“Homeless, hungry and pregnant – please help.”

This is the welcome sign I receive at an intersection in LA on my way from the airport to my hotel in downtown. The young girl holding the sign appears to be no more than 15 years old.

This was not the way I was hoping to start my family holiday, but it is a reminder that wherever you are, you cannot escape the issues of social injustice. What I have seen in America feels uncomfortably like where Australia may be heading.

America is facing a crisis that strikes at the heart of the story they’ve been telling themselves and us since I was a child watching American TV. The American ideal: a prosperous, happy, values-based family unit raised in a caring community that could be relied upon when times turned tough.

The story of homelessness in America is a visible challenge to both that message and the success of the so called ‘great Democratic experiment’ that is the United States of America.

According to the LA Times there are 55,000 homeless living within the city limits of LA, an increase of 75 per cent in the past six years. Across the country more than half a million are thought to be homeless and 40 million are living below the poverty line.

Three out of four homeless in LA — 41,000 people — live in cars, campers, tents and lean-tos. They're part of the streetscape, as familiar as the swaying palm trees and idling traffic, living under freeways, alongside riverbeds and on canyon hillsides. Many with their life belongings in a backpack or shopping cart.

LA has a severe housing shortage, and city homeless programs have been slow to start and too limited to absorb the waves of people forced onto the streets.

For decades, Southern California — stuck in a low-density, single-family, not-in-my-backyard 20th century mindset — has failed to build enough housing to keep up with population growth and demand. Rents are at an all-time high. Stagnant incomes and a shortage of middle-class jobs mean there are more people struggling. The government safety net hasn’t grown to catch all the people in need, nor has public sympathy always been on their side.

Sound familiar, Melbourne?

But change is happening.

So serious is the problem in Los Angeles, that the community are finally coming together and starting to act. Over the last 16 months, voters have agreed to tax themselves $4.6 billion to build housing — 10,000 units in 10 years — and provide more support services. A long-delayed developer fee that's expected to pump out $100 million annually for affordable housing was also finally adopted.

The result of these new tax initiatives has seen the first of 15 new homeless shelters open. It's the start of a radical plan to bring emergency housing to homeless people where they're already living and to bring services tailored to each neighbourhood's needs.

These initiatives are both welcome and long overdue, and in Melbourne we are also looking at increasing both emergency and low income housing. But we continue to treat the symptoms – not the cause. This is because the causes are complex, difficult to treat and require system and attitudinal change. The symptoms are easier and cheaper to treat.

My thoughts drift to my first working days at a St Kilda soup kitchen feeding the homeless. On that day, a bitterly cold winter’s day, a young girl entered the dining room for lunch. She didn’t look much older than 15, she was a working girl dressed in a mini skirt and I could see her goose bumps from 20 feet away. What had happened in her life to lead her here? I had a 2-year-old daughter of my own  and I wanted to understand what could happen in the next 13 years that would turn this love I had for my daughter  to apparent indifference to her plight.

Having spent more than a decade working to feed vulnerable Victorians, I understand all too well now.

Life for Australian families is not as dire as it is for American families. We have universal health care and a great education system. However, the signs are there that more families are under mounting pressure. The latest reports by both Foodbank and UnitingCare talk to over 4 million people going hungry each year and 1 in 6 Australian children living in poverty.  

This is a real and dangerous time for Australia as a nation, our way of life, our families and our children. We must start to address the issues that are hard and complex and ensure we raise strong and resilient children in a strong and resilient country. One not afraid to take risks and make hard decisions. We need to steer away from self-interest, short termism, election cycled, populist and ‘who has the numbers’ based decision making. The future of our children and our country depends on it.

Alone, none of us can make the changes required. Our power lies in our numbers and combined voice. I know that if there is one thing that we all agree on it is that our children must be protected and provided with the skills for adulthood that will allow them access to the best opportunities.

Let this not be Australia’s welcome message: “Homeless, hungry and pregnant – please help.”