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Los Angeles County will begin its count of homeless people Tuesday. The tally is a new HUD requirement for federal aid for services for the homeless. (Luis Sinco / LAT) |
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Quietly, Vera Flores described how her family of eight had been homeless for two months on skid row in downtown Los Angeles, sometimes sleeping on sidewalks before finding a bit more comfort in a mission parking lot.
For the volunteers who came to help Flores, the most riveting aspect of her family's plight rested a few feet away: a month-old baby girl named Vanessa gently gurgling in a stroller.
"The notion that, in the city of Los Angeles in 2004, we have kids this age sleeping in these conditions -- somehow we've collectively failed," said Dan Grunfeld, president of Public Counsel, a public interest law firm that works with Midnight Mission to assist about a dozen homeless families at the shelter.
The homeless newborn has jolted the advocacy community, spotlighting Los Angeles County's burgeoning numbers of homeless families and its disjointed and inadequate system of addressing their needs.
The county does not have enough emergency shelter beds. It has no single agency responsible for the welfare of the homeless.
And the county's services pale in comparison to those provided in other large urban areas.
"This is an orange alert for the homeless," said City Councilwoman Jan Perry, likening the urgency of the situation to a level on the Department of Homeland Security's warning system.
"We don't have time to set up a whole new system," said Perry, who represents much of downtown's skid row. "We have to leverage what we have now and get people off the street."
Families are the fastest-growing segment of the local homeless population. Poverty and high housing costs have been driving more and more onto the streets from Pacoima to Long Beach.
Last year, Los Angeles recorded a 25% increase in requests from families for emergency shelter.
An estimated 34,000 family members -- about the population of Beverly Hills -- are homeless at any given time in the county, according a report from the Economic Roundtable, a group that researches social issues.
A recent Long Beach count of homeless people found that 795 families, including more than 2,000 children, were homeless on any given night.
In Pasadena, another recent survey found almost a third of that city's 1,000 homeless people were children.
For families that suddenly find themselves without a home, the county has 975 emergency shelter beds and has been hard-pressed by limited funds and high real estate costs to add more.
A proposed $4.5-million, 30-bed emergency family shelter slated for South Los Angeles has been stalled for nearly a year.
Officials have $2.5 million for the project and have asked the county to pony up the balance, but so far have received no commitment.
The region's many governments and its geography -- 88 cities spread over more than 4,000 square miles of terrain -- also hinder efforts to consolidate services. The result is a patchwork of charitable, religious and governmental efforts.
"We should all be linked together and communicating effectively, but instead we've got 200 different executive directors, 200 account supervisors, 200 development directors," said David Grunwald, executive director of L.A. Family Housing, which runs emergency shelters and permanent housing for single adults and families.
The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, an independent agency formed in 1993 to address homelessness on a regional basis, oversees an emergency shelter program through contracts with dozens of community groups. However, the agency provides no direct services.
The Economic Roundtable estimated that Los Angeles spends about $58 million annually on homeless services and the county spends about $285 million, including healthcare, welfare and other social services.
For the volunteers who came to help Flores, the most riveting aspect of her family's plight rested a few feet away: a month-old baby girl named Vanessa gently gurgling in a stroller.
"The notion that, in the city of Los Angeles in 2004, we have kids this age sleeping in these conditions -- somehow we've collectively failed," said Dan Grunfeld, president of Public Counsel, a public interest law firm that works with Midnight Mission to assist about a dozen homeless families at the shelter.
The homeless newborn has jolted the advocacy community, spotlighting Los Angeles County's burgeoning numbers of homeless families and its disjointed and inadequate system of addressing their needs.
The county does not have enough emergency shelter beds. It has no single agency responsible for the welfare of the homeless.
And the county's services pale in comparison to those provided in other large urban areas.
"This is an orange alert for the homeless," said City Councilwoman Jan Perry, likening the urgency of the situation to a level on the Department of Homeland Security's warning system.
"We don't have time to set up a whole new system," said Perry, who represents much of downtown's skid row. "We have to leverage what we have now and get people off the street."
Families are the fastest-growing segment of the local homeless population. Poverty and high housing costs have been driving more and more onto the streets from Pacoima to Long Beach.
Last year, Los Angeles recorded a 25% increase in requests from families for emergency shelter.
An estimated 34,000 family members -- about the population of Beverly Hills -- are homeless at any given time in the county, according a report from the Economic Roundtable, a group that researches social issues.
A recent Long Beach count of homeless people found that 795 families, including more than 2,000 children, were homeless on any given night.
In Pasadena, another recent survey found almost a third of that city's 1,000 homeless people were children.
For families that suddenly find themselves without a home, the county has 975 emergency shelter beds and has been hard-pressed by limited funds and high real estate costs to add more.
A proposed $4.5-million, 30-bed emergency family shelter slated for South Los Angeles has been stalled for nearly a year.
Officials have $2.5 million for the project and have asked the county to pony up the balance, but so far have received no commitment.
The region's many governments and its geography -- 88 cities spread over more than 4,000 square miles of terrain -- also hinder efforts to consolidate services. The result is a patchwork of charitable, religious and governmental efforts.
"We should all be linked together and communicating effectively, but instead we've got 200 different executive directors, 200 account supervisors, 200 development directors," said David Grunwald, executive director of L.A. Family Housing, which runs emergency shelters and permanent housing for single adults and families.
The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, an independent agency formed in 1993 to address homelessness on a regional basis, oversees an emergency shelter program through contracts with dozens of community groups. However, the agency provides no direct services.
The Economic Roundtable estimated that Los Angeles spends about $58 million annually on homeless services and the county spends about $285 million, including healthcare, welfare and other social services.
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