The Los Angeles County Eviction Moratorium (Moratorium), effective March 4, 2020 to May 31, 2020 (Moratorium Period), implements a Countywide ban on evictions for residential and commercial tenants, and space renters living in mobile home parks, for nonpayment of rent, if the tenant or space renter can show they have been financially impacted related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
CONTINUE READINGImportant news from Home for Good LA, a partnership of United Way of Greater Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce.
Sharing an important resource via our partners at Southern California Grantmakers
Yesterday, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors adopted a motion to establish the LA County COVID-19 Relief Fund, which directs the Department of Consumer and Business Affairs (DCBA) to develop and implement a loan and grant fund by April 21st. The motion also directs DCBA to move swiftly to infuse additional capital into Los Angeles County.
Here is a link to a 14 page list by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority of places where homeless people in Los Angeles can find toilets and showers. Please share this information:
https://www.lahsa.org/documents?id=4340-hygiene-services-locations
RE: Status of Evictions in Los Angeles in light of Covid-19
Evicting people from their homes in the midst of this pandemic is cruel and jeopardizes public health. Recognizing this, and recognizing that requiring tenants, landlords, and their lawyers to go through the eviction process would not allow for social distancing, the Los Angeles Superior Court, the Governor of California, the Mayor of Los Angeles, and the Los Angeles City Council and County Board of Supervisors have taken emergency action to limit evictions throughout Los Angeles for at least the next month. This memo summarizes the impact of those actions on the eviction process in Los Angeles as of noon on March 19, 2020.
We know this is a uniquely challenging time for our community--for our clients, our staff, ourselves, our agencies, and our city/county/country. The Coalition would like to be a support in whatever ways we can--we are in this together as one.
As a start, we have compiled information from multiple sources and it into one place with information on updates, resources, etc. We also plan to have our regular meeting by Zoom on April 10--agenda will be sent beforehand.
ALSO--we know that some shelters, food banks, and access centers are very short of food and cleaning supplies. Please let us know if you 1) have a source for food and/or supplies or 2) if you are in dire need of these things or anything else. We will work to connect folks with one another and/or any other resources that come up.
We know people experiencing homelessness are extremely vulnerable and not always in a position to take the basic disease-prevention precautions, like frequent hand washing, we’re being advised to take to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
CONTINUE READINGThere is still time to give input on the future of Measure H strategies. At the direction of the Board of Supervisors, the County Homeless Initiative is reassessing its strategies for addressing and preventing homelessness. It is also inviting public input on the updated strategies.
Updates on the strategy reassessment process may be found at https://homeless.lacounty.gov/community-strategies/ .
Both the city and county of Los Angeles in January 2016 produced extensive plans for long-term dealing with homelessness. This is the county's final plan, issued in February 2016. Click on the link below to view the document, a 130-page PDF.
The link below is to the Comprehensive Homeless Strategy plan completed in January 2016, on Mayor Eric Garcetti's website. The link goes to the Mayor's brief summary page. The link on that page goes to the full 237 page document. The download for that can be slow and not practical for a smartphone.
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Homelessness in South Los Angeles
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
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.
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.