L.A. Adopts New ‘War Room’ Strategy to Get Homeless Into Housing

Los Angeles city and county officials on Tuesday announced a new strategy to speed the process of getting homeless people into permanent housing that is modeled on the federal government’s response to natural disasters.

The creation of a “Housing Central Command” marks an overhaul of how agencies work together in addressing the growing number of people living on the street, according to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority.

Previously the system was slowed by red tape and gaps in information showing what housing units were available and who is eligible to move into them, officials said.

In some cases there was a waiting period of 10 months from a person being matched to housing to signing a lease.

“Nobody was holding the full picture of resources,” said LAHSA interim executive director Heidi Marston. “Our systems weren’t talking to each other.”

The new initiative uses a “war room model” inspired by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s approach to finding homes for people suddenly displaced by hurricanes, Marston said.

Now officials will have access to real-time data showing housing availability as well as funding streams, according to LAHSA.

Since the launch in December, officials have identified some 3,000 potential housing units that were previously not part of the overall inventory, Marston said.

The central command is a major step toward restructuring a response system overseen by LAHSA that also includes housing and development authorities, the mayor’s office and health departments.

“We have a high number of people who need to be rehoused rapidly,” Marson said of the situation in greater Los Angeles, where officials have declared homelessness a state of emergency. Including crisis-response experts on a day-to-day basis shows that officials are treating the problem with the urgency it deserves, she said.

In its 2019 count, the authority reported that there were close to 60,000 homeless people living in LA County, with more than 36,000 of them in the city. All but about 25% live on the streets.

Freeway overpasses are lined with tents, and it’s a common sight to see someone pushing a shopping cart filled with belongings through downtown.

According to LAHSA and Mayor Eric Garcetti’s office, an average of 130 homeless people in Los Angeles move into housing daily. However, an average of 150 people become homeless every day.

“The homelessness crisis demands an emergency response, and moving the needle means being nimble, flexible and creative with our resources,” Garcetti said in a statement praising the new strategy.

Through the new process, officials also discovered $30 million of a $107 million grant from HUD to Los Angeles in 2017 had gone unspent within a calendar-year deadline, LAHSA said.

That happened because of low vacancy rates and higher market rates than public housing authorities could pay, LAHSA officials said, along with “landlord bias” against tenants with mental disorders or a history of homelessness.

“It is completely unacceptable that housing funds were left unspent when our unsheltered neighbors continue to languish out on the street,” said LA County Supervisor Hilda Solis. The new efforts will leave behind a “disjointed” system and “maximize all of the region’s resources,” she said.

Solis represents East Los Angeles, one of two neighborhoods including downtown where the new command structure is being tested starting this week. LAHSA staff will set up shop at local housing authorities, where they can shepherd and troubleshoot applications.

Tuesday’s announcement comes a week after Garcetti and HUD Secretary Ben Carson met in Los Angeles to announce the formation of a joint working group to address homelessness. Garcetti and Carson told the Los Angeles Times that they were close to a deal to use federal and state funds to open more homeless shelters in the city.

Earlier this month, the county Board of Supervisors called for a re-evaluation of the structure of LAHSA’s operation following an audit last August that found the authority failed to meet goals for placing people into permanent housing.

Garcetti proposes new programs to assist homeless

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced new programs Feb. 6 intended to help homeless and low-income people start their own businesses, become self-sustaining and develop a strategy to try to keep people from ending up on the streets.

The Solid Ground program will allow people to access the city’s Family Resource Centers to receive financial assistance to pay for rent, bills, food and other necessities to help reduce their costs.

“We talk a lot about homelessness prevention, now we’re going to do something about it,” Garcetti said during a meeting at the Unified Homelessness Response Center in downtown Los Angeles.

The mayor added that the program would provide people with up to three months of support.

Councilman Curren Price said the program could be launched as soon as mid-March, and is also supported by Los Angeles County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl.

“We can’t build our way out of this disaster,” Price said. “Individuals … are falling into homelessness faster than our services can help them out. We’ve seen the positive effects of these programs in Chicago and New York, and I firmly believe that it can be part of the solution in Los Angeles.”

Garcetti said an average of 150 people become homeless each day in Los Angeles County, but 133 are housed at the same rate, and if the city and county could find a way to close that gap, it could be the beginning of ending homelessness.

Another program that’s coming online is LA: EnterPRISE, which is intended to give people who are living on the street or nearly homeless a chance to get job training and assistance in finding a career path. About 200 people will be entered into the program.

“Every Angeleno should have a chance to nurture their talents, pursue their dreams and earn an income,” Garcetti said. “The goal of LA: EnterpRISE is to empower people in need, to give them the support, training and encouragement they need to start a new chapter.”

Ana Zimmerman, who said she was living in a shelter before she started working with a similar program, FreeFrom, said she was able to move into her own apartment within 19 months by selling inspirational cards.

The mayor said he was scheduled to speak with Gov. Gavin Newsom on homeless issues later in the day, particularly regarding federal and state funding that could be coming to Los Angeles in the near future.

Five shelters through the A Bridge Home program are slated to open throughout the city in the next two months, Garcetti said, and 50 permanent supportive housing facilities will be open by the end of the year through multiple funding sources, including the $1.2 billion Proposition HHH. About 13,000 units will be ready within the next few years, he said.

Independent Wire Services