Provider Alliance to End Homelessness Los Angeles Mayoral Candidate Forum

 

Provider Alliance to End Homelessness Los Angeles Mayoral Candidate Forum: Tuesday, March 8, 5-7 pm
 
The Provider Alliance to End Homelessness will host its first public, and virtual, Los Angeles Mayoral Candidate Forum on Homelessness on March 8, 2022, 5pm to 7pm. Our Mayoral Forum will feature Representative Karen Bass, City Councilmember Joe Buscaino, City Councilmember De Leon, and City Attorney Mike Feuer, all of whom have committed to participate in this virtual forum.


 
Homelessness ranked number one with 94 percent of individuals selecting it as a serious or very serious problem, according to the poll published on December 1, 2021 by the Los Angeles Times and Los Angeles Business Council. The Provider Alliance to End Homelessness Forum will be a critical opportunity for candidates to communicate directly with homeless service providers, policy experts, and members with lived experience about the issue that is defining the region.

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Addressing RV Encampments – Motion by Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell - SD2

FAQ’s


Addressing RV Encampments – Motion by Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell - SD2


To read full motion visit: http://file.lacounty.gov/SDSInter/bos/supdocs/165092.pdf

Q: Why the focus on Recreational Vehicle (RV) Encampments?

A: In 2018 the County released a report with recommendations on sustainable solutions for assisting people living in vehicles. Since then, there continues to be a staggering increase of RV encampments within unincorporated areas.

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National Alliance to End Homelessness

Report from Jerry Jones, National Field Director, National Alliance to End Homelessness, Washington, DC

 
 We’re in the final push for $327 billion in affordable housing funding in Congress, as part of President Biden’s “Build Back Better” plan. As you’re probably aware, some legislators are pushing back against the bill’s overall price tag and demanding big cuts. We’re worried that housing investments could be slashed as part of the legislative compromise.

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Abundant Housing LA Slide Show

Over the past 30 years, California has failed to build enough housing to meet its people’s needs

Below is a link to the slide show presented to the SPA6 Homeless Coalition October 8 meeting on the failure of Los Angeles to build sufficient housing, by Anthony Dedousis, Director of Housing Policy Research and Analytics of Abundant Housing LA.

Abundant Housing LA is a pro-housing, nonprofit advocacy organization working to help solve Southern California’s housing crisis. 

Link to the slide show

The Plan to House LA

Los Angeles City Planning Report on The Housing Element of the  General Plan , also called "the Plan to House LA”

Housing Element Update

The Housing Element identifies Los Angeles’s housing needs and opportunities and establishes clear goals and objectives to inform future housing decisions. When the ongoing update to the Housing Element is completed, it will guide the creation and implementation of the City's housing policy from 2021 to 2029. Below are links to the Draft Plan and other information about the new pending Los Angeles Housing Element

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Intro to Mark Ridley Thomas on Street Outreach

Responding to business and residents’ complaints about the growing number of camps by people experiencing homelessness, the Los Angeles City Council on July 28, by a vote of 13 to 2, passed a new ordinance outlawing such camps in an extensive list of restricted areas.

The ordinance specifies that “it shall be unlawful for a person to sit, lie, or sleep, or to store, use, maintain, or place personal property in the public right-of-way” within two feet of any fire hydrant or fire plug, within five feet of any operational or utilizable entrance or exit, or anywhere within a street. It sets a 500-foot prohibited zone for the listed actions surrounding schools, day care facilities, parks, and libraries.

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California State Budget Reports

Here are links to 2 documents from Sacramento on the California State budget. Both are downloadable PDFs. The first is the State Assembly Budget Committee's recommended budget for the coming fiscal year. The second is the State government’s summary of the requested budget for the state’s Home and Community Based Services.

Home- and Community-Based Services (HCBS) are types of person-centered care delivered in the home and community. A variety of health and human services can be provided in this way. HCBS programs address the needs of people with functional limitations who need assistance with everyday activities.

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Measure J Spending Recommendations

On November 3, 2020, the voters of Los Angeles County approved Measure J which dedicated no less than ten percent of the County’s locally generated unrestricted funding to address the disproportionate impact of racial injustice through community investments such as youth development, job training, small business development, supportive housing services and alternatives to incarceration.
Measure J Year One Spend Plan (pdf)
Since these spending recommendations were issued a Los Angeles court has rule Measure J unconstitutional on the grounds that it preempts the budget authority of the County Board of Supervisors and the decision is being appealed:

LAHSA: Opportunities for Advancing Racial Equity

The 2019 Report and Recommendations of The Ad Hoc Committee on Black People Experiencing Homelessness detailed the necessary actions to advance equity and eliminate racial disparities impacting Black people experiencing homelessness across Los Angeles County. Included in the report was a call to action for Los Angeles Homeless Service Authority (LAHSA) to thoughtfully examine the drivers of inequitable outcomes (including practices and policies) within the homeless system and to set a course as an agency in advancing racial equity.

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Judge Carter’s Decision and Order in LA Alliance for Human Rights v. City of LA

On April 20, 2021, Judge David Carter issued a Decision and Order in LA Alliance for Human Rights et al. v. City of Los Angeles, LA County, et al.[1], the case challenging the city and county’s failure to adequately address homelessness in LA.  The judge issued a preliminary injunction, ordering the city and county of LA to both report back to the Court on numerous financial issues and to take a range of actions, especially to offer either shelter or housing to currently unhoused individuals living in Skid Row.

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LA Times Editorial Deplores Failure of City and County Governments to Cover Costs or Pay Sufficient Wages for Homeless Service Providers

Editorial: Service providers get homeless people off the streets and into housing. Pay them what they need

By The Times Editorial BoardMay 10, 2021

In the struggle to help homeless people move off the street, service providers — the entities that supply them food, guidance and other crucial forms of support — are the ones on the front lines. Their staff are the outreach workers who go to encampments and underpasses, and who seek out people slumped on sidewalks in plain view, huddled in the brush out of sight or living in cars. It can take days, weeks, even months to earn the trust of homeless individuals inured to street life and suspicious of anyone who wants to move them to an unfamiliar locale. Even as the pandemic raged in the past year, outreach workers were the ones who never stopped toiling in the streets.

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SPA 6 Homeless Coalition's Statement on Systemic Racism and the Killing of Black Americans

 The SPA 6 Homeless Coalition stands in solidarity with the Black community and all parties fighting systemic racism and inequity. South Los Angeles is all too familiar with racial injustice, economic disparities and social inequities.

We share in your pain as our collective wounds are reopened by yet another killing.  The recent killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade, and Breonna Taylor are reminders of the history of injustice and legacy of pain inflicted against Black Americans in this country.

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From Homelessness to Housing: Measure H Quarterly Update

Check out the latest issue of the Los Angeles County Homeless Initiative's "From Homelessness to Housing: Measure H Quarterly Update" with updates on the thousands of families and individuals who have been helped through our Countywide movement to combat and prevent homelessness.

This issue includes Measure H Success Stories, recent activities of the Homeless Initiative and its partners, and key implementation updates for Measure H-funded strategies.

 

Los Angeles County Homeless Initiative

500 West Temple St., Los Angeles, CA 90012

http://homeless.lacounty.gov

 

 

Organizations: Please Endorse the City’s New Permanent Supportive Housing Ordinance

 

Below is the link to a letter for organizations to declare their support for the city’s new Permanent Supportive Housing Ordinance, as well as a link to the city’s FAQ sheet with further information. If you represent an organization concerned with homelessness in Los Angeles County please consider adding your organization’s name to the list of supporters by filling out the signature portion of the letter and clicking on SUBMIT.

 

Link to the Sign-on Letter

   

Link to the city’s FAQ on the ordinance

 

LAHSA: Notice of Policy Development: Housing Protections Under the Violence Against Women Act

The Violence Against Women Act of 2013 (VAWA) and subsequent guidance issued by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) establish new housing protections for individuals participating in HUD-funded housing programs who are survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and/or stalking. In response, LAHSA is in the process of developing a policy for the Los Angeles Continuum of Care, to include protections for survivors of violence in all LAHSA-funded housing programs.

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LAHSA Documents on Important Changes in HUD Veteran Housing Funding

Below are links to two documents in PDF form issued by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority regarding important changes in HUD’s funding for Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH). The first is a three-page letter  dated October 23, 2017, from Peter Lynn, LAHSA’s Executive Director.

The second is a one-page fact sheet on veteran homelessness dated October 2017.

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Los Angeles County Homeless Initiative Quarterly Report No. 7, November 9, 2017

This is the seventh quarterly report by the County of Los Angeles Chief Executive Officer, Sachi A. Hamai on the county’s Homeless Initiative recommendations.

On February 9, 2016, the Board of Supervisors (Board) approved the Los Angeles County Homeless Initiative (HI) recommendations, which included 47 Strategies to combat homelessness, and instructed the Chief Executive Office (CEO) to report back to the Board on a quarterly basis regarding the implementation status and outcomes of each Strategy. On December 6, 2016, the Board approved four new strategies as part of the Measure H ordinance. These Strategies are now also included in the CEO’s quarterly reports. This is the seventh quarterly report that the CEO has provided to the Board. The report addresses the implementation status of the 51 Homeless Initiative Strategies with highlights and impact stories, status of Board directives and motions, and other key HI activities.

 

Click here to read or download the full 43 page PDF of the report.

 

SPA6 Demographic Data, FY 2019-2020

After the  CONTINUE READING link there is the first page of a very extensive presentation of the demographic data collected in extensive interviews by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority of people experiencing homelessness taken as part of its January 2020 point in time homeless count. A link to the full report follows the image of its first page. The full report data includes breakdowns by Gender, Race and Ethnicity, Household type, Age, Veterans, Chronic status, Victims of Domestic Violence, Disability, Income, including non-cash such as Food Stamps, and more.

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Public Hearings for Permanent Supportive Housing and Interim Motel Conversion Ordinances

The City of Los Angeles is preparing to adopt two new ordinances aimed at reducing homelessness. One is on policy for creating Permanent Supportive Housing, and the other on Interim Motel Conversions for the homeless. For each ordinance we are posting three PDF documents below: (1) The notice of the public hearings, (2) the proposed text of the ordinance, and (3) the city’s FAQ answering questions about how the ordinance is to work.

Two hearings are to be held on both ordinances together.

 DATE: Monday, September 25, 2017
TIME: 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
PLACE: Marvin Braude Constituent Service Center
First Floor Public Meeting Room 1A/1B
6262 Van Nuys Boulevard, Van Nuys, CA 91401

DATE: Thursday, September 28, 2017
TIME: 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
PLACE: Los Angeles City Hall, Room 1060
200 N. Spring St., Los Angeles, CA 90012

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New Coordinated Entry System Policies Available For Public Comment

The policy development process for the Los Angeles Coordinated Entry System (LA CES) is publicly accountable and includes opportunities for public comment.

  This month, access-related policies are available for public comment. Click here to review them. 

Once you have reviewed them, you are invited to provide feedback for the CES Policy Council's consideration. The  survey on LAHSA's website linked above will remain open until 5:00 pm on September 28, 2017. 

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LA County Supervisors Approve Plan for Measure H Funds

Chris Ko, Director of Homeless Initiatives for United Way and manager of Home For Good, addresses June 13 press conference in front of Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors' building on West Temple Street, announcing the supervisors' approval of a $1 billion budget for the first three years of the sales tax money for the homeless from Measure H.

The LA County Board of Supervisors approved the recommendations of the 50 member Measure H Revenue Planning Group for the first three years of income from the sales tax increase for the homeless, which passed in last March’s election. The quarter-cent sales tax increase is expected to generate $259 million in its first year and as much as $1 billion in the first three years. The money is to be divvied up between six basic strategies to contain homelessness, adopted by the county in February 2016.

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What’s the Story on Linkage Fees for Affordable Housing?

Mayor Garcetti at October 2015 Mayoral Summit where he announced his goal of getting linkage fees from developers to finance affordable housing.

Los Angeles has the least affordable housing in the United States. It is short some 500,000 units of housing for its population. Rising population, which pushes up land, materials, and labors costs, has made affordable housing in California a mostly unprofitable investment. Cities throughout the state have found themselves facing chronic and deepening housing shortages, with increasingly unaffordable rents. The response has been to look to government subsidies to try to fill the gap.

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County Homeless Initiative Holds Conference, Issues One-Year Progress Report

In February 2016 the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors adopted a 47-point strategy to combat homelessness under the title the Homeless Initiative. One year later, on February 8, 2017, they sponsored the First Annual Homeless Initiative Conference. Little reported (no article in the LA Times), almost 500 civic leaders gathered at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels for an all-day session.

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Homelessness in South Los Angeles - Marqueece Harris-Dawson

 Following is a position paper on homelessness in South Los Angeles issued in February 2016 by Marqueece Harris-Dawson, Los Angeles City Council member for District 8 in South Los Angeles. He is co-chair of the City Council's Homelessness and Poverty Committee.  We have retained the source notes at the end but they do not hotlink to the main text. A downloadable PDF of this document is available HERE.

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Homelessness in South Los Angeles

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The primary purpose of this paper is to provide a thorough understanding of homelessness in Los Angeles as it pertains to the Eighth City Council District and South Los Angeles more broadly. On January 13, 2016, the City of Los Angeles released a Comprehensive Homeless Strategy detailing over 60 strategies to combat homelessness. The citywide view is sweeping, expansive, and comprehensive, but falls short when detailing the geographic and demographic particularities of South Los Angeles. While I support implementation of all strategies within the Comprehensive Homeless

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LA's First Steps on Plans to End Homelessness

City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana released his office's first quarterly report November 7 on Los Angeles' ambitious new agenda to end homelessness. The most optimistic achievement was the passage of Proposition HHH the next day, committing the city to issue $1.2 billion in bonds to qualified developers to construct 10,000 units of permanent supportive housing over ten years.

For the rest, there are many promising accomplishments, but a few serious warning signs of trouble to come. Santana concedes at the outset that until this year, the city's main investment has been in crisis intervention, "largely relying on funding emergency shelter beds, with no clear path to long-term recovery."

In the short-term, this must still be the government's focus until new housing units begin to come online some years from now.  The immediate priorities are to increase storage facilities, and create mobile showers and safe parking locations. It is just here, however, that the first quarter has been least successful.

Trouble Getting Infrastructure Off the Ground

At this time, there is only one location in the city to store homeless people's possessions. It is downtown in Skid Row. Three new ones were under consideration. The one in San Pedro was soon abandoned due to community opposition. One in CD9 on east Washington Blvd. was dropped because rehab costs were too high. And the third, a city-owned, long-vacant senior center in Venice, was approved, but that led to an uproar from the community. The city is considering some kind of mobile storage as an alternative.

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Housing the Highest-Cost Homeless

Director of Housing for
Health, Marc Trotz

Back in 2013 the Economic Roundtable concluded a two-year study of the 10% of Los Angeles homeless people who have the most frequent hospitalizations. The study, "Getting Home: Outcomes from Housing High Cost Homeless Hospital Patients," made the astonishing discovery that for the 10th decile patients, the city was spending an average of $63,808 a year. When instead of leaving them on the streets it placed them in permanent supportive housing, their total annual costs including rent and food fell to $16,913.

The Los Angeles County Department of Health Services has created a new unit called Housing for Health devoted precisely to trying to house these extraordinarily expensive patients. Created by DHS Director Mitchell H. Katz, Housing for Health aims to use the huge savings to invest in creating long-term housing for the extremely ill homeless, and to do it now, not waiting for the housing boom that will eventually materialize from the Proposition HHH bond issue.

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