Mayor urges new effort for L.A. homeless

Personal philanthropy and creative new policy are the first steps toward helping Los Angeles’ massive homeless population off the streets, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa told a crowd of about 300 gathered at Leo Baeck Temple near Bel-Air on Sunday morning.

Villaraigosa, county Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky and leaders of nonprofit organizations headlined a forum to discuss strategies to combat homelessness.

“This is the richest county in the richest state in the richest country in the history of the planet, yet almost 90,000 people do not have a roof over their heads,” Villaraigosa said. “This is unacceptable.”

The mayor urged members of the audience to organize charity walks for the homeless and consider converting property into shelters. He urged participants to back a successor to Measure H, the failed $1-billion municipal bond package that would have created about 10,000 affordable housing units. The measure fell just shy of the required two-thirds majority in the November election.

Homelessness, the mayor said, is a regional problem, made worse by “the lack of coordination between the city and the county.” Citing Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez’s series on life on skid row as a galvanizing force, Villaraigosa said local leaders are “making small but strong steps forward.” Villaraigosa said he has pushed for state legislation to create emergency housing and committed funds to build affordable housing.

He and Yaroslavsky praised Santa Monica’s recent opening of a homeless shelter.

Yaroslavsky emphasized the importance of individual commitment and religious activism in combating homelessness and called skid row a “stain on Los Angeles.”

“Homelessness, like so many other social justice issues, can get their greatest infusion of political support from the religious community,” said Yaroslavsky, whose district includes much of the Westside. He cited $100 million in county money spent this year to establish regional “stabilization centers” to help move homeless people off the streets.

The temple organized the forum as part of the progressive congregation’s latest outreach effort.

“Homelessness cuts to the core of the question of human dignity,” said Rabbi Ken Chasen, the temple’s senior rabbi.

The issue “violates our sense of justice as Jews,” said Ralph Fertig, a social work professor at USC and congregation member who organized the forum. Villaraigosa is a former student of Fertig.

Other speakers quoted the Torah and talked of Jews’ moral duty to help others.

“We’re going to see the temple take a leadership position in ... demonstrating how we can help our neighbors,” said congregation member Tami Lowensohn of Encino.

A choir made up of formerly homeless veterans sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” and “Amazing Grace.”

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susannah.rosenblatt@latimes.com