Is Disneyland Becoming NIMBYland?

Officials from Disneyland are fighting with leaders of the City of Anaheim over whether affordable housing can be located near Disneyland. Even the mayor of Anaheim is having to weigh in.

There is a “resort district” surrounding Disneyland that Disney officials state should not allow affordable housing. I guess that means no low-income residents hanging out at the land of Mickey Mouse.

There is a 1,500-unit housing development being proposed one block from Disneyland that the City Council needs to decide whether it will have affordable units.

Several city and local leaders of Anaheim visited PATH last year. They told us that there are numerous homeless families already living in cheap motels in the surrounding area of Disneyland. HUD doesn’t define these families as homeless because they are off the streets and in motels. But the truth is… they are homeless.

And it just makes sense to help these families access affordable housing units, rather than paying nightly rent in a cheap motel.

More Thinking, More Talking… About Homelesness

The Think-Tank, RAND Corporation, based in Santa Monica, put on its own homeless forum recently. Dozens of these forums on homelessness have been occurring here in Los Angeles in the last couple of years—from faith groups to schools, to think-tanks.

I think when you put the experts together, we can talk about the real solutions to ending homelessness. But new ideas, new theories, and new policies is not what we need.

We know what needs to be done…

More affordable housing. The promotion of linking support services to permanent housing. Better coordination, and discharge planning. Etc. Etc.

Our problem is not lack of solutions.

Our problem is lack of political and community will. Because the fact is… if we institute all of the solutions that are really needed, it would cost billions of dollars, we would have to make sure every local community participates, and we would have to place new homeless programs and affordable housing developments in more and more communities.

The solutions are already apparent. But the will is not there.

We need less talk, less thinking, and more doing… more community and political will to implement solutions…

Instead of Hospitals, Maybe The Downtown Missions Should Be Sued For Turning Away Homeless People?

That’s the comment that L.A. civil rights attorney, Carol Sobel, made to a Los Angeles Times reporter. Her point… hospitals are not the only people who have to turn homeless people away. Social workers, nursing homes, and yes, homeless service providers all turn homeless people away when there are no beds to shelter a person who is homeless.

This homeless “dumping” issue here in Los Angeles is getting a lot of press. Of course, it should when the media catches a homeless person in hospital garments being dumped into downtown Skid Row. But frankly, this “dumping” is occurring all the time—and not just by hospitals.

Without more shelter beds and permanent supportive housing, the glut of people living on the streets, and being turned away from available beds is going to result in more “dumping”.

Suing hospitals is not the answer. Maybe the local cities should really sue the County for not providing enough anti-poverty and homelessness services and programs to prevent our low-income citizens from becoming homeless.

Oh yeah… the city of Los Angeles already sued the County of Los Angeles a couple of decades ago. The result… Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA). A judge concluded that a joint powers authority (half county and half city) should be formed to address homelessness. Did it work? Well, twenty years ago, L.A. County had 25,000 homeless people. Today we have 90,000. I guess not.

So now, the city would rather sue the hospitals. Since suing the county didn’t work. Maybe next, they will sue the downtown missions...

Doesn’t make sense to me…

Here's the hospitals' response to "dumping" in todays LA Times op-ed pieces.

Should Millionaire Oscar Attendees Give Money Or Leftovers To Help The Homeless?

When 1,600 Academy Award nominees, winners, and entertainment executives are partying after the biggest movie night of the year, you would think they could do more than give Los Angeles’ homeless mere table scraps from their leftover party food.

But that’s what happened over at the Governor’s Ball (the traditional post-Oscar party hosted by California’s Governor). Leftover Shanghai lobster and other delicacies were shipped over to a homeless service provider.

I think next year, all of these millionaires should instead donate to an Oscar Fund that helps the homeless in the city that hosts the Academy Awards. Dollars are much more important than leftover finger food.

(Pic from http://amysrobot.com)

No Clear Oscar Sweeps, But Did The LAPD Sweep Homeless?

A professor at Loyola Marymount University thinks the police might have swept the homeless out of Hollywood. Here's her email:

Here's something I hope media outlets will investigate: The possible sweep of homeless from Hollywood in preparation for the Academy Awards.

As a board member of Hollywood Arts, a new non-profit organization serving homeless teens in Hollywood, I was gratified when homelessness at least enjoyed a few minutes of fame recently. On this morning, however, Oscar Fever has infected Los Angeles. So perhaps I should not have been surprised to see an elderly woman crumpled up on the sidewalk across the street from my home in Hancock Park. Around here, homeless people are a rarer sight than coyotes. Knowing that the County is overburdened and not wanting to call a hospital that might end up dumping this woman on skid row, I began to dial 311. While fumbling around for my cell phone as I proceeded west on Beverly Boulevard in my car, I saw a homeless man, resting on the ground next to a bus bench (the kind that have those dividers designed to prevent people from stretching out for a snooze). Then I saw another shopping cart full of stuff. Then another, and another, and another: FAR more homeless people than typical on a Sunday morning on Beverly between June and La Cienega.

Was this a coordinated sweep, or was just stepped-up police presence enough to scatter these souls? What kind of society is this that cares more about what some starlets is wearing than the fact that an old lady has no where to sleep at night? What difference would some small fraction of ticket sales make? Maybe next year some studio would like to dedicate the money it would otherwise spend on party favors to providing shelter and services to homeless in the area.


Mara A. Marks, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Urban Studies
Senior Fellow, Center for the Study of Los Angeles Loyola Marymount University