Ties on a Fence : Documentary

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TIES ON A FENCE - Women in Downtown Los Angeles Speak Out

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Directed by Corina Gamma
Produced by Corina Gamma & Gizi Weibel

Over the course of a year, approximately 250 000 citizen are homeless in the Los Angeles County. An estimated 91 000 citizen in Los Angeles County are homeless at any given night, with only 4000 emergency beds available. An average of 35 % of homeless people are women.

Only six city blocks from the financial district of downtown Los Angeles is Skid Row, an area with a large concentration of missions and shelters, which makes it the largest emergency-service dependent community in the United States. These services keep the homeless in a very isolated area.

The documentary Ties on a Fence: Women in Downtown Los Angeles Speak Out is a compendium of conversations and interviews with women who are currently residing in the downtown Los Angeles Skid Row. The women who participated in this film are either homeless, at the periphery of it, or in a transitional situation. They tell their stories, struggle and their experiences of poverty as they are trying to navigate through the various bureaucracies of government programs. Many of them are trying to overcome personal dilemmas, either resolving past experiences or escaping them altogether. Some of the documented conversations reveal that "homelessness" is more than just a physical situation, but it is also a condition of poverty and becomes a state of mind.

Being homeless does not mean being without community. Along with successive institutionalization of homelessness grew a community with its own social permanence. This non-typical community provides a place of belonging for many women. They find acceptance and support while and sharing their experiences and resources. With the fast increase of women, children and families into a once male-only community, transitional states have become permanent situations. But the resources available to women are lagging behind, while redevelopment is trying to push them out of their community.

Skid Row area is often stigmatized by the "normal" society, who seldom interacts with the homeless population. This creates a vast gap between the two societies and also creates more difficulties for homeless people to get out of their situation. Many women become trapped in a vicious cycle in Skid Row.

Further information links about the subject of Homelessness

Los Angeles Coalition to End Hunger and Homelessness
http://www.lacehh.or

Shelter Partnership
http://www.shelterpartnership.org

Weingart Institute
http://www.weingart.org