GOODER AND HARDER, L.A.: The Los Angeles Humanitarian Crisis Right Before Your Eyes.

How could 6,000 shelter beds be unoccupied in Los Angeles County? It’s a number, reported in LAist in July, that makes no sense given the miles of homeless encampments that occupy area streets and sidewalks.

Looking for an answer, I talked to Dave — a formerly homeless man who asked me not to reveal his last name. Dave told me how he ended up unhoused in the 1990s and then worked his way into a good job and a steady roof over this head.

He believes that homeless individuals who live on the street choose to do so, because when he didn’t have a roof, he chose to spend the night in missions with rules, not on streets without them.

Flashback: Marvin Olasky on C-Span’s Booknotes discussing The Tragedy of American Compassion.