County hires coordinator to help homeless
Los Angeles County officials announced Thursday the hiring of a coordinator to oversee the spending of $100 million on programs to help eliminate homelessness.
Garrison Smith, former director of the Children’s Law Center and a veteran of nonprofit work with homeless people, gay and lesbian youth and people with HIV, starts April 16.
Smith will work across county departments to provide services for families and children who live on skid row in downtown Los Angeles and to offer rental credits to house people who are living on the streets, among other initiatives. The position was created as part of the county’s plan to combat homelessness. The plan was approved last April.
Smith also will collaborate with the regional homeless authority, which disburses federal funds to house people in the city and county. The county has yet to decide where to place five regional centers that would transition homeless people into more permanent housing, Chief Administrator David Janssen said.
Smith, to be paid $86,869 annually, will report to the county chief administrative office.
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