Hijacked Part Four: Local Cities Revolt!

Have you been to a national conference on homelessness lately? LA is the LAUGHING STOCK of the country, when it comes to our “response” to the crisis in our community. Our homeless services coordinating body was formed out of a LAWSUIT (here come the lawyers again) between the city and county over who should be doing what about homelessness. That’s just sad, and is the core of our problem – in-fighting, finger-pointing, layer after layer of bureaucracy that shuns innovation and new ideas in favor of “status quo”. And while they argue, the number of people experiencing homelessness has tripled in our cities. And guess what? They’re not all on skid row.

Maybe it’s time to stop expecting (or waiting…*yawn*) for the BIG BOYS (LA County and City) to decide what needs to be done. Maybe it’s time for us to TAKE BACK our communities – create local revolutions! Neighborhoods getting together to pool their resources to create solutions for their own community. Local cities (we sometimes forget that there are 87 OTHER cities in LA county) have the power to grab hold of their own federal dollars and allocate it where they see the need. Local jurisdictions have created their own Council of Governments to secure funds for transportation and commerce – why can’t we do the same for social services???

Take stock of what you have in your own backyard. Local businesses, regional and national companies that are located in your city, faith groups, service organizations, individuals who are willing to give if they money stays in their community. Why wait to see what the county is going to do? It’s your community – do something!