Should L.A. Help LA? Or Do We First Help Our Own Homeless?

The big question Los Angeles officials face now is whether our city will take in New Orleans’ “refugees” (although Rev. Jesse Jackson says we should not call them “refugees” but “survivors”.)

The Dream Center called PATH this past week to ask if we could help them take in 300 survivors. Many churches with a predominantly African American congregation and who have relatives in the South, are also considering taking in survivors. The media reports that Texas is taking in 300,000 survivors.

The Los Angeles Times reports today that the Mayor and other Los Angeles officials are deciding whether our city will also become a refuge. Here's the article.

The barrier, however, is this… we already have 91,000 homeless in our city/county, and only 20,000 shelter beds. So every day we are already struggling how to house our own citizens.

Los Angeles City Councilmember Jan Perry is quoted in the Times article: “We would not be able to accommodate a giant influx. We have 90,000 people who are homeless in L.A. County, and we’re not doing a comprehensive job of taking care of them now.”

So what do we do? First help our own citizens? Or help those fleeing New Orleans?

LA City Councilmember Bernard Parks has an interesting insight: “I think people (from the Gulf States) are going to show up, whether they are invited or not, and the city is going to have to adjust. We have to start thinking about it.”

Are we ready?

Why Did We Leave Them Behind?

I’m sitting on a plane crossing over the Pacific Ocean flying back home to Los Angeles, the images of CNN’s depiction of the mess in New Orleans are still burning in my conscience.

People axing their way out of the attics onto their roofs. Houses immersed in rows and rows of water. Oil burning on water. People crying. Some pointing an angry middle finger at the television camera. The looting. The madness. The sadness.

I keep asking myself. Why did we leave them behind?

I thought they were all gone before the storm hit. We saw the bumper to bumper line of cars streaming out of the city just ahead of the storms approach. It appeared that everyone left.

But a day later, now we know that wasn’t true. The poor, and the homeless were left stranded in a city that was being attacked by a monster from nature.

They had no car to drive out. Their only wish was to stay in their homes or apartments with hope that the coming storm was exaggerated. Unfortunately, the warnings were devastatingly true.

The images on the television are obvious. A certain race, a certain class was left behind in the waters of New Orleans. Is this a symptom of our society today?

Have we left behind a class of people to struggle with poverty and homelessness? Is New Orleans just an ugly sign of our country’s response to those who fall through the cracks of society?

When I look at the people here in Los Angeles, homeless on our streets, their faces and anguish mirror those in New Orleans. Perhaps this latest natural crisis will become a wake-up call for our country? Perhaps we will not only mobilize our resources to care for those homeless in New Orleans, but also mobilize our country to care for the millions of homeless throughout our country.

Let’s not leave anyone else behind again.

One Million More Impoverished Americans in 2004 Means More Numbers of Homeless

The U.S. Census Bureau announced on Tuesday that the number of Americans living in poverty rose by 1.1 million in 2004. Click here. This was the fourth consecutive year poverty has increased in our country. Clearly, when poverty increases, so does homelessness. Homelessness is a result of those living in poverty who end up on the streets because no social “safety net.”

This new number means that 12.7 percent of Americans live in poverty. That means one out of eight Americans are poor.

Another disturbing number is that 45.8 million Americans do not have health insurance; an increase of 800,000 more people are without health insurance.

Another sad statistic: one in four African Americans are poor, and one in five Hispanics.

California Governor’s New Homeless Initiative

The Governor announced today his new initiative to end homelessness. Here is the fact sheet they released:
________

The funds will help develop and implement new and innovative programs to address the needs of some of the most vulnerable Californians – homeless individuals suffering from serious mental health illness and related disabilities. The funding focuses on creation of permanent housing that includes support services for residents. The Initiative creates a multi-agency committee to provide a simple, one-stop approval process for funding requests.

The Governor’s Initiative to End Long-Term Homelessness includes:

Funding:
• Up to $40 million in Proposition 46 funds to leverage private sector resources to produce 400 to 500 new supportive housing units.
• Funding provided under Proposition 63, the Mental Health Services Act to be used for services and support of ongoing operations at housing communities.
• $10 million from the California Housing Financing Agency from its Housing Assistance Trust to provide liquidity to community based lending organizations developing housing for the long-term homeless. This will be used for purchasing loans, thereby freeing up capital for greater leveraging for new units.
• $750,000 in Proposition 63 dollars allocated to the Department of Housing and Community Development to be used for predevelopment costs such as permitting, engineering costs, site development and environmental reports.
• $125,000 in State General Fund dollars to fund an inter-agency council comprised of: state and federal agencies and departments; local social service, health, law enforcement and other local agencies; local elected officials; non-governmental providers of services to the homeless; homeless advocates; and the philanthropic community, to coordinate efforts to combat long-term homelessness and maximize the use of resources.

Goals:
• Leverage Proposition 46 funds, in conjunction with tax credits and locality funds, to build approximately 400 to 500 new units of permanent housing.
• Support the cost of ongoing services through Proposition 63 funding to ensure these tenants receive the services they require to keep them off the street.
• Coordinate federal, state, local, non-profit and private sector efforts to combat homelessness.

Protect The Homeless, Or Stop Homelessness?

The Los Angeles Times published an article today by Carla Rivera, “Protection Sought For L.A.’s Easy Prey.” Here is the LA Times article. The recent beatings of two homeless men in downtown Los Angeles, the articles states, has “spurred police and advocates to look for better ways to safeguard the city’s homeless.”

It says police “are more alert to the need to protect elderly and sick homeless people who might present easy targets.”

Advocates are looking for “remedies” such as increasing lighting at intersections, adding beds to shelters and adapting services for homeless people who have resisted help.

The real remedy to this sad situation is not more lighting, it is providing enough shelter and permanent housing so that people living on the streets do not have to choose to sleep on the streets.

We all know that living on the streets is not safe. We should not be allowing such living conditions.

Orlando Ward, a staff person from the Midnight Mission has a terrific quote in the article, “There’s a deeper message that these people’s lives are not worth protecting or honoring. And we all share the blame, as we have allowed skid row to fall into lawlessness.”

California Governor To Announce New Homeless Initiative

Invitations are being sent out today from the California Governor regarding a state-wide Initiative To End Long-Term Homelessness. He will be announcing this tomorrow morning.

Here are excerpts of the invite:

"As you are aware, the Governor requested funding in the 2005 State Budget to create an initiative to leverage over $120 million of public, private and foundation funding to create permanent housing and services for our most vulnerable population – homeless individuals suffering from serious mental health issues and related disabilities.

You are a key advocate in coordinating and providing the various programs that serve this population. Many of you have developed programs in your area of responsibility but have not had the ability to add the State of California as a partner -- bringing its financial resources and technical assistance to leverage your work to greater capacity.

We will be hosting an event at U.S. Vets Village at Cabrillo, 2001 River Avenue in Long Beach, California on August 31, 2005 at 10:30 a.m. to announce the Governor’s Initiative to End Long-Term Homelessness. The Governor will discuss not only the financial resources that will be available, but also the partnership and coordination efforts that the State will undertake with the federal government, local governments, foundations and other housing partners."

(The above picture is of the governor's visit to PATH this year, along with HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson.)

It Takes Hurricane Katrina To Solve New Orleans' Homeless Problem—At Least For A Few Days

With a category 5 hurricane hitting New Orleans, local officials opened up the Superdome for the poor, frail, and homeless of their city. Click here to read the article. The 77,000-seat stadium will be home for the homeless and poor for at least a few days.

There was no way the homeless would survive living on the streets of New Orleans, in the middle of 150 mph winds and potential flooding.

Although the homeless had to endure personal searches by the National Guard before they entered the stadium, at least they would be protected from this historic storm. The storm was so bad that parts of the Superdome roof were blown off, and the electricity went out. Click here to read about it.

It takes a crisis for a community to mobilize its efforts to deal with people living on the streets. In New Orleans, local officials were not going to allow their homeless to die in the storm, so they opened up the Superdome. In Arizona, local officials handed out bottles of water last month to deal with the heat wave. And a dozen homeless people died.

Can we, in Los Angeles, call our 91,000 homeless epidemic a crisis? And respond appropriately?