Homeless in L.A. County
Has there been a “Shameful Fumble” in Los Angeles County’s efforts to help the homeless, as your Jan. 21 editorial claimed? No, but there has been confusion, a confusion generated by well-intentioned, but insufficiently planned and informed efforts to help the homeless.
Without question there are homeless people in Los Angeles County. But it is not a new-found and neglected problem, as the focus of attention in recent weeks might lead the general public to believe.
For example, more than 2,500 voucher beds are used each night countywide. The number of shelter beds financed through Community Services block grants was increased 84% during 1984, from 111 to 280. More than $893,000 has been targeted by the county for services to the mentally ill homeless. It is important to note that over 100 beds available through private and public agencies go empty every night.
Typically, the public’s image of the homeless is that of the downtown transient. But the homeless exist in large numbers beyond downtown. That’s why I launched the first county shelter, the Homeless Shelter for Families in Long Beach, 18 months ago.
Families there are receiving shelter, food and clothing, and counseling that helps them get a permanent home and a job--all within two weeks. In the first year 1,990 individuals were helped. Since then the county has funded several shelters throughout the county, and coordinated food distribution to the homeless and to low-income people.
We are also seeking added facilities for the Santa Monica-Venice area.
The number of Community Services block grant-funded shelter beds were increased by 84%, from 111 to 280 during 1984. Another 97 beds will be created in shelter sites in Willowbrook and in the San Fernando Valley, which are to be available shortly.
The county has already met with federal officials and have formally requested a Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Homeless Outreach program for Los Angeles County. A pilot outreach program in New York last year had positive results with the homeless, qualifying them for income to assist in establishing themselves in homes.
But in addressing not only the needs of the homeless and developing workable solutions, many questions must be answered, such as:
How many homeless are there? The estimates range from 20,000 to 40,000 countywide, including as many as 10,000 downtown. Yet Martha Brown Hicks of Skid Row Development, who works daily in the downtown area, placed the numbers there nearer to “several hundred” in recent testimony before the Board of Supervisors. We must not only know how many, but who they are. The Department of Mental Health estimates that some 40% to 50% of the homeless are mentally ill, with a sizable portion being chronically mentally ill.
It will take state assistance to confront the needs of that population because the state controls funding and institutional-level care for the mentally ill.
Other questions must be resolved:
Are small shelters more effective than large warehouse programs? What staffing is needed to operate an effective homeless shelter? What efforts should be included in the shelters to assure that a homeless person is equipped to return to the mainstream of life as quickly as possible?
There are no quick-fix answers, no single solution to the homeless problem. The answers to each of these questions is being sought as part of the county’s ongoing program to meet the needs of the homeless.
While the county is the lead governmental entity in helping the homeless, it is a shared-resources responsibility with federal, state and local governments. The county has heavily committed general fund and block grant money for the homeless. We would welcome the contributions from the City of Los Angeles and other cities, as well as from the private sector in resolving the problems of the homeless.
DEANE DANA
Supervisor, Fourth District
Los Angeles County
Your editorial on the homeless unfairly suggests that Supervisor Dana and I are blocking efforts to coordinate city and county help for the homeless.
On Jan. 15, the Board of Supervisors passed a motion, which I sponsored, directing the chief administrative office to coordinate the various county departments involved in the delivery of services to the homeless, in order to eliminate fragmentation and duplication of effort.
I was also in favor of a panel to coordinate city and county efforts. But the proposal before the board provided no representation for 83 of the 84 cities in Los Angeles County. The panel therefore would not have represented a countywide approach to a countywide problem.
To resolve this difficulty, I proposed that representatives of the Los Angeles City Council, the League of Cities, and the Contract Cities Assn. sit on any coordinating panel.
The homeless are not a homogeneous group It is estimated that as many as half of the homeless are in need of mental health services. Others are victims of drugs or alcohol. Still others are migrants who came to Los Angeles without adequate preparation. These are very different causes of homelessness, and they must be dealt with in very different ways.
One final point. I believe that government and the private sector both have a moral obligation to work together for the common good. Billy Graham has said that if every church and synagogue in the land took in 10 poor families, the welfare problem would no longer exist. Something of that spirit should be part of any effort on behalf of the homeless.
MICHAEL D. ANTONOVICH
Supervisor, Fifth District
Los Angeles County