Accountability Is Crucial

The Los Angeles City Council last week took crucial first steps to address the poverty that plagues the northeast San Fernando Valley.

Citing a recent series of stories in The Times documenting the lack of housing, jobs and health care in this poorest corner of the Valley, the City Council:

* Agreed to use $1 million in surplus federal funds to install sidewalks, street lights and sewer connections, to fund an economic alliance of area chambers of commerce and to persuade businesses--and jobs--to move to the northeast Valley.

* Approved a zoning change that will allow Habitat for Humanity to build 52 much-needed condominiums for low-income residents in Pacoima.

* Ordered Housing Department General Manager Garry Pinney to report within two months on how to speed up apartment inspections. This is of particular importance to the northeast Valley, which has the highest rate of building safety and code violations in the city.

This last step should serve as an inspiration to the City Council’s counterparts in Los Angeles County.

In addition to a dearth of affordable housing and well-paying jobs, many northeast Valley residents lack access to health care. Forty-four percent of residents in Pacoima, Sun Valley and Panorama City lack health insurance, compared with 31% countywide.

The county runs education programs aimed at promoting enrollment in Medi-Cal. After all, the county is responsible for indigent care so it saves money if Medi-Cal pays. But judging from the number of northeast Valley residents who don’t know they qualify, don’t understand how to get Medi-Cal or are afraid to apply because of their immigration status, the programs aren’t reaching enough people.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors should follow their city colleagues’ lead and order the departments to improve their programs--and to report back on how they intend to do so.

Reporting back--following up--is just as critical as the steps already taken by the City Council last week. The Times stories put names and faces behind the number of northeast Valley residents who, in this richest country in the world, live in crowded and substandard housing and work multiple low-paying jobs without health care or other benefits. To those living outside these pockets of poverty, these images will in time fade. But the poverty won’t--and neither must our commitment to end it.