No Room At The Inn—For Homeless Dads And Their Children

It’s true. When we think of homelessness, we think of either homeless single men in downtown, or homeless mothers with their children. Not a lot of attention is placed on single fathers who are homeless with their children.

And, sadly, there are not a lot of shelter beds or services for this population either. An article in the Tidings Online documents the predicament. “But who really knows anything about an almost invisible part of our U.S. homeless scene, even though it first came to light more than a decade ago and has continued to steadily increase - single homeless fathers?” Here's the article.

Some call this the “invisible homeless family.”

Many shelter programs don’t want to mix homeless families with mothers, and homeless families with fathers. Whether they are correct or not, they worry about safety and security.

Is it discrimination? Or is it simply playing it safe? Perhaps it is a little bit of both…

L.A.’s Skid Row Continues To Get Much Press

The L.A. Weekly published an article, “Where The Sidewalk Ends: Faith, Hope and Clarity on Skid Row.” It begins: “Distraught, displaced, dispossessed individuals walk in a zombie-like daze…” Here's the article.

The article also highlights a long-time homeless advocate, Mollie Lowery, the former executive director of Lamp Community. She says, “In the mid-60’s the powers-that-be in L.A. decided to preserve its Skid Row and provide the basics to survive so that the folks there would not venture into other areas of the city and county. This policy continues to this day.”

Don Spivack, of the Community Redevelopment Agency, calls this the “Containment Policy.” However, I would disagree that the policy continues to this day.

Frankly, it hasn’t worked. There is homelessness spread throughout the county. Why do you think we are in the middle of a debate on homeless “dumping”? Because the other communities that are experiencing homelessness don’t know what to do, but to try to send them back to downtown.

The article goes on: “Skid Rowers share many of the other traits that typify Los Angeles’ most revered citizens: determination, resilience, humor, political consciousness, sexiness, daring and artistic impulses that spring from the need to be treated with a certain degree of respect and dignity.”

I would agree with this statement. However, I would change “Skid Rowers” to “Most homeless people.”

I still feel that our community is searching for that “homeless tipping point,” a point in time when little events turn into a positive movement of change—when our community starts to rally around the idea that we can solve homelessness.

LAPD Doing Some Checking

Looks like the LAPD is looking for more verification on the recent homeless “dumping” allegations. A squad car was at PATH (People Assisting The Homeless) this morning. We are located about 10 minutes Northwest of downtown Los Angeles.

The officers were on the street asking some of the homeless people we serve if they have ever been “dumped” into downtown Los Angeles.

They are looking for more proof...

In This Corner… Sheriff Baca, In That Corner… Chief Bratton

The homeless “dumping” saga continues… Now we continue on the “finger pointing” stage, where the top law enforcement chiefs in Los Angeles are dueling it out over which solution to homelessness is the best. Here is the L.A. Times article about this.

In this corner is Los Angeles Sheriff Lee Baca, who claims that the Sheriff’s Department is the largest homeless mentally ill service provider in the country. He states that our community needs to provide more services, otherwise his department becomes the default service provider for the homeless.

The Los Angeles Times writes, “When Sheriff Lee Baca talks about his goal of ending homelessness in Los Angeles County, he sounds more like an idealistic social worker than the head of the largest sheriff's department in the country.”

I was on Sheriff Baca’s Caucus For The Homeless Task Force, and am convinced that his motives to help the homeless of the streets are pure.

Then there is Los Angeles Police Department Chief William Bratton who adopts a more “tougher stance.” Street sweeps to root out “aberrant behavior” is the mode of operation.

The Times writes about Bratton, “Long an advocate of the ‘broken windows’ method of policing, which holds that punishing lesser offenses leads to reductions in major crimes, Bratton targeted downtown's skid row as one of five proving grounds in the city for the theory.”

I wrote about the “broken windows” theory in my book, “How To Increase Homelessness.” Here’s an excerpt from the chapter, “The Homeless Outlaw”:
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Deal with the homeless problem through stronger police action, and we’re back to the future—the 1950’s become today. A mom and a dad with 2.5 children living behind a white picket fenced post-World War Two suburban home. But certainly no homeless people sporting tattered cardboard signs at street corners. If only it was as simple as Michael J. Fox driving a souped-up Delorean back to the future. And our dreams would come true.

Unfortunately, the 2000’s are not the 1950’s. And unfortunately, law enforcement on their own, cannot solve this terrible community dilemma of people sleeping on the streets. Undoubtedly, law enforcement must be one important piece of the solution pie, they just can’t be the whole pie.
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So who is right? More services so that law enforcement doesn’t become the default service provider? Or a tougher stand by fixing every “broken window” in the neighborhood in order to prevent hardcore crime?

I think they are both correct. Provide more services and shelter for the homeless, so the police can do their job of fighting crime.

Homeless “Dumping” Article Makes It Front Page, Above The Fold

Front page center… “Why Skid Row Has Become L.A.’s ‘Dumping’ Ground”. The issue of homeless “dumping” has become front page news in the Los Angeles Times today, with a featured article and photo. For those of us struggling to end homelessness, it is a welcome sight. Here is the article.

Perhaps the community is realizing the gravity of the homeless problem in Los Angeles County. The article also states that nine law enforcement agencies, other than the LAPD, are “dumping” their homeless into downtown Los Angeles. It also states that 16 LAPD divisions from around the city are also part of this practice.

The article begins:

To understand how the streets of downtown Los Angeles have become a depository for drug addicts, parolees and homeless people, just look through the logs of the skid row detox center run by the Volunteers of America.

In the last month alone, dozens of police cruisers from as far away as Carson and Venice have pulled up to the center's doors on Crocker Street near 5th Street, bringing with them more than 150 intoxicated homeless people. The drop-offs have come from nine law enforcement agencies besides the Los Angeles Police Department, according to the records reviewed by The Times, but also from various LAPD divisions, including Hollywood, Pacific and West L.A.

Like the earlier Downtown News article, the Times is also stating that hospitals are part of this “dumping” practice.

The key to solving this “leaf-blower mentality”? The article states:

Many service providers on skid row say they doubt that the situation will change unless the county establishes more services in other areas.

Here at PATH, we have been advocating for such a practice for the past couple of years. Set up regional centers (similar to the PATH Mall) that share the responsibility of helping the homeless throughout the county—not just in downtown.

Here's a map of the area:

San Antonio: A Riverwalk Out of Homelessness

I met with some leaders of an innovative homeless agency from San Antonio, Texas today. They visited the PATH Mall, a service mall of 20 public and private agencies, located here in Los Angeles. Here is a link to the PATH Mall.

They are looking into developing their own integrated service mall in San Antonio. The agency, SAM Ministries (San Antonio Metropolitan Ministries), is a multi-denominational community-based organization that finds a wide-spectrum of support throughout the city. Here is a link to their site.

San Antonio has 25,000 homeless people, 38% are homeless families. Like most large and small cities throughout America, the city is searching for new solutions to their homeless problem.

One of the topics we discussed was developing a national conference that would highlight innovative solutions to homelessness—based on creative local initiatives.

San Gabriel Valley Tribune Claims LAPD Captain Is Backing Down From Homeless “Dumping” Claim

Here’s how the article begins:

PASADENA -- A Los Angeles Police Department captain has backed off allegations that Pasadena police routinely "dump" homeless people downtown, acknowledging that Pasadena patrol cars may have been seen in the area for legitimate reasons.

But LAPD Capt. Andrew Smith also upbraided suburban departments for delivering homeless people to Skid Row shelters, arguing that policy-makers must do more to provide treatment closer to home.

"It would seem to me the right place for a Pasadena chronic alcoholic is in Pasadena," Smith said. "Pasadena's a big city. Why are we taking your drunken or homeless people down here?"

The Pasadena Police Department Chief claims that they do not “dump” people into downtown—what officers call “Greyhound therapy.” He says that at the last resort, they will take them to one of the downtown missions.

The article goes on to ask the questions whether cities like Pasadena should simply have their own homeless mission in their community. A staff member from the Union Station Foundation, a local Pasadena homeless program, said, “If they want a mission-style environment, downtown’s the place for that.” Here is the article.

A Pasadena councilmember says that a mission-style approach to homelessness is not what the city wants to do. The city recently finished their ten-year plan to end homelessness with a “Housing First” approach—providing permanent housing with supportive services.

So the question for today is: Is the mission approach to homelessness the solution or the problem?

Westside Council of Governments Want Formal Response to Homelessness

The Santa Monica Daily Press is reporting today that the Westside Cities Council of Governments (COG) are looking into developing a legally recognized government association as a way to better lobby the federal government for funding homeless initiatives. Here is the Daily Press article.

The article states that for the last few years, this effort has been delayed because the Westside of Los Angeles has not signed on to this yet. So the COG will proceed with or without representation from Los Angeles officials.

The Westside COG consists of Los Angeles, West Hollywood, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, and Culver City. Here is the link to the COG.

Part of this recent activity is based on the current debate over what to do with some of the Veteran Administration’s under-utilized property in West Los Angeles. One proposal is to use some of the empty buildings to house 300 to 500 homeless veterans.

The COG wants a formal legal lobby entity to help push for this veterans initiative.

The Homeless Tipping Point

The United Nations has designated today as World Habitat Day, when countries and cities from around the world reflect on the state of housing for our world’s poor.

For those of us here in Los Angeles we don’t need to reflect—we know we have a housing problem. With 91,000 homeless people, this homeless capital of America is overwhelmed with the plight of people floundering on our streets.

The ironic factor in this homeless drama is that nearly every segment of our society—businesses, homeowners, law enforcement, faith groups, and the homeless themselves—want this problem resolved. Unfortunately, this crisis is so overwhelming we barely make a dent into solving the problem. It is like this drama is at the intermission—nothing significant is happening.

After being on the frontlines of this struggle for nearly a decade, I believe the second act of the fight against homelessness is just beginning. Malcolm Gladwell’s book, “The Tipping Point,” describes how little occurrences can literally cause a positive social “epidemic” that starts a movement—in our case, the beginning of the end of homelessness in Los Angeles.

In the past year, many “little” events have occurred. Recently, the accusations that law enforcement agencies from around the county were “dumping” homeless people into downtown started an investigation into such practices.

Last month, the senseless baseball beatings of two homeless men allowed people to see the inhumanity of this dilemma. At the same time, a fire caused by a homeless encampment threatened million dollar homes in the Hollywood Hills; it showed how not addressing this issue can affect every sector of society.

In mid-July we read about the nearly two dozen homeless people who died in the blistering heat of Arizona. Again, senseless deaths that could have been prevented.

Then there is the plight of the poor from Hurricane Katrina. The country, and our own local communities, poured their hearts and efforts into helping. Hopefully, this compassion becomes contagious and extends to our city’s existing poor and homeless.

You take each of these events by themselves, and it’s a one or two day news story. Combine them in the past six months, and we are getting closer to the “tipping point,” when the community realizes that ending homelessness is a positive social epidemic.

When will we know we have reached the tipping point? World Habitat Day is an excellent milestone…

When our community demands that every citizen in Los Angeles—housed or un-housed—has the basic right to shelter or housing, then we can rightfully state that we have resolved homelessness.

Are Hospitals A Solution or Part of the Problem To Homelessness?

A couple of weeks ago (September 20th), I posted a blog titled, “Can Hospitals Help Solve Homelessness?” Today, the Downtown News published an article stating that “Some Charge Hospitals Send Discharged Patients To Downtown.” This is part of the continuing saga of homeless “dumping” in downtown Los Angeles. Here is the article.

Here are some excerpts from the article:
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“Numerous local officials allege that some area hospitals are sending discharged homeless patients to Skid Row. Area workers report instances in which they have seen taxis drop off patients - some still in hospital gowns, though these individuals may have left of their own volition - at the doorstep of area service providers.

"The hospital lets them out the door, they hang out there for a little while, then the hospital puts them in a taxi that dumps them off in front of the Midnight Mission," said LAPD Central Division Capt. Andy Smith. "What a horrible thing to do."

Here is the response by the hospitals:

“Mari Abrams, a spokeswoman for Good Samaritan Hospital, west of the Harbor Freeway at Sixth and Witmer streets, said the hospital refers homeless patients to social service providers if they need aid. "It could be a homeless shelter, wherever there is a homeless shelter," she said, adding that the hospital will pay for transportation.

Here’s my quote in the article:

“Joel John Roberts, CEO of L.A.-based nonprofit People Assisting the Homeless, said shifting homeless individuals or criminals usually happens because agencies are searching for a quick fix. "The reality is, it's easier to move them out to another community than deal with them in your own community," Roberts said.
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So what’s the truth? Just like law enforcement, hospitals can be either part of the problem (by “dumping”) or part of the solution to homelessness.

I don’t believe hospitals have policies of “dumping.” But it sure is convenient when a homeless person is being discharged from your emergency room, maybe at 2 AM, and the quickest and easiest solution is to give him cab fare to downtown Los Angeles.