He was high school valedictorian, went to Yale, landed banking jobs on Wall Street, started his own business. Lost his business, his home, the car he was living in, and landed on the streets of Los Angeles. “We haven’t treated substance abuse and access to mental health care the same way we would cardiac arrest,” said Sarah Dusseault, a board member with the Los Angeles Homeless Services Agency. When outreach workers came by, there was no offer of rehab, Pleasants said. In 2019, he was featured briefly in a story on CNN about Los Angeles homelessness.

Source: Los Angeles Times April 17, 2021 14:04 UTC