LA’s Homeless: Not a lost Cause

MY TURN-I was both surprised and rather pleased about the reaction to my recent article.  Apparently, many people in Los Angeles are realizing that the Homelessness isn’t just City Hall’s challenge but affects all of our neighborhoods.  Even more important, it doesn’t just affect us economically but impacts our sense of humanity and fair play.  

Yes, there will always be the NIMBY (Not in my back yard) group of stakeholders who fear lower real estate prices and more crime.  In some cases that happened … but it is not the majority.  

Several people commented on the “cash stipend” that the group Give Directly had done, as well as the British program.  I realize you can’t classify “Homeless” as one category.  It is really three major divisions and each needs to be addressed differently. 

I divide it into three areas: substance and alcohol addiction; mental illness and physical disabilities; and then there is, for want of a better word, the “hard luck” group made up of  people who lost their jobs, can’t get another and have given up.  I’m deliberately not including veteran homelessness in this article, because it is in a category all its own. 

I challenged each of the Neighborhood Councils (NC’s) to establish a “Homeless Committee” which would work with the various  agencies and non-profits in its area.  I heard from several NC’s that are either in the midst of establishing or already have fully functioning committees. 

Here are three different examples from three NC’s who are addressing the problem.

SUN VALLEY NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL 

Sun Valley NC has had a Homeless Committee for over three years.  Mike O’Gara, Second Vice-President, said they formed the committee because some of the homeless were hanging out in the parks and the Mothers were alarmed. They were afraid to take their children there. 

So, the neighborhood council partnered with the LA  Family Housing group and O’Gara is very pleased with the progress they have made.  He singled out their liaison John Horn and said that he was a candidate for “sainthood.”  There are now three different housing facilities and a Center to encourage sustainable living. 

He recommended that,  “Each NC should have two facilities in their neighborhood. I  have very good reason to make that statement. If you talk to homeless people you will find that many of them have reasons for being where they are geographically. 

Most of them have connections of some kind to the streets where they now live. They went to school there… or grew up there … or they lived  there for a while … at some time in their life. When the LA Family Housing people  find a place for a homeless person, it is next to  impossible to get someone from the East Valley to go to a home in the West  Valley. They have no contacts of any kind in that neighborhood. 

Another thing about homeless housing built by City or Government Agencies, they build them TOO expensively. I have been in some of them and they are very high end. There are cheaper ways to build that will last a very very long time. 

City regulations also hinder in construction. I don't think facilities to move people off the street need the same amount of parking spaces that an apartment building in Encino needs. 

The most important thing that NCs can do for their homeless is know where they are  and see if they can partner with groups like the LA Family Housing to hold periodic Homeless CONNECT DAYS. 

One of the big challenges in trying to get people off the streets is lack of identification papers. At these CONNECT DAYS we ask the Councilmember to have representatives from the DMV and the Board of Health to try to get them ID—- either a DMV identification Card—- or a State birth certificate. 

At the last CONNECT DAY in North Hollywood, The  Sun Valley Area NC paid a sum of money to help get them IDs. There were portable  showers and a big hit was the free haircuts and free pet food. Many of the homeless have pet companions”. 

O’Gara also mentioned that Sylmar NC and North Hollywood Northeast NC had recently joined their efforts. 

SUNLAND-TUJUNGA NC 

Sunland-Tujunga has a coalition group which includes their Neighborhood Council along with relevant City and County Agencies.  Mark Seigel, NC President, said the group meets monthly, and has been very successful in getting people into long term housing. 

He commented, “This area has always attracted “hippies”, when living on a commune was the thing to do.  People are attracted to the area because of the rural feel, the large stretches of land etc.   

The Coalition also holds four connect type fairs, where they have case assessment specialists, eye exams ,so people can get glasses, help with identity cards and the various services and resources that living on the street necessitates.” 

They have found by being actively involved, emergency calls have decreased considerably…saving the City money.  Apparently, unless someone has needed medical assistance at least three times ( emergency room/ambulance) they can wait well over a year to get assistance, which costs the City more, than if they got help right away. 

The volunteers who are out in the areas, know the people by name and have built trust and respect so the response is more positive. 

WEST LA-SAWTELLE NC 

West LA-Sawtelle NC passed a resolution a few months ago to establish a functioning Homeless Committee.  Board member, Helga Hakimi, accepted the Chair because she witnessed so many homeless in the under passes and parks while walking to her office. She felt something had to be done.  She is a relatively new member to the NC system and her fellow members say she is a “true advocate.” This NC is known for its activism and for reaching out and partnering with other groups in their area. 

According to Chair Jay Handel, it has both a homeless committee and a veterans affairs committee working on homeless issues. He noted, “At our Board meeting Wednesday, May 27th, we voted unanimously to accept a $132,000 proposal from St. Joseph’s Center to fund two and one half outreach people to work with the homeless. 

Creating more bureaucracy does not get people off the street.  Funding outreach people in the third largest homeless area in the City makes much more sense. We also voted to ask 11th District City Council Member, Mike Bonin to help fund, either from his discretionary funds or the Homeless AdHOC committee, these dedicated outreach workers in our district, to work on homeless issues .”  

In addition, the NC Budget Advocates asked the City Budget and Finance committee to add $1.5 million to the budget to hire a dedicated outreach worker in each of the council districts. At the budget hearings, Council Member Bonin added 1 million into the budget for homeless issues. It is a small but significant step by the City Council listening to the Budget Advocates and responding with funding. 

Bonin responded that the million dollars was going into the homeless Ad Hoc Committee fund so that they could discuss the best use of the money.  When asking for the additional one million dollars he said, “Over the course of the next few months, as our committee on homelessness meets,  it is abundantly clear to me that we are going to need to allocate and spend significantly more resources on homelessness. 

Whether we create a homelessness czar, build more permanent supportive housing units, fund more emergency or transitional shelter beds, provide public storage or safe parking programs, the City's investment in the real solutions needs to increase dramatically. 

This million dollars is a drop in the bucket and simply a placeholder for the big discussion that is coming.” 

My conclusion is positive in the sense that there are people out there willing to try new approaches and investing their time and care in helping those less fortunate.  Sometimes we journalists have a tendency to be cynics, especially when it comes to fixing social ills. 

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There seems to be an overall lack of coordination for the City.  Personally, I like the idea of having a homeless liaison in each District Council office.  They could then coordinate with all of the various groups in the District, eliminating duplication of efforts and judging where the gaps are. 

I don’t think a czar is the answer.  Each Council District is different.  If there was a liaison  they in turn could report to the Homeless Commission or AdHoc Committee or whatever the designation becomes.  They would have personal knowledge of the people on the street and the capabilities of their volunteers and social service groups. 

We know that one size does not fit all.

●●●

On a different subject …Mayor Garcetti announced Wednesday the resignation of Rick Cole, Deputy Mayor for Budget and Innovation, and all around a great example of a public servant.  Having written about Rick and studied his background, I can honestly say he has left every position in a much better condition than when he first came.  

He was innovative, accessible, smart, a straight shooter and a strong advocate for Mayor Garcetti and his policies. It is a huge loss for the City. 

He will be the new City Manager for Santa Monica and aren’t they lucky! 

As always comments are welcome … 

(Denyse Selesnick is a featured CityWatch columnist.  She is a former Publisher/journalist/international event organizer. Denyse can be reached at: [email protected])

-cw

 

 

CityWatch

Vol 13 Issue 44

Pub: May 29, 2015