Supervisor Antonovich Explains His “No” Vote

The only Board Supervisor who voted against the County’s Homeless Prevention Initiative, Supervisor Antonovich explains his negative response in a letter to the Daily News.

Here is the text of the letter:

Re "County changes course" (April 5):

Despite my opposition, the Board of Supervisors approved a $100 million homeless spending plan in response to the hustle of downtown developers and Los Angeles city politicians who want to take advantage of the hot real estate market. This plan forces the arbitrary relocation of the homeless to other parts of the county - even when not supported by the affected communities.


The plan's title, "Homeless Prevention Initiative," is a misstatement - you cannot resolve this critical issue while the root causes are ignored. This program does not require the mentally ill to receive the necessary treatment to return to a normal healthy life or those with drug and alcohol dependencies to complete a rehabilitation program.


Further, it cripples public safety - hijacking money earmarked to renovate Sybil Brand jail, put more deputies on the street to reduce response times, end the Sheriff Department's reckless early-release program and support the district attorney, the public defender and other vital public safety programs. It also rewards illegal aliens by providing them free housing.

- Michael D. Antonovich
Supervisor
Los Angeles County

Bring L.A. Home Press Conference A Success

The Central City East blogger has a comprehensive post on yesterday's press conference announcing L.A.'s Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness.

Lots of dignitaries and inspiring speeches.

Now... the real work needs to begin. Planning is one thing, DOING is another...

(Thanks to CCE blogger for the photo.)

Here’s the LAT’s Take On Today’s Ten Year Plan Press Conference…

It’s a busy day today, in regards to homelessness—both within the city and in the media.

Today, at 10:30 am the city and county will reveal the “Bring L.A. Home” ten year plan to end homelessness. I will be there as part of the Blue Ribbon Panel who developed this plan.

Here is the Los Angeles Times' perspective on this. (Interestingly, on their website they titled this editorial, “Don’t Get Cocky, Kids.”:

One plan to lead them all

April 6, 2006

THE AIR WILL BE THICK WITH CONGRATULATIONS this morning on skid row, where Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, members of the County Board of Supervisors and others are scheduled to gather to announce a 10-year plan to end homelessness in Los Angeles. The plan, three years in the making, comes just two days after the supervisors voted to spend $100 million on improved services for the homeless on skid row and beyond.

Certainly it's better to have plans than not, and on that score the congratulations may be in order. But better still would be to have a single plan that city and county officials can work from.

The report being announced today is more of a wish list than a plan. It has more than 200 recommendations; add them up, and the cost could be billions of dollars a year. Calling for 50,000 units of new affordable housing, and the money to pay for them, is a fine idea. So is pushing for a summit of all 88 cities in the county to talk about why most of them ignore their own homeless and instead push them toward skid row. But too many ideas in the report are either politically or economically unfeasible or both.

City and county leaders should look the report over, study its recommendations — and put it on the shelf and come up with a more realistic approach to dealing with homelessness in Los Angeles.

The county's latest effort, meanwhile, will not suffice. Yes, the supervisors have finally put their money where their mouths should have been all these years and have agreed to finance several new, important programs. When people at risk of becoming homeless leave hospitals or jails, they will get more support services, such as counseling, to see if they qualify for local and federal aid. They will also get help finding local housing. Five new regional "stabilization centers" across the county will provide temporary shelter and social services for transients.

As worthy as these two plans may be, nothing much will happen until city and county leaders come up with one plan that makes sense for everyone. It shouldn't take long. This week shows that there is no shortage of ideas among people in city and county government to alleviate L.A.'s homelessness problem. And it's certainly heartening to see both the city and the county starting to understand that a solution will take time and money.

On Wednesday, Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky told The Times that the combination of momentum and money to do something about homelessness presents city and county leaders with "an opportunity that will not pass our way again in our political lifetimes." All the more reason to come up with a single, realistic plan and execute it.

City and County Leaders Respond To LAT

Both Mayors of the City of Los Angeles and the County of Los Angeles (yes, the county has a mayor too), along with a City Councilmember write letters to the Los Angeles Times in response to the article on the County’s Historic Homeless Plan.

Here are the letters:
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Re "L.A. County OKs 'Historic' Homeless Plan," April 5

We heartily applaud the county supervisors' strong 4-1 vote Tuesday to support a comprehensive regional homelessness plan. It involves state-of-the-art services models and is historic in its breadth.

The city is working with supervisors Yvonne Brathwaite Burke and Zev Yaroslavsky on innovative housing with built-in services. But as your Monday editorial ("The authority to solve") pointed out, successful implementation of the county strategy will work only if the city of Los Angeles — which has 58% of the homeless, 48,000 people — and the county work hand in glove.

The city and county combined financial commitment ($100 million from the county, $50 million from the city) is still only one-quarter of New York's homeless budget. Only collaboration will maximize these still-scarce dollars toward this national tragedy.

The reinvigorated L.A. Homeless Services Authority that your editorial envisioned is essential for success of the region's policy. Otherwise, it will prove impossible to mobilize other cities, or actively engage business, labor, religious and philanthropic leaders to build and broaden the moral and financial will to tackle this issue successfully.

ANTONIO R. VILLARAIGOSA
Mayor
Los Angeles

JAN PERRY
City Councilwoman and
Chair of the Ad Hoc
Homeless Committee

__________


Monday's editorial was right that our effort to solve the homelessness problem in Los Angeles County must include the input and approval of the county's other 87 cities and 134 unincorporated areas for locating proposed regional centers — a provision the flawed county plan does not include.

Last week, my office provided $1 million to the Union Station Foundation in Pasadena — a public/private partnership that has engaged the faith-based community, local government and the private sector in locating, operating and expanding its service facility. This facility reflects the cooperation needed for a successful outcome to the homelessness issue and how we must engage our partners in the community, not ignore them.

The county plan is vague on how funds will be spent. Funds for homelessness programs must come from the departments of Health and Mental Health, not Public Safety. The plan fails to mandate treatment for the mentally ill and drug- or alcohol-addicted.

MICHAEL ANTONOVICH
Supervisor, and Mayor
Los Angeles County

L.A. Councilmember Starts New Blog Writing On Homelessness

Los Angeles Councilmember Bill Rosendahl has a new blog. He represents Council District 11, the Westside of Los Angeles and parts of the valley.

Like his colleague Council President Garcetti, Rosendahl has joined the blog world.

His first topic… “Solving the Crisis of Homelessness”.

Here’s what he says:

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I have said many times that one of our greatest moral tests is how we address the crisis of homelessness in our city. I am glad that we are finally beginning to see some progress.

There are between 80,000 and 90,000 homeless people in Los Angeles County, more than a third of them chronically homeless.

This morning, the Los Angeles Times reports that the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has approved a plan to spend $100 million to create five centers across the county that will provide temporary shelter and social services for homeless people. I applaud county officials for taking this action. It is a bold, positive and encouraging move.

Finding locations for such centers will be difficult. But I am committed to working with the County and with communities to locate these centers. Homelessness has many faces and requires many solutions, but certainly one solution is the construction of permanent housing with supportive social services.

We will report more progress on homelessness tomorrow. At 10:30 a.m., I will be at the Midnight Mission with a number of colleagues and homeless service providers as Bring LA. Home launches its 10-year campaign to end homelessness in Los Angeles. We'll have more on the press conference and the campaign to end homelessness on this website.

Did L.A. County Supervisors “Back Down”?

Some of the local media is saying that the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors “backed down” in their passing of the $100 million Homeless Prevention Initiative. (LA Daily News, Daily Bulletin.)

I don’t think that is accurate. The media assumed that the County would “force” local cities to place stabilization centers in their municipalities. The plan never specifically said this. So in order to clear up the misperception, the Supervisors appropriately re-worded their motion to make sure cities understood that homeless centers would not be “forced” on them.

The reality is… local cities have the power to decide through zoning and planning what can and cannot be built within their city limits. The County can not force homeless shelters in a municipality.

So did the L.A. County Board of Supervisors back down? Nope.

$100 Million Dollars In The Bank

I spent most of the day today at the L.A. County Board meeting.

In an historic vote today, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted 4 to 1 to approve their Homeless Prevention Initiative. The county plan contains numerous proposals including an $80 million housing trust fund, five regional homeless centers, homeless and “prototype” courts, housing assistance and database, rental subsidy for General Relief recipients, and a family access center in downtown.

Here is part of my public comments to the board today:

“This new Homeless Prevention Initiative could be a significant and historical response to the sad state of homelessness in Los Angeles County.

“Each afternoon we play a tragic human game of “musical chairs.” But it is really more like “musical beds.” By 1 PM each day, every homeless shelter bed in the county is full because for every one bed in the system more than 6 homeless people are desperately fighting to access it.

“The first-responders to this crisis of homelessness are the nonprofit homeless agencies who by the afternoon have to turn away everyone looking for a safe place to sleep. We turn away women and infants, veterans who fought in past wars, and senior citizens rolling to our doors in wheelchairs. There is no place to send them.

“I believe this is an historical time for you and our community. When we dramatically reduce, and ultimately end homelessness in Los Angeles County, people will look back to this day and this decision as the ‘tipping point’ toward a new social movement to help the most vulnerable people in Los Angeles County—the homeless.”

LAT’s Take On Providing Leadership For L.A.’s Homeless System

Dan Costello is one of the editors for the Los Angeles Times editorial page. He wrote today’s piece on LAHSA. I had talked with him a couple of times last week while he was formulating his ideas.

I think he spent a good deal of time researching the current political environment regarding homelessness in Los Angeles.

Here is how he starts it…
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LATE LAST MONTH, the county Board of Supervisors announced a $100-million plan to improve services for the homeless on skid row and beyond. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was barely consulted about the plan, and he didn't know when it was being unveiled.

But he can hardly complain because in December, when he held a news conference to announce a record homeless grant from the federal government, he waited until the last minute to tell the county, leaving too little time for most supervisors to make the event. The mayor's office announced a new homelessness czar a few weeks ago; the county followed with a similar appointment a week later.

Welcome to homeless politics, L.A.-style. Despite growing momentum and gathering consensus for a solution, infighting between the city and the county remains. The mayor and the supervisors need to start looking for more ways to cooperate, not compete. One place they can begin is the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority.
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Click here to read the whole article.

He also recommends five points for LAHSA (Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority):

* Reorganize the homeless authority’s board.

* Define the authority’s role.

* Upgrade the authority’s technology.

* Increase the authority’s budget.

* Involve more cities in the authority.

Should Attacking Homeless People Be A Hate Crime?

The Maryland State Senate decided against it. Supporters who supported such a bill said that Maryland would be the first state in the country to designate homeless people as a protected class—similar to race or sexual orientation.

However, it was narrowly voted down 23 to 22.

With the increase of violence against people who are homeless throughout the country, such a bill would have made a significant moral statement… Our country should not allow brutal crimes against a vulnerable population who cannot protect themselves.

It will be interesting to see if any other public officials might pick up this cause.

Perhaps in our own Central City East (“Skid Row”) neighborhood we could add a “protected class” designation to the homeless in that zone, along with the new “drug free zone” laws.