Category Archives: Housing porgrams

Murder in the Park – Dangers of Homelessness

Housing porgrams

Lisa Biagiotti contact reporter for the web series “On the Streets” tackles the subject of danger and homelessness in her newly published episode called “Murder in the Park.” She reunites with her homeless friends at Sycamore Grove Park to see if any changes have been made to their housing situation since October. As she speaks with Patricia, Hope, and Jesus, she learns that the park that they have been sleeping in was the same park where 19-year-old Kaelyn Tarin was shot dead. The three homeless citizens were promised housing by January, but nearing February they were told it would be highly unlikely. In the atmosphere that surrounds them, gaining housing would be life changing and remove them from their life threatening “home” in the park. I encourage all who read this post to watch the video series posted in the LA Times – link below. Biagiotti speaks with and for her friends when addressing the cyclical non-progressive actions that have to be taken in order to receive housing as a low-income, homeless member of society.

One aspect of her video I especially want to touch upon is the fact that even when homeless people receive their Section 8 vouchers allotted for housing, there are few places that even accept them in their city due to high rent costs. Even the social worker at the homeless shelter Hope, Patricia, and Jesus were staying in, says she can hardly afford her rent and she is a working citizen. This just highlights the concerns for the widening gap between the upper class, and the middle and lower class. How are social services supposed to help provide shelter and food for the low-income or homeless people if they can barely provide enough for themselves?

http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-biagiotti-onthestreets-20151118-htmlstory.html

L.A. city, county OK homeless plans, but where will the money come from?

Homelessness, Housing porgrams, Solutions to Homelessness

The Los Angeles city and county governments have each approved a major plan to combat homelessness.  (See the report in the Los Angeles Times, Feb 10, 2016.)

The county plan calls for setting aside $150 million dollars over the next two years to carry out the strategies that its task force outlined in January.  This includes $26 million for quick turn-around rehousing, $11 million for short-term housing for people coming out of county jails and other institutions, and $8.7 million for subsidies to help disabled homeless people get into housing while waiting for federal Supplemental Security Income.  It makes some efforts to increase the county’s stock of low-cost housing, but building the 15,000 needed additional units would cost far more than the county is promising in this plan.  And the county has yet to figure out where the $150 million will come from.

The city plans to develop “a host of housing programs, create a citywide system of mobile showers and public restrooms, and allow overnight parking at designated sites for people who live in their vehicles.”  These would be spread throughout the city rather than concentrated on L.A.’s ‘Skid Row’.  Unfortunately, the housing programs alone will cost more than $185 billion over the next decade.  Again, the City Council does not yet know where the money will come from.

Both plans were developed to deal with the root causes of homelessness.  They are a response to the recent jump in the number of homeless people counted in all parts of Los Angeles County.