Homelessness Calls for Innovative Solutions

The decision by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority commissioners to reject the proposal to send the homeless out of Santa Clarita to an L.A. National Guard Armory for the winter was reassuring (Dec. 4). As an administrator in a school district, I face the issue of homelessness every day. Districts are required to allow children to go to school no matter where they live or how long they have lived there. They must be given access to the same public education as other children who are not homeless through the McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Assistance Act and the No Child Left Behind Act.

Are cities like Santa Clarita exempt from the responsibility of assisting the homeless? It seems counterproductive that school districts are working so hard to educate all children when a city or cities can disrupt those efforts by moving the homeless out of town.

Tim Catlin

Lakewood

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The Times recently highlighted the plight of homeless families in Los Angeles County (“For Homeless, a State of Crisis,” Nov. 30). At the Midnight Mission, county social services staff have partnered with public and private agencies to provide families with cash aid and emergency shelter and connect them with benefits and services for which they may be eligible. Annually, the county Department of Public Social Services administers nearly $190 million in benefits and services for the homeless.

In spite of these efforts, challenges confronting the homeless are complex and extend far beyond providing public assistance grants and emergency shelter. Over the last year, the Board of Supervisors has funded a project to connect 40 homeless families with homeless services. To date, all 40 families are in temporary or permanent housing and receiving services to assist them in becoming self-sufficient. These numbers are modest but, based on the project’s success, the board hopes to expand the project to give 350 families the same opportunity. No one agency can do it alone, but we all must do what we can to keep homeless families, and especially kids, off the streets.

Bryce Yokomizo

Director, Dept. of

Public Social Services

Los Angeles County