Los Angeles has seen this movie before – another horrow show about homelessness.

The subject of this sequel matters to the community of business as much as every other strata of our society.

And some recent disheartening developments mean it matters even more compared with the last time we addressed homelessness on this page.

A couple of homeless men died of injuries last month from brutal beatings investigators believe were administered by an assailant who carried bad intentions and a blunt object on the streets of downtown.

Two other homeless men remained in the hospital with similar injuries, presumably from a similar beating, as of this writing.

A stairwell around 5th and Flower.

An alcove near Wilshire and Flower.

7th Street in Santa Monica.

Those are the locales of the latest assaults, which bring a sad sense of deja vu as we recall Ernest Adams, one of two homeless men who survived earlier brutal beatings. Adams was left with dents in his skull and is blind in one eye after being attacked near 3rd and Flower by two men who were later found with aluminum baseball bats. They were convicted of assault. The other victim, Gerald McHenry, sustained lesser injuries after being attacked as he slept on a sidewalk at 9th and Wall.

Here’s where last month’s fatal assaults take on even more weight: Adams and McHenry were beaten on Aug. 16, 2005.

More than 13 years ago.

Public officials expressed shock back then.

A columnist for the Los Angeles Times camped on Skid Row, and the newspaper published a series of his reports, which fueled public outrage.

Time went on, a red-hot housing market remained hot, and Hollywood made a so-so movie about the Times columnist and his effort to help a homeless fellow.

More time went on − the hot housing market overheated and melted down into the Great Recession, and the movie was largely forgotten.

The numbers and problems of homeless folks in Los Angeles have grown steadily since then – through boom and bust and boom again. More than a decade after the hideous assaults – long after the film credits rolled – two other homeless men are dead, and another is in critical condition after attacks on the streets of downtown.

The three recent victims are only the most publicized examples of tragedy when it comes to homelessness in Los Angeles.

There are others, and local business and civic leader Lew Horne, president of the Southern California, Arizona and Hawaii Division for downtown-based commercial real estate firm CBRE Group Inc., puts his personal connection to such tragedy in the context of the larger challenge on page 20 of this issue.

We thank Horne and CBRE for offering their contribution to the public square that we aim to provide for the community of business.

We urge all to consider Horne’s thoughts, CBRE’s suggestions and the recent bookends of vicious assaults on the homeless as an undeniable wakeup call that action is required.