[The following message on President Trump’s budget request was issued March 16 by Diane Yentel, President and CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, based in Washington, D.C. It is reprinted with permission.]
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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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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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The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), the City of Los Angeles, and the County of Los Angeles are having community input sessions on the how the State's Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention (HHAP) Grant Program funds can be utilized.
This program, now in its third round of funding, is designed to provide resources to: (1) each Continuum of Care; (2) each of the 55 counties; and (3) the State's 13 largest cities. Locally, the $1 billion allocation includes:
LA CoC: $84.2 million
LA County: $82.3 million
LA City: $143.6 million
Uses of the funding are quite broad. Please see pages 15-16 of the NOFA for more details.
View the HHAP Round 3 Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA)
RSVP for the Tuesday, March 15th Feedback Session from 9:00-10:30 am
RSVP for the Wednesday, March 23rd Feedback Session from 5:30-7:00 pm
There 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
