
While the state allocated billions in grants and development of affordable housing, a state audit released in April concluded the state council charged with ending homelessness in California didn't consistently track and evaluate the effectiveness of money spent.
Regardless, Hark Dietz says the money just isn't enough.
"Every year in our sector, which is the biggest crisis of our time, we are actually asking for ongoing funding," she said. "We're asking for them to meet the crisis where it's at, which means it needs additional dollars."
"We don't think that arresting people is the way out of homelessness," said Georgia Berkovich, the chief spokesperson for a shelter in downtown Los Angeles. "The idea that you just move people along, you know, 'we've got to break up this encampment, we've got to get people moved' when there's no place to go, is heartbreaking."
Many at her shelter, The Midnight Mission, are hopeful for a better life and a way out of homelessness. On the streets just outside, though, in a district of Los Angeles known as Skid Row, that's easy to forget.
"I call this place Babylon," said Gerald Hall, a man who says he spent seven years on these streets. "Every night, there's someone dying, every second. You just never know where."
Hall still calls this area home. He has an apartment a few doors down from The Midnight Mission. He's seen Skid Row change, even in the last few months, with fewer tents lining the sidewalks. But Hall says few are leaving the streets; they're just finding a new place to go when the clearing crews come in.
"Tuesday morning at 5-6 o'clock, police, city trucks, dump trucks and whatever cleaning team they need will block off the street and basically come and tell you, 'You have less than five to 10 minutes to get all your stuff up and move it,'" he said.
The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority directed Scripps News to numbers that show the unsheltered homeless population in Los Angeles dropped by 10% this year compared to last. Across the county it dropped by 5%.
RELATED STORY | Supreme Court rules cities can ban homeless encampments
Those are indications of moderate improvement in the number of people living on the street here, but Newsom's administration says it will keep up the pressure for more. The governor recently threatened to redirect state funds away from counties that don't show progress in getting people off the streets.
To Adams, threat of punishment may not be the most effective approach. What he wants is opportunity: The chance to get back on his feet, to dust himself off and keep going.
"We want to earn it — like what I want to pay my way," he said. "I want to be able to do what I can do. But this is difficult, bro. It's real hard."
