If You're A Republican & A Shelter Director--Expect Increased Rent

Dome Village, a transitional housing program for 32 people in downtown Los Angeles, released an urgent media alert. Basically, their rent is increasing from $2,500 per month to $18,333 per month.

Why? Because the L.A. Times reported that Dome Village director is a Republican. The non-Republican property owner of Dome Village didn't want to subsidize this "Republican" operation.

Here is the release:
__________

Dome Village Threatened With Closure

After 12 years, and just a few days before Christmas, Dome Village transitional housing community has received a notice of a rent increase of nearly 800% that will force residents back on the street. This issue will be addressed at a Press Conference conducted by Ted Hayes and the Directors of Justiceville/Homeless, USA

WHEN: Friday, December 23rd 2005 at 10.00 AM
WHERE: The Dome Village, 847 Golden Avenue, Los Angeles, CA., 90017
CONTACT: Ted Hayes

After learning that Ted Hayes visited a Republican women¹s group, landlord and retired attorney Milton Sidley wrote a one-line letter informing Justiceville/Homeless, USA (JHUSA) that he will raise the rent from $2,500/mo plus property taxes to $18,333/mo plus property taxes in late 2006. When asked why he raised the rent, Sidley replied, ³This Democrat is tired of supporting Ted and his Dome Village.²

Sidley knows that Justiceville/Homeless USA cannot survive this punitive increase. The multi-millionaire sent the rent-increase notice two days after reading a Los Angeles Times article that referenced Ted Hayes¹ support for President Bush. Sidley has retaliated against Hayes in a way that will displace 32 men, women, and children.

The directors and residents of Dome Village are making an urgent appeal for public assistance to find another site to build a new village. We cannot allow this innovative project, working to end the cycle of homelessness in the United States, to come to a tragic end.

Will Actor Brad Renfro’s Arrest In Skid Row Actually Help The Homeless?

You know how celebrities take up the causes of the poor and hurting… kids with cancer, starving people in Africa, people with AIDS, and, of course, people who are homeless.

Typically these star-studded efforts are manifest in glitzy dinners and Madison Avenue driven public service announcements.

How about a different take? Have a celebrity get arrested for trying to buy heroin in downtown L.A.’s Skid Row, and publish the arrest photo on the front page of the L.A. Times… That’s what happened to one of Hollywood’s young actors yesterday.

With the pressure of homeless “dumping,” emotional stories of people living in Skid Row thanks to the L.A. Times, and the report of people dying in downtown, the pressure is on for something to happen.

So LAPD is beginning to clean up Skid Row, starting with drug dealing and buying. With their nets spread out yesterday, seeking to catch those “outsiders” (i.e., suburbanites driving into L.A. supporting downtown’s drug dealing operations by supporting their own drug habits), they caught a famous fish… Brad Renfro. (More here.)

Perhaps this is the moment when our community will realize that there really is a problem in downtown. That the problem isn’t just homeless people living on the streets. But the problem is “outsiders” coming into downtown causing the trouble.

Brad Renfro becomes the poster child for “outsiders” coming to Skid Row, buying into a drug dealing system that is messing up our city’s core. A system that preys on the homeless, feeding them hopelessness.

Perhaps, Brad’s arrest—splashed on the front page—will actually encourage our community to now do something about Skid Row.

Perhaps, this poster child, unbeknown to him, might very well have helped the homeless.

Soup Kitchen Serves Bigotry To The Homeless

Baseball bats, humiliating soda pouring, sodas served filled with chemicals, and now this… an extreme right-wing Christian group in France is serving hot soup to the homeless this Christmas season.

But there’s a catch. They are intentionally putting pork in their gumbo of prejudice because they know that observant Jews and Muslims won’t eat it. Here's the article.

They call it “patriots’ soup.” I think it should be called "bigot's soup."

(And we thought crazy things only happened in L.A.?)

City Attorney’s Solution To Homeless “Dumping”: Sue The Hospitals

Los Angeles City Attorney, Rocky Delgadillo, says that hospitals that “dump” patients in the downtown Skid Row area could face criminal charges or lawsuits. Here's an article about it.

Hospitals admit to the practice of sending patients who are homeless to homeless service agencies—whether in downtown Los Angeles or other areas. (Here at PATH—5 minutes outside of downtown—we also receive people discharged from hospitals.)

If a patient is released from the hospital, but has no place to go, is it the hospitals responsibility to make sure this patient has a home? Is it a crime, if they don’t ask?

Would it be a crime if they sent a discharged patient to a mission in downtown Los Angeles, but when the patient leaves the vehicle he stays on the street instead of entering the mission?

Rather than threaten hospitals with legal action, it makes more sense to provide hospitals with places where they can discharge homeless patients—these Regional Homeless Centers should be located throughout the county, and include services and emergency beds.

L.A. Mayor’s Press Conference on Homelessness

Today, Mayor Villaraigosa had a press conference on homelessness. I, along with a handful of other service agencies, was invited to participate. The Mayor announced the annual HUD funding allocation on homelessness for the city and county of Los Angeles.

Los Angeles County will receive approximately $60 million for homeless services and housing. This is an 8 percent increase from last year. A majority of the funds will support existing service and housing programs in Los Angeles County.

This is part of the annual federal allocation of HUD grants that total $1.33 billion this year. (Here is the press release on the federal allocation.)

On another note: the Los Angeles City Council approved the nomination of Estella Lopez, the CEO of Central City East Association, to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority commission. She is the mayor’s final nominee.

Skid Row L.A.: Dead Men Walking

Four deaths in Skid Row Los Angeles yesterday. Three by overdose and one caused by health failure. Three men, one woman. Here's the article.

What does it take for our community to respond to such human loss?

The Los Angeles City Council’s response? Form a committee.

Last summer, in Phoenix a dozen homeless people died because of the heat. Last month, a half a dozen homeless died in Paris, France because of the extreme cold.

Now, here in Los Angeles, the homeless die because of lawlessness and lack of health care. When a Captain from the LAPD is the voice for the community’s response to homelessness in Skid Row, we know there is something wrong.

We need more action, and less words to this failure on the streets of Central City East (Skid Row).

L.A. County: Backing Words With Action

A year ago, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors directed staff to design a discharge planning system for people at risk of becoming homeless who are leaving county institutions.

This morning, the Board approved the following action items:

- Create Regional Stabilization Centers to serve people being discharged from County jail

- Create Homeless/Mental Health Courts

- Create a Housing Data Base

- Provide housing subsidies for people receiving GR who are at risk of being homeless

- Expand GR application program at County jail

- Provide DPSS staff at DHS hospitals to provide assistance in applying for benefits

Here's the approved motion. I was in a meeting this afternoon with County staff who are developing an implementation plan for the above. It’s great to see political “promises” become a reality…

Los Angeles Inspires Cincinnati To Build Service Mall

There is an article in the Cincinnati Enquirer about a new social service mall being planned. It will be a one-stop center that includes key services for homeless people—housing, employment, healthcare, mental health care, education, etc. It will even include a coffee shop, gift store, and a barber shop.

Unfortunately, like most neighborhoods, there is a NIMBY (Not in my backyard) faction. Hopefully, the vision of multiple services will prevail.

It is patterned after the PATH Mall, here in Los Angeles. Here’s what the article states:

Inspired by Los Angeles

The inspiration for CityLink is 3,000 miles away, in Los Angeles. PathMall is a one-stop center where the homeless can literally shop for services - job training, a beauty salon, drug treatment, help with government assistance.

A delegation of Cincinnati agencies read about PathMall, and even visited there in September.

"After looking at PathMall, we formed CityLink," said Rodger Howell, executive director of an inner city ministry called CityCURE that will be joining CityLink. "We believe that we can build better relationships with our clients if everything is handled under one roof.

"We deal with people who have many needs. It is better for them if we can refer them across the hall for counseling or upstairs for job training, rather than having them walk three or four blocks away to another agency."

Here's the article.

First It’s Pay To Pour Soda On Your Head, Now It’s Pay to Drink A Toxic Soda

The disgusting act by Paris Hilton’s boyfriend—-when he paid a homeless man to pour a can of soda over the homeless man’s head-—has been topped by a Georgia teenager.

This deranged teenager paid a homeless man to drink a “Christmas shake” that was filled with liquid cleaner. Here's the article.

The homeless man is now in the hospital. This time, the teenager has been charged with aggravated battery.

What makes people think that when a homeless person is down-and-out, they have free reign to insult and denigrate them?

Passing One Dollar Bills Out To The Homeless On Skid Row—Just A Tease?

On Christmas day, at 10 AM, a priest will be passing out one dollar bills to homeless adults in front of a mission on Skid Row. If you’re a homeless family, you might get a $100 bill. No kidding… Here's the article.

Interesting way to “help” the homeless on Skid Row. Will this solve this despicable problem? I don’t think so. Is it a compassionate response to those who are left on the streets? Or is it a tease?

What can they really buy with one dollar? A Big Mac? A pair of socks? A pack of gum? A soda?

I don’t think you could barely fill your stomach with one dollar. You won’t stay warm with a dollar. You certainly won’t find an apartment…

Interesting how those who are housed, respond during the holidays, to those who are not housed…