Help the Homeless

The tents are down. The homeless are back on the streets. And Los Angeles city and county governments have taken little new action to alleviate their plight.

City and county governments traditionally have been wary of crossing jurisdictional lines, but this problem begs for the attention of both. The county has responsibility for welfare questions, and the city oversees many building and safety aspects involved in sheltering the homeless. It is time for leadership from both the mayor’s office and the county Board of Supervisors to pull all the players together in one room and lock the door until they have assigned tasks to start finding land and money for shelters, with set deadlines for doing so.

For at least the rest of this fiscal year there will be $3 million available through the Federal Emergency Management Agency for shelter, food, mortgage and rent assistance for the homeless. That money will be administered by United Way in partnership with seven other local and state groups. United Way, which is trying to establish a shelter-development corporation, might also be a good mechanism through which businesses concerned about the future of the downtown area could be enlisted to provide construction and technical assistance.

There should be two objectives in any action: First, safe temporary housing must be provided to those unable to provide it for themselves through accident of disability or joblessness; to date, few new beds have been created for the homeless. Second, psychological and medical services as well as job counseling and aid with other problems must be provided, on a paid or volunteer basis, to avoid simply warehousing the poor.

So far the county has done only what the courts have ordered it to do. The city has been equally reluctant to take the lead. The homeless don’t really care who helps, but someone must. Next Christmas there need be no tent city if both governments act now.