Develop A Regional Approach To LA’s Homelessness Is Correct

The LA Times reports that the L.A. County’s $100 million homelessness initiative is on track—even if the funding and the initiative is now one year old.

I talked with one of the reporters last week about this. They were looking for quotes that would show that the County has been too slow to respond. I wasn’t willing to say that. Instead, I told them that the County’s Stabilization Centers are very much needed for the region.

In the past, downtown Los Angeles has taken the brunt of addressing homelessness for the county. In today’s anti-“homeless dumping” environment the surrounding cities are unable to send their people who are homeless to downtown Los Angeles.

So these cities (88 total in the county) have no place to send people. Stabilization Centers—even if they were “demonized” a year ago—have now become solutions to a regional problem. Cities need a regional homeless center in their vicinity to send their people who are homeless.

These centers would house numerous services—mental health, health care, substance abuse, etc. They would be similar to the PATH Mall—a regional center that houses nearly two-dozen homeless service providers.

Let's hope the next year will actually result in regional centers around the county.