he wrote extensively about the homeless. >> one of the most i mpoverishe place you have ever seen. >> thousands of people cling to life inside skid road, above the street is a vast ecosystem of shelters and clinics, providing food and clothing and temporary housing. one of them, the midnight mission, some sleeps head to toes in its courtyard, a sanctuary or gangs or prostitution or drugs. it feels like a war zone. >> in one hour at this intersection, we saw four overdoses, police and emergency units removed one person after another. 831 people died homeless in l.a.