Editing Skid row

{{Short description|Impoverished urban area in North America}}
{{Redirect|Skid Row||Skid row (disambiguation)}}
[[File:Phase_1_of_Skid_Row_Super_Mural.jpg|300px|right|thumb|A mural of [[Skid Row, Los Angeles]]]]
A '''skid row''', also called '''skid road''', is an impoverished area, typically urban, in English-speaking [[North America]] whose inhabitants are mostly poor people "[[wikt:on the skids|on the skids]]". This specifically refers to people who are poor or homeless, considered disreputable, downtrodden or forgotten by society.<ref>{{cite journal | title=Skid Row | journal=Collins English Dictionary – Complete & Unabridged | edition=2012 Digital | year=2012 | publisher=HarperCollins | url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/skid%20row?s=t}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|title=skid road|date=2021-08-25|url=https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=skid_road&oldid=63750283|work=Wiktionary|language=en|access-date=2022-01-21}}</ref> A skid row may be anything from an impoverished urban district to a [[red-light district]] to a gathering area for people experiencing homelessness or drug addiction. In general, skid row areas are inhabited or frequented by impoverished individuals and also people who are addicted to drugs. Urban areas considered skid rows are marked by high [[Vagrancy (people)|vagrancy]], dilapidated buildings, and drug dens, as well as other features of [[urban blight]]. Used figuratively, the phrase may indicate the state of a poor person's life.

The term ''skid road'' originally referred to the path along which timber workers skidded logs.<ref name=AMHER1>{{cite web|url=https://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=skid+row&submit.x=0&submit.y=0|work=The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition|title=Skid road|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|access-date=23 September 2015|quote=A squalid district inhabited chiefly by derelicts and vagrants. [Alteration of SKID ROAD (from the fact that it once referred to a downtown area frequented by loggers).]}}</ref> Its current sense appears to have originated in the [[Pacific Northwest]].<ref name="NYTs" /> Areas in the United States and Canada identified by this nickname include [[Pioneer Square, Seattle|Pioneer Square]] in [[Seattle]];<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref> [[Old Town Chinatown, Portland, Oregon|Old Town Chinatown]] in [[Portland, Oregon]];<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bootsnall.com/articles/02-03/portlands-history-portland-oregon-usa.html|title=Portland's History|access-date=2011-10-09}}</ref> [[Downtown Eastside]] in [[Vancouver]]; [[Skid Row, Los Angeles|Skid Row]] in [[Los Angeles]]; the [[Tenderloin, San Francisco|Tenderloin]] District of [[San Francisco]]; and the [[Bowery]] of [[Lower Manhattan]]. The term Poverty Flats is used for some Western US towns.<ref>{{gnis|372901|Grant, Idaho}} — "The variants, Poverty Flats and Gravy Bend, were acquired during impoverished times when residents had to eat watered-down gravy."</ref>

The term "skid row" may often be interchangeable with the term [[tent city]].{{Cn|date=November 2024}} A tent city may exist on the premises of a skid row, but many tent cities are in areas not known as skid rows.

== Origins ==
The term "skid road" dates back to the 17th century, when it referred to a [[log road]], used to skid or drag logs through woods and bog.<ref name="NYTs">{{cite news|title=A Clash Over Aid Effort on the First 'Skid Row'|last=Turner|first=Wallace|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/12/02/us/a-clash-over-aid-effort-on-the-first-skid-row.html|newspaper=The [[New York Times]]|date=December 2, 1986|access-date=23 September 2015|page=A20}}</ref> The term was in common usage in the mid-19th century and came to refer not just to the [[corduroy road]]s themselves, but to logging camps and mills all along the [[Pacific Coast]]. When a logger was fired he was "sent down the skid road".<ref name="Crowley">{{cite web|url=http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=286|title=Yesler, Henry L. (1810–1892)|first1=Junius|last1=Rochester|first2=Walt|last2=Crowley|publisher=History Ink.|date=October 17, 2002|access-date=2007-01-27}}</ref>

The source of the term "skid road" as an urban district is heavily debated, and is generally identified as originating in [[Seattle]] and [[Yesler Way]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-10-29 |title=A true story behind the term "skid row" {{!}} Filson Journal |url=https://www.filson.com/blog/field-notes/yesler-way-the-true-story-behind-skid-row/ |access-date=2024-12-19 |website=The Filson Journal |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=issue |first=Hannelore Sudermann {{!}} June 2023 |title=Professor's book walks readers through history of Seattle's 'Skid Road' |url=https://magazine.washington.edu/feature/professors-book-walks-readers-through-history-of-seattles-skid-road/ |access-date=2024-12-19 |website=UW Magazine — University of Washington Magazine}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=1987-03-24 |title=Original 'Skid Road' : Homeless Add a Sad Note to Gentrified Seattle Area |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-03-24-mn-299-story.html |access-date=2024-12-19 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref>

== United States ==
=== Albuquerque ===
[[International District, Albuquerque, New Mexico]], specifically with some areas off [[Central Avenue (Albuquerque)|Central Ave]], especially intersecting Louisiana, Texas, and Rhode Island Streets, have high homelessness rates, as well as a higher than average rate of public drug usage and high property-related crime and violence. The area is colloquially known as the "War Zone". Albuquerque had a rising murder rate in the early 2020s, with the murder rate surpassing 20 per 100,000 people, as well as a surge of visible homelessness especially in the ID area. In the 1990s, some years the neighborhood would account for over half the city's homicide count, despite being 1-2% of the city's population.

=== Anchorage ===
Fourth Street in [[Downtown Anchorage]] has a homelessness and drug abuse problem. In 1978, a descriptive analysis document compiled by a [[Department of Health]] facility in Anchorage, regarding downtown Anchorage's social issues and vagrancy described parts of Fourth Street as "Skid Row". Today, the name is not as used professionally, but still has issues of homelessness, especially affecting [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native Americans]] and [[Native Alaskans]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.muni.org/Departments/health/Documents/Skid%20Row%20(Kelso)%20Report%204-1978.pdf|title=The Division of Social Services Department of Health and Social Services}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Treinen |first1=Lex |title=As Anchorage faces the pandemic and homelessness, resignations at the health department pile up |url=https://www.alaskapublic.org/2021/12/09/as-anchorage-faces-the-pandemic-and-homeless-crisis-resignations-at-the-health-department-pile-up/ |work=Alaska Public Media |date=9 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211227144527/https://www.alaskapublic.org/2021/12/09/as-anchorage-faces-the-pandemic-and-homeless-crisis-resignations-at-the-health-department-pile-up/ |archive-date=27 December 2021}}</ref> Forty-five percent of Anchorage's homeless population is Alaskan Native, as compared to less than 15% of Anchorage's population being of Alaskan descent. 1,100 Anchorage residents were homeless in 2019, over two percent of the city's population. However, this figure may include those people periodically homeless at some point that year, as opposed to average counts where homeless people are counted on a given day, which usually increases the percentage.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/anchorage/2020/06/06/special-report-anchorage-faces-a-homeless-crisis-and-the-challenges-may-be-increasing/|title=Special report: Anchorage faces a homeless crisis — and the challenges may be increasing|author=Dobbyn, Paula|date=October 16, 2020|work=[[Anchorage Daily News]]}}</ref>

=== Austin ===
[[Sixth Street (Austin, Texas)|Sixth Street]] in [[Downtown Austin]] has issues with homeless individuals camping (which led to a [[proposition]] passing to ban public camping in most city areas<ref>{{Cite web |last=Autullo, Ryan |date=May 1, 2021 |title=Austin voters choose to bring back homeless camping ban |url=https://www.statesman.com/story/news/2021/05/01/proposition-b-election-results-austin-homeless-camping-ban/7220579002/ |access-date=May 13, 2021 |website=Austin American-Statesman}}</ref>) and public crime and drug use.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bova, Gus |date=December 20, 2019 |title=Greg Abbott's 'Indefinite,' Imperfect Homeless Camp |url=https://www.texasobserver.org/greg-abbotts-indefinite-imperfect-homeless-camp/ |access-date=January 9, 2020 |website=Texas Observer}}</ref>

=== Baltimore ===
[[Baltimore, Maryland]] has a homelessness issue in the Inner Harbor. Some housing projects and gang-plagued neighborhoods bear social issues similar to skid rows.

=== Boston ===
Mass and Cass, also known as [[Methadone]] Mile or Recovery Road, is an impoverished area/[[tent city]] located at and around the intersection of [[Melnea Cass Boulevard]] and [[Massachusetts Avenue (metropolitan Boston)|Massachusetts Avenue]] in [[Boston|Boston, Massachusetts]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-08-25 |title=Boston officials unveil new strategy for 'Mass. and Cass' |url=https://www.wbur.org/news/2023/08/25/mass-cass-boston-mayor-wu-addiction-opioid-crisis |access-date=2024-03-12 |website=www.wbur.org |language=en}}</ref><ref>[https://www.cnu.org/what-we-do/build-great-places/tent-city#:~:text=Boston%2C%20Massachusetts&text=The%20name%20%22Tent%20City%22%20may,to%20a%20neighborhood%20in%20protest. Tent City BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS] Retrieved 15 September 2023</ref> It has been characterized as "the epicenter of [[Greater Boston|the region's]] opioid addiction crisis".<ref name=janey>{{Cite news | url = https://www.wbur.org/news/2021/10/19/boston-kim-janey-mass-and-cass-plan | title = Janey unveils plan to remove tents from Mass. and Cass area | date = October 19, 2021 | access-date = October 19, 2021 | first = Simón | last = Rios | publisher = [[WBUR]] }}</ref>

Due to its concentration of service providers, the area around Mass and Cass has attracted a large number of people dealing with [[Homelessness in Massachusetts|homelessness]] and drug addiction, especially after the closure of the treatment facility on [[Long Island (Massachusetts)|Long Island]].<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Rosenfield |first1=Michael |last2=Moroney • • |first2=John |date=2023-08-23 |title=Boston looks to Long Island in plan to help those at Mass. and Cass |url=https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/boston-looks-to-long-island-in-plan-to-help-those-at-mass-and-cass/3119074/ |access-date=2024-03-12 |website=NBC Boston |language=en-US}}</ref> 300 homeless residents were counted in the area in a November 2021 article.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/boston-authorities-continue-to-clear-mass-and-cass-despite-pushback/ar-AAQt5Gm|title=Boston authorities continue to clear Mass. and Cass, despite pushback|publisher=[[Boston Globe]]|author=McDonald, Danny|date=November 8, 2021}}</ref>

The effects on local residents and the city's attempts to deal with the problem have generated considerable controversy.<ref name=janey/> The city of [[Quincy, Massachusetts|Quincy]] has opposed reconstruction of the bridge to Long Island as the only access to the island by bridge is through that city.<ref>{{Cite web |last=McDonald |first=Danny |title=In Quincy's Squantum, an age-old distrust of Boston and unanswered questions about Long Island Bridge - The Boston Globe |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/06/09/metro/quincys-squantum-an-age-old-distrust-boston-unanswered-questions-about-long-island-bridge/ |access-date=2024-03-12 |website=BostonGlobe.com |language=en-US}}</ref> Housing and homeless advocates also protested Acting Mayor [[Kim Janey]]'s October 19, 2021 announcement that Boston would begin clearing out the tent city.<ref name=janey/> Janey cited the lack of hygienic facilities in tents, the sexual assaults and crime in the area, and the four or five overdoses that are reversed each day in the area.<ref name=janey/> Opponents say that the dismantling of the tents and other makeshift structures, forcibly if necessary, is a criminalization of homelessness and addiction.<ref name=janey/>

=== Chicago ===
Traditional Skid Row areas in [[Chicago]] were centered along West Madison Street just west of the [[Chicago River]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newcity.com/2010/08/11/bummed-out-how-skid-row-went-from--"the-land-of-the-living-dead"-to-cappuccinos-and-condos/|title=How Chicago's Skid Row Went From "The Land of the Living Dead" to Cappuccinos and Condos {{pipe}} Newcity|first=David|last=Witter|date=August 11, 2010}}</ref> and, to a lesser degree, North Clark Street just north of the Chicago River.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/cushman/results/detail.do?query=city%3A%22Chicago%22&page=14&pagesize=50&display=thumbcap&action=search&pnum=P04092|title=Charles W. Cushman Photograph Collection>> Results >> Details|work=indiana.edu}}</ref> Since the 1980s both of these areas have been gentrified.

=== Denver ===
[[Union Station, Denver]], [[Colorado]] has a homelessness and vagrancy problem. Reports of public drug consumption, including that of [[opiates]] and [[meth]], are daily or regularly reported on the public train and buses, and the district is amongst the top 3 areas of highest violent crime.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://kdvr.com/news/local/rtd-union-calls-denver-union-station-a-lawless-hellhole/|title=RTD union calls Denver Union Station a 'lawless hellhole'|publisher=[[KDVR]]|author=Whitley, Morgan|date=2 December 2021}}</ref> In July 2020, an estimated 1,350 people were camped out within Denver city limits, and an advocacy group for homeless individuals counted 664 tents. [[Lincoln Park, Denver|Lincoln Park]] has a high concentration of tent-dwelling homeless individuals, and reports of criminal activity and drug abuse are commonplace. Although, some tent cities are well kept in the area.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://coloradosun.com/2020/07/28/denver-homeless-tent-cities/|title=Homeless camps in downtown Denver are "out of control" as the pandemic drags on. So what's the solution?|publisher=[[Colorado Sun]]|date=July 28, 2020|author=Brown, Jennifer}}</ref>

===Honolulu===
[[Chinatown, Honolulu|Chinatown]] has had issues with blight of homelessness and poverty. Initially more predominately Chinese when it was established and active in the 19th and early-to-mid 20th centuries, it became a [[red-light district]] after [[World War II]] era. Today, the neighborhood still experiences problems with people dealing with addiction and mental health problems, as well as homelessness and public crime.<ref name="bull98">{{cite news |title= Chinatown: A bike city waiting to be reborn |last=Wagner |first=Peter |date= September 29, 1998 |work= [[Honolulu Star-Bulletin]] |url= http://archives.starbulletin.com/98/09/29/news/story3.html |access-date= 2010-04-09 }}</ref>

=== Houston ===
[[File:HoustonWards1920.jpg|thumb|<!--left-->right|1920 map of the [[six wards of Houston]]]] In the 1800s much of what was the [[Third Ward, Houston|Third Ward]], the present day south side of Downtown Houston. According to some, the eastern boundary is a low rent group of houses near [[Texas Southern University]] referred to as "Sugar Hill". and among musicians, the Third Ward's boundaries are usually thought of as extending southward from the junction of [[Interstate 45]] (Gulf Freeway) and [[Interstate 69]]/[[U.S. Route 59]] (Southwest Freeway) to the Brays Bayou, with Main Street forming the western boundary. The Third Ward was what Stephen Fox, an architectural historian who lectured at Rice University, referred to as "the elite neighborhood of late 19th-century Houston". Ralph Bivins of the Houston Chronicle said that Fox said that area was "a silk-stocking neighborhood of Victorian-era homes". Bivins said that the construction of Union Station, which occurred around 1910, caused the "residential character" of the area to "deteriorate". Hotels opened in the area to service travelers. Afterwards, according to Bivins, the area "began a long downward slide toward the skid row of the 1990s" and the hotels were changed into flophouses. Passenger trains stopped going to Union Station. The City of Houston abolished the ward system in the early 1900s, but the name "Third Ward" was continued to be used to refer to the territory that it used to cover.<ref name="Wood72">Wood, Roger. [https://books.google.com/books?id=gdY5aJMVKkcC&pg=PA72 ''Down in Houston: Bayou City Blues''] (Issue 8 of Jack and Doris Smothers series in Texas history, life, and culture). 2003, [[University of Texas Press]]. 1st Edition. {{ISBN|0292786638}}, 9780292786639.</ref>

The Third Ward today, and parts of Downtown Houston area, struggle with drug issues, homelessness and poverty.

===Los Angeles===
{{Main article|Skid Row, Los Angeles}}[[File:Tenting in Los Angeles Skid Row.jpg|thumb|Tents of homeless people on the sidewalk in [[Skid Row, Los Angeles]]]]The Los Angeles Skid Row is an area on the East side of Downtown Los Angeles, roughly bounded by Los Angeles Street on the West, Central Avenue on the East, 4th Street on the North, and 8th Street on the South. The area was originally home to many cheap, low-quality hotels, popular with itinerant laborers and new arrivals to the city owing to its proximity to the train station and central location.<ref>{{cite web|date=July 24, 2021|title=History of Downtown Los Angeles|url=http://www.lachamber.com/clientuploads/LUCH_committee/102208_History_of_Skid_Row.pdf|website=Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce}}</ref> In an attempt to rehabilitate the area in the 1960s, most of the run-down single-room occupancy hotels were demolished. This led to major reduction in the amount of very low-cost, bare minimum housing available to the area's extremely low-income population, contributing to the severe homelessness problem in the area. Skid Row was once located at the industrial periphery of Los Angeles' often neglected downtown area. As downtown has been revitalized since the 1990s and the adjacent Arts District area has gone from a desolate industrial wasteland to a major center for tourism, entertainment, and upscale housing development, Skid Row has become increasingly hemmed in by bustling, populated neighborhoods. This has contributed to a substantial increase in the density of homeless residents living on the streets in Skid Row, since many of the new residents and businesses in the surrounding areas do not want the encampments to spread.

Local [[Homelessness in the United States|homeless]] count estimates have ranged from 3,668 to 8,000.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://abc7.com/society/las-homeless-aerial-tour-of-skid-row-epicenter-of-crisis/5344680/|title=LA's homeless: Aerial view tour of Skid Row, epicenter of crisis|last=Cristi|first=Chris|date=June 13, 2019|work=ABC7}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Rats, trash and typhoid: Los Angeles' growing shantytown slum |url=https://www.news.com.au/news/rats-trash-and-typhoid-los-angeles-growing-shantytown-slum/news-story/fb65b420e775600e10171c7fc592fd2e |work=News.com.au |date=June 4, 2019}}</ref> In 2011, the homeless population estimate for Los Angeles' Skid Row was 4,316.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.theycountwillyou.org/Docs/HC11-Detailed-Geography-Report-FINAL.PDF |title=2011 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count (page 38 – Skid Row section) |publisher=[[Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority]] |access-date=2011-11-16 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425231143/http://www.theycountwillyou.org/Docs/HC11-Detailed-Geography-Report-FINAL.PDF |archive-date=2012-04-25 }}</ref> L.A.'s Skid Row is sometimes called "the Nickel", referring to a section of Fifth Street.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103214505 |title=For Some, L.A.'s Skid Row Is For Beginnings |newspaper=NPR |access-date=2009-09-21}}</ref>

Several of the city's homeless and social-service providers (such as [[Weingart Center Association]], [[Volunteers of America]], [[Frontline Foundation]], [[Midnight Mission]], [[Union Rescue Mission]] and [[Downtown Women's Center]]) are based in Skid Row. Between 2005 and 2007, several local hospitals and suburban law-enforcement agencies were accused by [[Los Angeles Police Department]] and other officials of transporting those homeless people in their care to Skid Row.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.downtownnews.com/articles/2005/10/03/news/news01.txt |title=LA Downtown News Online |publisher=Downtownnews.com |access-date=2009-09-21 }}{{dead link|date=May 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-homeless24mar24,0,2261615.story?coll=la-home-headlines |title=A Plan to Spread Homeless Countywide|newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=2006-03-24 |archive-date=15 June 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060615120210/http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-homeless24mar24,0,2261615.story?coll=la-home-headlines}}</ref>

Within Skid Row, the [[Los Angeles Poverty Department]] (LAPD) is a performance group whose members are mostly homeless or formerly homeless people who create performances and multimedia art that highlight connections between their lived experiences and external forces that impact their lives.

[[Westlake, Los Angeles|Westlake]] and [[Venice, Los Angeles|Venice Beach]] have had issues with street crime and homelessness, and elements of skid rows and red-light districts. As per a 2020 count, there were nearly 2,000 homeless people in Venice of its 41,000 residents in general.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|date=2021-05-25|title=Venice described as 'constant emergency zone' as calls grow for action to address homelessness crisis|url=https://ktla.com/news/local-news/constant-emergency-zone-calls-for-change-mount-as-homeless-encampment-fills-venice-boardwalk-crime-increases/|access-date=2021-06-08|website=KTLA|language=en-US}}</ref> up from 175 in 2014. Many of them lived on Venice Beach on the sand by the shoreline, until a city-ordered sweep done in August 2021. Many people experiencing homeless still reside in inland Venice, more towards Abbott Kinney Road.<ref name="THR 2019-01-11">{{Cite news|last1=Johnson|first1=Scott|last2=Kiefer|first2=Peter|date=2019-01-11|title=LA's Battle for Venice Beach: Homeless Surge Puts Hollywood's Progressive Ideals to the Test|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lifestyle/lifestyle-news/las-homeless-surge-puts-hollywoods-progressive-ideals-test-1174599/|access-date=2021-05-15|work=The Hollywood Reporter|language=en-US}}</ref>

=== Minneapolis ===
The twenty-five-block area that became known as the Gateway District in downtown [[Minneapolis]] was once the city's Skid Row. The area was a dense collection of bars, liquor stores, flop houses and rescue missions. Many on Skid Row were seasonal laborers who came from different parts of the country to work on farms or in lumber mills. During off-season months they crowded into the city, and onto Skid Row.
<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mnopedia.org/place/gateway-district-skid-row-minneapolis | title = Gateway District ("Skid Row"), Minneapolis | access-date = February 23, 2022 | author=Meshbesher, Samuel }}</ref>

A documentary filmed in the late 1950s and early 1960s by John Bacich focuses on this Skid Row.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bacich |first1=John |title=Skidrow |website=[[YouTube]] |date=12 December 2021 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRPeA4OFsQE |language=en}}</ref>

=== New York City ===
In [[New York City]], Skid Row was a nickname given to the [[Bowery]] during much of the 20th century.<ref>{{cite news|author=Jesse McKinley |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/13/style/along-the-bowery-skid-row-is-on-the-skids.html?pagewanted=1 |title=Along the Bowery, Skid Row Is on the Skids |access-date=2010-04-06 | work=The New York Times | date=2002-10-13}}</ref>

Along East 125th Street in [[East Harlem, Manhattan]], there is a noticeable density of homelessness and drug use.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://patch.com/new-york/harlem/mayor-visits-east-harlem-blocks-troubled-drug-use|title=Mayor visits East Harlem blocks troubled by drug use|publisher=[[Patch.com]]|author=Garber, Nick|date=10 November 2020}}</ref> There are elements of a drug and poverty-related society along with homelessness in [[Lower Manhattan]]. 

New York City's climate is colder during the autumn and winter, thus more people experiencing homelessness are sheltered (less than 10% of people experiencing homelessness in the city are unsheltered), and elements of blight are usually less visible than that of west coast cities. As of 2019, 5% of NYC homeless people were unsheltered, compared to the [[San Francisco Bay Area]]'s 67% being unsheltered.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Bay-Area-homeless-unsheltered-67-percent-NYC-13757259.php#:~:text=67%20percent%20of%20Bay%20Area%20homeless%20are%20unsheltered.,28%2C000%20people%20across%20the%20nine-county%20region%20lacking%20housing|title=67 percent of Bay Area homeless are unsheltered. In New York, it's 5%.|publisher=[[San Francisco Chronicle]]|date=April 11, 2019|author=Graff, Amy}}</ref>

===Oakland area===
There are some facets of skid row in nearby [[Oakland, California]], especially on [[International Boulevard (Oakland, California)|International Boulevard]], where homelessness and prostitution has been problematic. There are scattered elements of skid row and [[tent cities]] in [[Downtown Oakland]] and [[East Oakland]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/24/us/24oakland.html?hpw|title = In Oakland, Redefining Sex Trade Workers as Abuse Victims|newspaper = The New York Times|date = 24 May 2011|last1 = Brown|first1 = Patricia Leigh}}</ref> [[People's Park, Berkeley]] has struggled with drug abuse and homelessness, with social services nearby. The area was a concentration of tents in Berkeley. Although the area is benign in comparison to major cities, it has a multi-decades-long history of homeless settlements.

=== Philadelphia ===
Philadelphia once had a highly visible skid row centered on Vine Street, just west of the approaches to the [[Benjamin Franklin Bridge]]. This area was essentially obliterated by highway construction starting in the 1970s.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2506&dat=19730902&id=wZVJAAAAIBAJ&pg=724,307360|title=Philadelphia Begins Demolition Of {{as written|I|t's}} Skid Row}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://works.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1018&context=metraux|title=Waiting for the Wrecking Ball: Skid Row in Postindustrial Philadelphia}}</ref>

Today, the area most often referred to as Philadelphia's modern-day skid row is in the [[Kensington, Philadelphia|Kensington]] neighborhood, along Kensington Avenue near the intersections of Somerset Street and Allegheny Avenue. The area is known for its high rates of open-air recreational drug use, poverty, and homelessness.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://hiddencityphila.org/2017/09/skid-row-deaths-of-1963-echoes-todays-opioid-crisis/|title=Skid Row Deaths Of 1963 Echoes Today's Opioid Crisis|website=Hidden City Philadelphia|date=8 September 2017 }}</ref> A long-time camp largely hidden from public view in a gulch alongside [[Conrail Shared Assets Operations|Conrail]] tracks, spanning an area roughly from N 2nd Street to Kensington Avenue, was cleared in 2017.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://whyy.org/articles/cleanup-work-along-philly-conrail-tracks-reaches-notorious-heroin-haven-el-campamento/|title=Cleanup work along Philly Conrail tracks reaches 'El Campamento' heroin haven}}</ref> In late 2018, the city cleared a series of large homeless resident camps along Kensington Avenue, Emerald Street, Tulip Street, and Frankford Avenue.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.inquirer.com/philly/health/addiction/philly-clears-another-kensington-heroin-encampment-20181115.html|title=As snow falls, Philly clears another Kensington heroin encampment|first=Aubrey|last=Whelan|website=inquirer.com|date=15 November 2018 }}</ref> The homeless resident population in the Kensington neighborhood alone is estimated to be over 700 individuals.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.inquirer.com/health/homeless-count-opioids-kensington-philadelphia-20190127.html|title=Philadelphia's annual homeless count reveals new realities about the opioid crisis|first=Aubrey|last=Whelan|website=inquirer.com|date=27 January 2019 }}</ref>

===Portland===
{{Main article|Old Town Chinatown}}
[[Old Town Chinatown]], a mostly defunct Chinatown of [[Portland, Oregon]], has a high prevalence of hard drug use, homelessness, poverty, and property and violent-related crimes.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://pamplinmedia.com/pt/9-news/371837-255157-new-homeless-shelter-in-old-town-chinatown-sparks-old-debate|title=New homeless shelter in Old Town/Chinatown sparks old debate|last=Hewitt|first=Lyndsey|date=September 12, 2017|website=Portland Tribune|language=en-gb|access-date=2019-12-30}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wweek.com/finder-2016/2016/08/19/old-townchinatown/|title=Old Town/Chinatown|website=Willamette Week|date=19 August 2016 |language=en-US|access-date=2019-12-30}}</ref>

As of November 2021, a surge of [[meth]] was reported to be used amongst the homeless community in Greater Portland. In the 1980s and 1990s, where the meth epidemic was at a high in Portland, 35% of the drug was locally produced, as opposed to nearly zero percent of meth used by the homeless communities as reported in 2021.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.koin.com/local/multnomah-county/whats-driving-the-local-meth-surge-in-and-around-portland/|title=What's driving the meth surge in and around Portland?|publisher=[[KOIN]]|date=November 1, 2021|author=Jerome, Emma}}</ref>

[[Downtown Portland]] suffers a homelessness issue at large, as of the late 2010s and early 2020s.

===Seattle===
[[Image:Original Skid Road Seattle - 1874 photo.jpg|thumb|right|Mill Street, now [[Yesler Way]], was the original "Skid Road" in [[Seattle, Washington]].{{Efn|Top: View looking west to Yesler's Mill at the end of the street (see smokestack) and nearby [[cookhouse]]; the tall pole in the road on the right is where the Pioneer Square pergola stands today, (1874)

Bottom: Yesler's Mill, stores, and taverns on Skid Road}}]]The name "Skid Road" was in use in Seattle by the 1850s when the city's historic [[Pioneer Square, Seattle, Washington|Pioneer Square]] neighborhood began to expand from its commercial core.<ref name=SPS>{{cite book|last=Keniston-Longrie|first=Joy|title=Seattle's Pioneer Square|year=2009|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|location=Chicago, San Francisco, & Charleston, SC|isbn=978-0-7385-7144-7|pages=128}}</ref> The district centered near the end of what is now [[Yesler Way]], the original "Skid Road" named after the freshly‑cut logs that were skidded downhill toward [[Henry Yesler]]'s mill.<ref name="Morrison1987">{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-03-24-mn-299-story.html |title=Original 'Skid Road': Homeless Add a Sad Note to Gentrified Seattle Area |work=Los Angeles Times |date=1987-03-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151025110214/http://articles.latimes.com/1987-03-24/news/mn-299_1_skid-row |archive-date=2015-10-25 |url-status=live |last=Morrison |first={{not a typo|Patt}} |issn=0458-3035 |quote=Yesler Way—the nation's original 'Skid Row' ... Skid Road was christened here in the 1850s, when logs were 'skidded' by horses, mules or oxen down the steep, timber‑lined path to Henry Yesler's thriving sawmill on Elliott Bay. }}</ref>

Henry Yesler acquired land from [[Doc Maynard]] at a small point of land at what is today near the intersection of 1st Avenue and [[Yesler Way]]. He also acquired a swath of land {{convert|450|ft}} wide, from his property up [[First Hill]] to a box of land about {{convert|10|acre}} in size, full of timber, spanning what is today 20th to 30th avenues. Logs would be moved down the skid road of Yesler Way to his mill.<ref name="ws">{{cite book |last1=Speidel |first1=William |title=Sons of the Profits |date=1967 |publisher=Nettle Creek Publishing Company |location=Seattle |pages=62,223–224}}</ref><ref name=SPS /> In the words of [[Murray Morgan]], "This district south of Yesler Way, this land below the Deadline, has helped fix the word on the American language. The Skid Road: the place of dead dreams."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Morgan |first1=Murray |title=Skid Road |date=2018 |publisher=University of Washington Press |isbn=9780295743493 |pages=8–9, 30–31}}</ref> His steam-powered logging mill was built in 1853<ref name=SPS /> on the point of land that looked south towards a small island (Denny's Island, part of his land purchase from Doc Maynard) that has since been expanded with [[infill]] and is the heart of today's Pioneer Square. The mill operated seven days a week, 24 hours per day, on the waterfront.<ref name=SPS />

The Skid Road became the demarcation line between the affluent members of Seattle and the mill workers and more rowdy portion of the population.<ref>William C. Speidel, "Sons of the Profits, The Seattle Story 1851 to 1901"</ref> The road became Mill Street, and eventually Yesler Way, but the nickname "Skid Road" was permanently associated with the district at the street's end.<ref name=SPS /> The street's end near the mill attracted [[cookhouse]]s and inexpensive hotels for itinerant workers, along with several establishments that served beer and liquor.<ref name=SPS />

===San Diego===
[[East Village, San Diego|East Village]], near [[Barrio Logan]], [[Logan Heights, San Diego|Logan Heights]], and [[Sherman Heights]], has struggled with homelessness and drug abuse.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.voiceofsandiego.org/topics/news/east-village-residents-say-homelessness-there-is-less-visible-but-in-some-ways-far-worse/|title=East Village residents say homelessness is less visible, but in some ways far worse|date=11 March 2019 |publisher=[[Voice of San Diego]]}}</ref>

=== San Francisco ===
{{Main article|Tenderloin, San Francisco}}
[[File:Tenderloin_Street_Chess,_SF,_CA,_jjron_26.03.2012.jpg|thumb|People playing chess by Market and Turk Streets.]]
The [[Tenderloin, San Francisco, California|Tenderloin]] neighborhood is a small, dense neighborhood near downtown [[San Francisco]]. In addition to its history and diverse and artistic community, there is significant [[poverty]], homelessness, and [[crime]].<ref name="city-journal">[http://www.city-journal.org/2010/20_4_san-francisco-homeless.html#sidebar The Sidewalks of San Francisco by Heather Mac Donald, City Journal Autumn 2010]. City-journal.org (2010-10-14). Retrieved 2012-09-16.</ref>

It is known for its [[immigrant]] populations, [[single-room occupancy]] hotels, ethnic restaurants, bars and clubs, alternative arts scene, large homeless resident population, public transit and close proximity to Union Square, the [[Financial District, San Francisco, California|Financial District]], and [[Civic Center, San Francisco, California|Civic Center]].<ref name="city-journal" /> The 2000 census reported a population of 28,991 persons, with a population density of 44,408/mi<sup>2</sup> (17,146/km<sup>2</sup>), in the Tenderloin's 94102 Zip Code Tabulation Area, which also includes the nearby [[Hayes Valley]] neighborhood.<ref>{{cite web |author=American FactFinder, United States Census Bureau |url=http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/GCTTable?_bm=y&-context=gct&-ds_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U&-CONTEXT=gct&-mt_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U_GCTPH1_US25&-tree_id=4001&-redoLog=true&-_caller=geoselect&-geo_id=85000US941&-format=ZI-1&-_lang=en |title=941 3-Digit ZCTA by 5-digit ZIP Code Tabulation Area – GCT-PH1. Population, Housing Units, Area, and Density: 2000 |publisher=Factfinder.census.gov |access-date=2009-09-21 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200212034634/http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/GCTTable?_bm=y&-context=gct&-ds_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U&-CONTEXT=gct&-mt_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U_GCTPH1_US25&-tree_id=4001&-redoLog=true&-_caller=geoselect&-geo_id=85000US941&-format=ZI-1&-_lang=en |archive-date=2020-02-12 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

During the 1960s, when development interests and the Redevelopment Agency were using eminent domain to clear out a large area populated by retired men in the South of Market area, that area was termed "Skid Row" in the media. The city's convention center was built after the clearing of long term low-income residents.<ref>Hartman, Chester. 1984. The Transformation of San Francisco. Totowa, NJ: Rowman & Allanheld.</ref><ref>Averbach, Alvin. 1973. "San Francisco's South of Market District, 1858–1958: The Emergence of a Skid Row." California Historical Quarterly 52(3):196223.</ref> The neighborhood continues to be a plight of drug-related use and crime and homelessness of San Francisco, along with nearby [[South of Market]], by Market and 6th and Market and 7th Streets. Tent cities were concentrated along Market Street in San Francisco, towards downtown, but are more scattered around the city as of November 2022.

16th Street and Mission to 24th Street and Mission also have a high visible prevalence of unhoused and open-air drug use and sales.

==Canada==
===Vancouver===
{{Main article|Downtown Eastside}}
[[File:DTES Alley Culture 02.jpg|thumb|[[Downtown Eastside]]]]
The 100-block of East Hastings Street in [[Vancouver, British Columbia]], the heart of that city's "skid road" neighborhood, lies on a historical skid road.<ref>[https://www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=8283 DESCRIPTION OF HISTORIC PLAC12 Hastings Street] Retrieved 17 September 2023</ref> The Vancouver Skid Road was part of a complex of such roads in the dense forests surrounding the [[Hastings Mill]] and adjacent to the settlement of Granville, Burrard Inlet ([[Gastown]]).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.virtualvancouver.com/gastown.html|title=Gastown|publisher=Virtual Vancouver|access-date=2008-02-10|archive-date=2008-02-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080209220612/http://www.virtualvancouver.com/gastown.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The city began as a sawmill settlement called Granville, in the early 1870s.<ref name="AVan">{{cite web |url=http://vancouver.ca/aboutvan.htm|title=About Vancouver |publisher=City of Vancouver |year=2007 |access-date=2007-01-27}}</ref> By at least the 1950s, "Skid Road" was commonly used to describe the more dilapidated areas in the city's [[Downtown Eastside]],<ref>"Demolish City's Skid Road, Murder Protest Demands." Vancouver Sun. April 6, 1962. p. 1.</ref> which is focused on the original "strip" along East Hastings Street due to a concentration of [[single-room occupancy]] hotels (SROs) and associated drinking establishments in the area. The area's seedy origins date back to the early concentration of saloons in pre-Canadian Prohibition (1915–1919) and its popularity with loggers, miners and fishermen whose work was seasonal and who spent their salaries in the area's cheap accommodations and public houses.{{citation needed|date=April 2013}}

[[Opium]] and [[heroin]] use became popular early on; Vancouver was for many years the main port-of-entry for the North American opium supply. During the Great Depression, the railway rights-of-way and other vacant lots in the area were thronged by the unemployed and poor, and the pattern of social decay became well-established. In the 1970s, the endemic alcohol and poverty problems in the area were exacerbated by the expansion of the drug trade, with [[crack cocaine]] becoming high-profile in the 1980s as well as a re-concentration of the prostitution trade in the area because of the relocation of hooker strolls in conjunction with city policy for [[Expo 86]].{{citation needed|date=April 2013}}

A portion of Vancouver's Skid Row, [[Gastown]], has also been [[Gentrification|gentrified]]; however it is in a difficult coexistence with the nearby impoverished [[Downtown Eastside]] along East Hastings Street.{{citation needed|date=April 2013}}

The Downtown Eastside is deemed to be one of the poorest urban areas in [[Canada]].<ref name="Poorest">{{cite news |url=http://www.dominionpaper.ca/articles/909 |title=The Poorest Postal Code Vancouver's Downtown Eastside in Photos |last=Kalache |first=Stefan |publisher=The Dominion |date=January 12, 2007 |access-date=2007-10-15}}</ref> It is wedged between popular tourist destinations such as Downtown, [[Chinatown, Vancouver|Chinatown]] and Gastown. East Hastings Street is also a major thoroughfare. These avenues of exposure make the Downtown Eastside a highly visible example of a skid row.

The Downtown Eastside (sometimes abbreviated D.T.E.S.) is also home to [[Insite]], the first legal [[intravenous drug]] safe injection site in North America, part of a [[harm reduction]] policy aimed at helping the area's drug addicted residents. Additional sites have been established with approval from Health Canada in 2017 and 2018 as part of the strategy for dealing with the epidemic of lethal opioid (primarily [[fentanyl]]) overdoses.

=== Montreal ===
{{Main article|Centre-Sud}}

[[File: Montréal - Centre-Sud 1.jpg|thumb|right|[[Centre-Sud]] of Montreal, overlooked by the [[Jacques Cartier Bridge]]]]
{{See also|Sexe de rue}}
The [[Centre-Sud]] neighborhood of Montreal, located directly east of [[Downtown Montreal|downtown]], has long been notorious for [[prostitution]] (particularly on [[Ontario Street (Montreal)|Ontario Street]] and Dufresne Street) as well as poverty and [[drug trafficking]] more broadly. Also, the [[Place Émilie-Gamelin]] neighborhood suffers from homelessness and blight.<ref>{{cite news|first=Dominique|last=Forget|title=Mon quartier me rend malade|url=https://lactualite.com/sante-et-science/mon-quartier-me-rend-malade/|publisher=[[L'Actualité]]|location=Montreal|date=8 May 2013|access-date=22 November 2020|language=French}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Une nuit avec Capone|url=https://www.lapresse.ca/vivre/urbania/200910/21/01-913463-une-nuit-avec-capone.php|publisher=[[La Presse (Canadian newspaper)|La Presse]]|location=Montreal|date=26 October 2009|access-date=4 January 2021|language=French}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Prostitution dans le quartier Centre-Sud: les citoyens exigent des solutions|url=https://www.tvanouvelles.ca/2002/09/18/prostitution-dans-le-quartier-centre-sud-les-citoyens-exigent-des-solutions|publisher=[[TVA Nouvelles]]|location=Montreal|date=18 September 2002|access-date=22 November 2020|language=French}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Prostitution dans le Centre-Sud de Montréal - Le groupe Stella n'apprécie pas les opérations policières|url=https://www.ledevoir.com/societe/1493/prostitution-dans-le-centre-sud-de-montreal-le-groupe-stella-n-apprecie-pas-les-operations-policieres|publisher=[[Le Devoir]]|location=Montreal|date=21 May 2002|access-date=23 January 2021|language=French}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Pute de Rue|publisher=[[:fr:Éditions des Intouchables|Éditions des Intouchables]]|author=Nadeau, Roxanne|date=24 September 2003|isbn=2-89549-119-4|language=French|url=https://www.gallimardmontreal.com/catalogue/livre/pute-de-rue-nadeau-roxanne-9782895491194}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Hôtel Jolicoeur|publisher=Self-Publication|author=Collective authors|date=January 2013|isbn=978-2-9813755-0-6|language=French|url=https://www.ledevoir.com/lire/373278/les-vies-revees-d-un-bordel-disparu}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=L'enfer d'une fille de rue|publisher=[[:fr:Béliveau Éditeur|Béliveau Éditeur]]|author=St-Sauveur, Isa-Belle|date=2020|isbn=978-2-89793-106-3|language=French|url=https://www.tvanouvelles.ca/2020/02/27/lenfer-dune-fille-de-rue}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Ces Spectres Agités|publisher=[[:fr:Éditions du Boréal|Boréal]]|pages=60–61|author=[[Louis Hamelin|Hamelin, Louis]]|date=1991|isbn=978-2-7646-2057-1|language=French|url=https://www.editionsboreal.qc.ca/catalogue/livres/ces-spectres-agites-1768.html}}</ref>{{Citation overkill|date=December 2023}}

Gentrification has changed this somewhat in recent years.<ref>{{cite news|title=Embourgeoisement : que va devenir le quartier Centre-Sud?|url=https://ici.radio-canada.ca/premiere/emissions/le-15-18/segments/reportage/102100/montreal-developpement-immobilier-condos|publisher=[[Ici Radio-Canada Télé|Radio Canada]]|location=Montreal|date=15 January 2019|access-date=6 December 2020|language=French}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Faced with eviction, tenants in Centre-Sud throw a protest party|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/eviction-party-centre-sud-1.5198712|publisher=[[CBC/Radio-Canada|Radio Canada]]|location=Montreal|date=7 July 2019|access-date=6 December 2020}}</ref>

== Mexico ==
[[Puerto Vallarta, Mexico]]'s "romantic area" by its boardwalks has issues of homelessness, vagrancy, open drug abuse, fighting, and public violence.<ref>{{cite web|title=An alarming increase in homeless people in Puerto Vallarta's romantic area is worrisome|url=https://mexicodailypost.com/2021/11/19/an-alarming-increase-in-homeless-people-in-puerto-vallarta-romantic-area-worrisome/|publisher=Mexico Daily Post|date=November 19, 2021}}</ref> [[Mexico]] as a country struggles with poverty and migrants to the U.S. often end up homeless or near the Mexican border awaiting arrival. Elements of skid row and [[shantytowns]] may exist along the [[U.S.-Mexican border]] with awaiting migrants. While specific "skid rows" are not thoroughly documented in articles, at least mainly in English, [[crystal meth]] is often shipped in from [[Ciudad Juarez]] and [[Tijuana, Baja California]], both border cities. Both cities also have issues of meth consumption as well as other drugs, and homelessness and poverty are rampant in some districts.<ref>{{cite journal|title=The Color of Meth: Is it Related to Adverse Health Outcomes? An Exploratory Study in Tijuana, Mexico|publisher=[[NCBI]]|author= Dr. Steffanie A. Strathdee; Patricia Case, Remedios Lozada, Andrea Mantsios, Jorge Alvelais, Minya Pu, Dr. Kimberly C. Brouwer, Dr. Cari L. Miller, and Dr. Thomas L. Patterson|journal=The American Journal on Addictions|date=September 19, 2011|volume=17|issue=2|pages=111–115|doi=10.1080/10550490701862944|pmid=18393053|pmc=3176304}}</ref>

According to a 2018 article by [[KPBS Public Media]] (KPBS), with the [[BBC World Service]], Tijuana has 1,800 people who are described as "living on the streets".<ref name="kpbs 2018"/> It is uncertain whether this figure includes those in homeless shelters or sleeping in vehicles. This number is less than half a percent of Tijuana's population, and far fewer than the 9,160 homeless individuals in neighboring [[San Diego County, California]]. However, the count in Tijuana does not include thousands of people who live in makeshift homes on canyons, often without running water or electricity.<ref name="kpbs 2018"/> The academic research institute, [[El Colegio de la Frontera Norte]], concluded in 2014 that nearly half of people experiencing homeless in Tijuana are deportees from the US, based on their surveys of a specific shelter.<ref name="kpbs 2018">{{cite news |last1=Guerrero |first1=Jean |title=Displaced By Two Countries: Tijuana's Homeless Migrants |url=https://www.kpbs.org/news/border-immigration/2018/03/28/displaced-two-countries-tijuanas-homeless-migrants |work=KPBS Public Media |others=In association with [[BBC World Service]] |date=28 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211227143757/https://www.kpbs.org/news/border-immigration/2018/03/28/displaced-two-countries-tijuanas-homeless-migrants |archive-date=27 December 2021 |language=en}}</ref> Violent crime in Tijuana reached unprecedented levels in 2017, with 1,780 murders in Greater Tijuana, a rate of more than 100 per 100,000 people.<ref>{{cite news |last1=St John |first1=Alison |last2=Cabrera |first2=Marissa |title=Report: Tijuana Homicides Reach Record High In 2017 |url=https://www.kpbs.org/news/2018/feb/06/report-tijuana-homicides-reach-record-high-2017/ |work=KPBS Public Media |others=In association with [[BBC World Service]] |date=6 February 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211227143810/https://www.kpbs.org/news/2018/feb/06/report-tijuana-homicides-reach-record-high-2017/ |archive-date=27 December 2021 |language=en}}</ref>

== Australia ==
=== Melbourne ===
[[Elizabeth Street, Melbourne]], [[Australia]], has an issue involving drug abuse, homelessness, and vagrancy. The ''[[Herald Sun]]'', in two 2016 articles about the growing homelessness, drug and alcohol abuse, and disturbance issues, described the street's southern end towards [[Flinders Street, Melbourne|Flinders Street]] as Melbourne's 'skid row.'<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.heraldsun.com.au/subscribe/news/1/?sourceCode=HSWEB_WRE170_a&dest=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.heraldsun.com.au%2Fnews%2Faggressive-beggar-harasses-pedestrians-on-melbournes-elizabeth-st%2Fnews-story%2F45f4b29407e77e41f5c3febaf1438ee1&memtype=anonymous&mode=premium&v21=dynamic-cold-test-noscore&V21spcbehaviour=append|title=Aggressive beggar harasses pedestrians on Melbourne's Elizabeth St. (PAYWALL)|publisher=[[Herald Sun]]|date=May 10, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bing.com/search?q=melbourne%20elizabeth%20skid%20row%20herald%20sun&qs=n&form=QBRE&sp=-1&pq=melbourne%20elizabeth%20skid%20row%20h&sc=4-30&sk=&cvid=88F611A6819A470ABF372D4A7F1C2FFD|title=Plan to clean up southern end up of Elizabeth St. (PAYWALL)|publisher=[[Herald Sun]]|date=July 27, 2016}}</ref>

In 2010, an Elizabeth Street [[housing project]] organization was founded, endeavoring to help homeless and needy people find housing and treatment for health and job-related issues. 131 studio apartments and 30 two-bedroom apartments were built.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.grocon.com/project/elizabeth-street-common-ground-melbourne/|title=ELIZABETH STREET COMMON GROUND, MELBOURNE|publisher=Grocon.com}}</ref>

In January 2017, reports of a camp of homeless people being moved from under [[Flinders Street station]] to an organized housing facility made the [[News.com.au]] headlines.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/news/victorian-government-funds-new-plan-to-help-flinders-st-station-homeless-camp/news-story/96959430d5f31eb1a0fdef83ae76f6cb|title=Victorian government funds new plan to help Flinders St Station homeless camp|publisher=[[News.com.au]]}}</ref> The [[Victoria, Australia|Victoria]]n state government spent $10 million on this project, with the intent of providing 30 new permanent modular and relocatable homes on public land to be in place by the end of 2017.

During the start of the [[COVID-19 pandemic in Australia]] in March, to June 2020, the Victorian government provided $15 million to homelessness organisations to find temporary accommodation in hotels for people who were sleeping on the street. On June 13, 2020, it was announced that a further $9.8 million was spent on the project to keep them there in the short term, but also help them plan a pathway into more long-term, stable accommodation. During these three months, at least 4500 people have been put up in hotels across the state of Victoria, 1000 in the [[Melbourne cbd|Central Business District of Melbourne]] alone.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/how-the-shock-of-covid-19-could-end-street-homelessness-in-victoria-20200612-p551vk.html|title=How the shock of COVID-19 could end street homelessness in Victoria|newspaper=[[The Age]] |author=Topsfield, Jewel|date=June 13, 2020}}</ref>

== Popular references ==
*"[[The Wall Street Shuffle]]" by [[10cc]] mentions Skid row in the lyrics.
*"[[Skid Row (American band)|Skid Row]]" is the name of an American heavy metal band formed in [[New Jersey]].
*"[[Skid Row (Irish band)|Skid Row]]" is also the name of a Dublin, Ireland-based blues-rock band from the late 1960s and early 1970s that included such musicians as singer [[Phil Lynott]] and guitarist [[Gary Moore]], both of whom later were part of [[Thin Lizzy]]. Conversely, a "skid row" is mentioned in the Thin Lizzy song "Johnny the Fox Meets Jimmy the Weed", from the 1976 album ''[[Johnny the Fox]]''.
*[[Kurt Cobain]], playing in a band that at the time had no name, came up with the name "Skid Row" to put on the marquee at a gig on the spur of the moment. That band's name would change frequently after that. He would later go on to form [[Nirvana (band)|Nirvana]].<ref>{{cite book|author1=Ian Halperin|author2=Max Wallace|title=Who Killed Kurt Cobain?: The Mysterious Death of an Icon|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DsDU2DsewtYC&pg=PA26|year=1999|publisher=Carol Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-8065-2074-2|page=26}}</ref>
*[[List of warez groups#SKIDROW|SKiDROW]] is one of the prominent warez groups in software. Whether this is based on the band is unknown.
*''[[Breaking Bad]]'' Season 4 Episode 4 features Jesse turning his house into a Skid Row for homeless people.
*The ''[[Little Shop of Horrors (disambiguation)|Little Shop of Horrors]]'' films and subsequent musical are all set in various downtown neighborhoods called Skid Row and include the song ''Skid Row (Downtown)''. The original 1960 film was set in Los Angeles while the 1982 musical and its 1986 film adaptation were set in New York.
*In [[Alfred Hitchcock|Alfred Hitchcock's]] ''[[Vertigo (film)|Vertigo]]'', Scotty, played by [[James Stewart|Jimmy Stewart]], says "Why, that's Skid Row" in response to hearing a MIssion-xxxx (MI or 64 prefix) phone number. He is referring to the Dogpatch shipyard in San Francisco, on the east waterfront side of Potrero Hill. Back then, the MIssion telephone exchange covered all the southern city.
*In ''[[Rocky]]'', near the beginning of the movie, Mick gives Rocky's gym locker to another prospect who in Mick's eyes deserves it more. When Rocky discovers this on his next visit he says "I've had this locker for six years and you hang my stuff on skid row". There are other various references throughout the [[Rocky (film series)|''Rocky'' films]].
*[[Lana Del Rey]] sings "I wear my diamonds on skid row" on "[[Cola]]", a song from her second studio album titled ''[[Born to Die: The Paradise Edition]]''
*Skidrow is the name of the dystopian neighborhood where the player character of the 1999 video game ''[[Kingpin: Life of Crime]]'' begins his quest for revenge.
*Skidrow is a song on the 1978 album [[Shpritsz]] by [[Herman Brood]].
*The lyrics of the song [[God Part II]] by [[U2]] say “Don't believe in Death Row, skid row or the gangs.”

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

==See also==
* [[Cannery Row]] of Monterey, California
* [[Chow Kit]], [[Kuala Lumpur]], [[Malaysia]]
* [[Chungking Mansions]], [[Hong Kong]], has issues with public crime, drugs, and prostitution<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/02/02/sudan.jal/index.html "China, hip-hop and the new Sudan"]. [[CNN]]. 4 February 2011. Retrieved 4 February 2011.</ref>
*[[Deinstitutionalisation]]
* [[Homelessness]]
* [[The Jungle (San Jose)]], a former tent city, and [[Downtown San Jose]] has elements of skid row 
* [[List of tent cities in the United States]]
* [[Patient dumping]]
* [[People's Park (Berkeley)]]
* [[Poverty]]
* Santa Rosa Avenue (adjacent to [[South Park, Santa Rosa, California|South Park]]) in [[Santa Rosa, California]]
* [[Skidder]]
* [[Slum]]
* [[Stingaree, San Diego]]

==References==

===Notes===
{{Reflist|2}}

===Bibliography===
*{{Cite book
 | last =Holbrook
 | first =Stewart H.
 | year =1961
 | title =Yankee Loggers
 | url =https://archive.org/details/yankeeloggersrec0000holb
 | url-access =registration
 | place =New York|ref=none
 | publisher =International Paper Company
 }}.
*{{Cite book
 | last =Newell
 | first =Gordon
 | year =1956
 | title =Totem Tales of Old Seattle
 | place =Seattle
 | publisher =Superior Publishing Company|ref=none
 }}.

==External links==
{{Wiktionary}}

*[http://www.historylink.org/_output.cfm?file_id=1041 Some Seattle history]
*[http://www.nwsource.com/visitorsguide/neighborhoods/pioneersquare_overview.html Pioneer Square history]
*[https://www.theguardian.com/elsewhere/journalist/story/0,,1933289,00.html Guardian Article]
*[http://video.tpt.org/video/2256237121 Down On Skid Row, A Tape's Rolling! Special] Documentary produced by [[Twin Cities Public Television]]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20101123042701/http://felonyflats.tribe.net/ A group page for Portland, Oregon's "Felony Flats"]
*[http://www.yelp.com/biz/felony-flats-neighborhood-portland Yelp review page for Portland's "Felony Flats"]
*[http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/good-bye-felony-flats/Content?oid=711401 Article from 2008 on gentrification in Portland's "Felony Flats"]
*[http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-4286-felony_flats.html Opinion column from a Portland cab driver on "Felony Flats"]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Skid Row}}
[[Category:Skid rows|*]]
[[Category:Economy of Seattle]]
[[Category:History of Seattle| ]]
[[Category:Neighborhoods in the United States|*]]
[[Category:Poverty in Canada]]
[[Category:Poverty in the United States]]
[[Category:Urban decay]]
[[Category:Vagrancy]]