This is what Christmas Day in downtown Los Angeles looked like for thousands of people

Instagram/plasticjesus

While many spent Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and the days following with family and friends in the warmth of a home, many people didn’t have the same luxury.

Videos by Rare

A video filmed on Christmas in the interest of displaying with brutal honesty the situation on Skid Row, showed the grim reality of life for so many in Los Angeles and elsewhere by extension.

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The Los Angeles-based street artist known as Plastic Jesus filmed and shared the video on Instagram.

“PLEASE SHARE SO PEOPLE REALIZE. : Christmas Day. Skid Row Los Angeles. Fucking heartbreaking and a national disgrace. The USA MUST tackle this as a priority. (And not by arresting or moving people on ) #homeless #dtla,” the uploader wrote on Instagram.

The makeshift tents lining the sidewalks seem to go on forever.

The video was also shared on the popular video uploading website LiveLeak by Nick Stern.

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Here’s what he wrote about it there:

Los Angeles has an estimate 20,000 homeless people living on the street mainly in Skid Row. Downtown LA. Many have erected tents and tarps to form shelter. The area is consired to be one of the most dangerous places in LA. Amongst the homeless are women and children. It’s evident after a drive around that many have mental health problems. The area is home to a number of shelters and rescue missions providing shelter to the lucky few and food. The US is ranked as one of the wealthiest nations on Earth but also home to some of the poorest.

Los Angeles was ranked second in a recent article in terms of the number of homeless people. It was second only to New York.

More than 43,000 people are homeless in Los Angeles City and Los Angeles County.

(H/t Daily Mail)

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