Year 2 for a Special Community
Los Angeles’ Genesis I is home to 24 previously homeless people. The geodesic dome village provides much more than basic shelter, however: Its rules encourage individual responsibility and self-government; chores are assigned; one must work to eat. Clearly, this is an important experiment in “getting help to help yourself.”
The Downtown homelessness community has now survived its first year--despite financial hurdles and other crises--primarily because of the tenacity of homeless organizer Ted Hayes and the generosity of others. Arco provided the initial grant of $250,000. Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke and L.A. City Council member Rita Walters scared up public funds. The Shelter Partnership delivered an anonymous donation of $10,000 to help keep the respite open.
Missions and shelters, though indispensable in addressing homelessness, aren’t for everyone. Even children don’t like being told when to go to bed or when they can come and go.Although in communal living there must be order and discipline, the rules discourage some people from seeking shelter.
In Pasadena an experimental city-financed pilot program persuaded nine homeless people to leave their camp in Memorial Park in May and move into a converted church hall. The rules there are few. Infractions do not result in automatic expulsion. Six case managers encourage individuals to change their behavior at their own pace. The flexibility is working. One woman who used drugs subsequently completed a drug abuse program and got a job.
Transitions away from homelessness differ according to a person’s circumstances. The mentally disabled often have the greatest difficulty. Three new shelters dedicated to this population are scheduled to open this month in Santa Monica, Pacoima and near Downtown. Additional affordable housing is also in the pipeline; Second Baptist Church, for example, recently broke ground on a townhouse development in South-Central Los Angeles.
Nonprofit developers, foundations, churches and temples are all trying to help. Many of the homeless will benefit next month from a $20-million federal infusion into a new city-county housing initiative. Every reasonable effort to deal with this expanding social problem is worth a try.
