Lesson One: Don’t Kick A Councilmember Off Your Shelter Board

Recently, the Rio Hondo Temporary Home, a local homeless shelter in Whittier just east of Los Angeles, removed one of their board members for absenteeism. He had missed six meetings. Here's the article.

Who was this absent board member? Whittier City Councilmember, Owen Newcomer, who is also a commissioner for the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA.)

The Whittier City Council had funded this homeless shelter $50,000 per year. Until their relationship with the councilmember went awry. Now they will be funded $10,000 for this fiscal year. Their board decision cost them $40,000.

I wonder if this shelter also receives LAHSA funding?

On The Frontlines: A MOMENT OF REFLECTION

This was written by one of our Case Managers at the PATH Mall:
__________

The Christmas season often calls for reflection on the precious things we have in our lives such as family, good health, and a forward vision to the New Year. However, imagine a family with no shelter and no sense of joy. Imagine, someone seeking refuge from the harsh lifestyle of homelessness; sleeping in doorways, riding buses throughout the night for shelter or eating from trash cans for food.

This urban drama unfolds every day in cities all over America. The Project Y!MBY event last Thursday hopefully will raise the conscience of the public to become more compassionate with eradicating homelessness.

Councilman Tom LaBonge spoke of looking a homeless person in the eyes to acknowledge their humanity. PATH, on a daily basis helps to restore dignity and provide solutions to the issue of homelessness. The staff should be commended for taking on the great task of salvaging lives broken for various reasons.

On any given day there are phone inquiries for services often driven by crisis. On any given day we are challenged to secure solutions and instill a sense of hope for those who are suffering.

It is my belief that we are a sanctuary for those lost in the storm. It is also my belief that we are inspired by our faith and convictions to help those who may be wounded by life decisions.

The Christmas season really is a celebration of the birth of Christ and he too was without shelter. In serving the homeless of Los Angeles we are continuing the tradition that started in a town called Bethlehem.

Merry Christmas,

Sylvester Coleman

Ramona Ripston Garners Enough Council Votes

ACLU Executive Director, Ramona Ripston, won 10 out of 15 L.A. City Council votes in support of her nomination to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority Commission.

The L.A. Times describes the controversy surrounding this appointment… That the ACLU has sued the city and LAPD for banning homeless people from sleeping on the streets. Here's the article.

Ripston’s response is that she wants to insure that there are enough housing and services for people on the streets. If there are not enough, then it is wrong for society to criminalize homelessness.

Four out of five of the Mayor’s nominations for the LAHSA commission have been approved. The last nomination—Estella Lopez, the ED of the Central City East Association—should have little trouble getting approved.

More Space For Elephants Or More Space For Homeless People?

The Los Angeles City Council and the Mayor are in a debate on whether they should expand space for the Los Angeles Zoo’s three elephants by 1.84 to 3.0 additional acres, and at a cost of $25 to $50 million, or whether they should send the elephants to a larger sanctuary outside of Los Angeles. Here's the article.

Councilmembers and animal rights activists are ready to go “mano a mano” (joked Councilmember Tom LaBonge), to resolve the issue of habitation of L.A.’s three elephants.

L.A. Councilmember Jan Perry’s comment put everything in perspective when she said the 40,000 people who are homeless in her district was a bigger issue for her.

Welcome To Our Neighborhood! (Or Not...)

The cartoonist for the LA Downtown News, Doug Davis, sketches another poignant message. It’s what many in the suburbs of greater Los Angeles think of the homeless.

Here's the source.

With attitudes like this, no wonder no one what’s to deal with the homeless problem…

Peaceful Ending To Homeless Mentally Ill Chase

Sometimes when law enforcement start chasing mentally ill people—especially homeless—the endings become deadly. Yesterday’s chase had a peaceful ending. Here's an article.

The California Highway Patrol chased a homeless mentally ill person driving a Ford pickup truck from San Diego through the Inland Empire. His family told police he was “mentally unbalanced” and a “heavy drug user.” Not a good combination for anyone—especially someone being chased by law enforcement. Look what happened to the man on the American Airlines flight in Miami.

This time… he was arrested peacefully…

Blogger’s Response To “Criminalizing The Homeless”

The Downtown Central City East Blogger has listed an excellent article on the community’s response to homelessness. Some communities are “criminalizing” the homeless by passing laws that make homelessness a crime.

Check out more of this at Downtown Central City East Blogger.

Hunting For Good Will

The bustle of the holiday season sometimes keeps us from forgetting what is truly important. But thankfully, in the last few months the latest public debate on homelessness is once again compelling us to address this important societal dilemma.

I remember one early evening, an elderly homeless woman was dropped off at our PATH Homeless Center by taxi. Sadly, she was in a rickety wheel chair, and had been discharged from a local hospital. Although our intake center was closed for the day, with tears in her eyes she persistently banged on the glass door shouting that she had no other place to go.

Even though we were full, our staff couldn’t turn her away. Her hunt for safe shelter was successful. Unfortunately, thousands of other homeless Angelinos are not so lucky.

Back in 1985, a county task force published a study that revealed there were 25,000 homeless people in the region. Today, there are 91,000 people on our streets. In the past twenty years, the number of homeless has exploded.

For many of us on the frontlines of fighting homelessness, we are asking: will the recent public attention on homeless “dumping” and the horrors of Skid Row create a wave of public sentiment to solve homelessness? Or will this current public interest rapidly disappear, because some new national or local crisis will take its place?

We know, by experience, that a lot of media attention on a social crisis doesn’t guarantee long term solutions. Remember Hurricane Katrina and the Asian Tsunami?

What we need here in Los Angeles County, where we unfortunately possess the largest homeless population in the country, is a strong dose of community will in order to seriously reduce the number of people living on our streets. The old saying, “Where there is a will, there is a way,” is appropriate today.

I sometimes think our communities are like Will Hunting, the genius janitor at MIT played by Matt Damon in the movie, Good Will Hunting. It is the story of this young working-class kid who is smarter than the professors but is resigned to the fact that his fate in life is to be a janitor or bricklayer.

He chooses the road to self-destruction when those who care about him seek to steer him toward understanding his gifts. His childhood friend in the movie, played by Ben Affleck, tells him, “You’re sitting on a winning lottery ticket. It would be an insult to us if you’re still around here in twenty years.”

I look at our community today and see a similar scenario. “We are filled with genius educators, entrepreneurial businesspeople, creative problem solvers, hard working social service providers. And yet, despite the giftedness that our community possesses we seem stuck on a path of self-destruction in responding to homelessness.

We can’t seem to understand that we have the power within ourselves to overcome this societal blight. We are sitting on a winning lottery ticket that could pave the way for clean streets with no homelessness.

It would be an insult if homelessness was still an issue in twenty years.